After wrapping up in Ratanakiri on Cambodia day #27, it would've been pushing it to make another stop within my 30 day visa window, so I headed to Laos. The minibus was full of stops to pickup and drop off passengers, doubling as a parcel service as per usual. The bumpy gravel roads in an old van didn't speed things up, either. But compared to my 14 seat bus the week prior that maxed out at 27 passengers, this one was spacious.
We were dropped off 100m from the border checkpoint. A gentleman with the bus company handed us paperwork to fill out, and said we had to be done in 30 minutes, so please hurry. He then asked us to pay him directly, much more than I knew I owed for a visa. I showed him a message where a friend had paid less just a few days prior, but he was having none of it. Between 8am-3pm, normal price he said, but conveniently it was just after 3pm, warranting some sort of overtime fee. He spewed some lies about him not keeping any money for himself, clearly a scam as being charitable to backpackers doesn't pay well and I knew he was skimming a healthy profit off the top. He didn't stop us from walking up to the booth ourselves, but we weren't sure what the bus situation would be on the other side. This is a common, well rehearsed scam that will likely go on for years to come. I went in prepared to be ripped off, but it still irked me. Not the dollars, but the idea of it.
His assistant zipped to the immigration booth on her motorbike with our papers and we were directed to follow by foot. Numerous steel pole gates were conveniently installed at right about teeth level. That works to stop cars, but how about all the backpackers hoofing it across the border? One in our group walked smack into steel and blood poured from her nose. We tried to help cleanup, as our assistant waved us to keep on moving. Talk about a slap in the face (thankfully no permanent damage)! We walked across 200m of "no man's land" between borders, grabbed our passports with visas, and officially stepped into Laos. Our first 30 minutes in country were enjoyed waiting for a van to shuttle us to a boat to motor us to our island. After a 10 hour journey that if well coordinated could've taken four, I settled into my $4 bungalow on Don Det just in time for sunset. And that confirmed what I already knew: Laos was well worth this headache, and the swift current of the Mekong carried my worries away.
Don Det is one of Si Phan Don, literally "4,000 Islands." Just north of the Cambodia border, these islands in the Mekong River are mostly uninhabited, but the others are ideal for long, leisurely meals, bicycling around scenic rural interiors, and studying sunsets from hammocks.
Quiet dirt paths (no real roads) circle Don Det, where you encounter the occasional motorbike, kid on bicycle, chicken, cow, or dog. There are lush green views and powerful waterfalls to check out.
The sunsets alone make it hard to want to leave, they almost take your breath away, and had people speaking in whispers.
It's a peaceful quiet here and I like it. Others do, too: my bungalow neighbor spent a month on Don Det last year, and was just starting a two month stint when I left. That would be a bit too long for me...
After Don Det I visited the bigger and even quieter Don Khong. I checked into a very nice guesthouse with just a few other visitors around. Their restaurant served up some delicious eats, which was a pleasant surprise as no one typically raves about Lao food.
There's not much going on, though it's a beautiful 23 mile bicycle ride around the island, with goats, cows, and water buffalo in rice fields, and mountains in the distance. Many locals would yell, "sabaidee," and most seemed a bit surprised to see me.
This actually wasn't my first time in Laos. A week earlier, while in northern Cambodia on the west coast of the Mekong, our dolphin spotting boat (we did see a few of the rare Irrawaddy dolphins--only four remain in the area and are functionally extinct) made a detour just across the river and docked at the Lao island of Don Khon. We ordered fruit shakes and took our boat back to Cambodia--no visa (or money) required.
After a couple days each on these islands, I headed north, because Laos, a country I knew nothing about a few months ago, had so much more to see.
We were dropped off 100m from the border checkpoint. A gentleman with the bus company handed us paperwork to fill out, and said we had to be done in 30 minutes, so please hurry. He then asked us to pay him directly, much more than I knew I owed for a visa. I showed him a message where a friend had paid less just a few days prior, but he was having none of it. Between 8am-3pm, normal price he said, but conveniently it was just after 3pm, warranting some sort of overtime fee. He spewed some lies about him not keeping any money for himself, clearly a scam as being charitable to backpackers doesn't pay well and I knew he was skimming a healthy profit off the top. He didn't stop us from walking up to the booth ourselves, but we weren't sure what the bus situation would be on the other side. This is a common, well rehearsed scam that will likely go on for years to come. I went in prepared to be ripped off, but it still irked me. Not the dollars, but the idea of it.
His assistant zipped to the immigration booth on her motorbike with our papers and we were directed to follow by foot. Numerous steel pole gates were conveniently installed at right about teeth level. That works to stop cars, but how about all the backpackers hoofing it across the border? One in our group walked smack into steel and blood poured from her nose. We tried to help cleanup, as our assistant waved us to keep on moving. Talk about a slap in the face (thankfully no permanent damage)! We walked across 200m of "no man's land" between borders, grabbed our passports with visas, and officially stepped into Laos. Our first 30 minutes in country were enjoyed waiting for a van to shuttle us to a boat to motor us to our island. After a 10 hour journey that if well coordinated could've taken four, I settled into my $4 bungalow on Don Det just in time for sunset. And that confirmed what I already knew: Laos was well worth this headache, and the swift current of the Mekong carried my worries away.
Don Det is one of Si Phan Don, literally "4,000 Islands." Just north of the Cambodia border, these islands in the Mekong River are mostly uninhabited, but the others are ideal for long, leisurely meals, bicycling around scenic rural interiors, and studying sunsets from hammocks.
Quiet dirt paths (no real roads) circle Don Det, where you encounter the occasional motorbike, kid on bicycle, chicken, cow, or dog. There are lush green views and powerful waterfalls to check out.
The sunsets alone make it hard to want to leave, they almost take your breath away, and had people speaking in whispers.
It's a peaceful quiet here and I like it. Others do, too: my bungalow neighbor spent a month on Don Det last year, and was just starting a two month stint when I left. That would be a bit too long for me...
After Don Det I visited the bigger and even quieter Don Khong. I checked into a very nice guesthouse with just a few other visitors around. Their restaurant served up some delicious eats, which was a pleasant surprise as no one typically raves about Lao food.
There's not much going on, though it's a beautiful 23 mile bicycle ride around the island, with goats, cows, and water buffalo in rice fields, and mountains in the distance. Many locals would yell, "sabaidee," and most seemed a bit surprised to see me.
This actually wasn't my first time in Laos. A week earlier, while in northern Cambodia on the west coast of the Mekong, our dolphin spotting boat (we did see a few of the rare Irrawaddy dolphins--only four remain in the area and are functionally extinct) made a detour just across the river and docked at the Lao island of Don Khon. We ordered fruit shakes and took our boat back to Cambodia--no visa (or money) required.
After a couple days each on these islands, I headed north, because Laos, a country I knew nothing about a few months ago, had so much more to see.