Waterbound from Nakasang, and on Don Khon
Trip Start
Jan 09, 2009
1
14
44
Trip End
Feb 23, 2009
Pakse, Champasak, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Viewing the sped-by environment revealed all things Laotian: plastic bags strewn along the roadside, habitations made almost solely from wood, huts on stilts, tinder-dry fields, roaming oxen; not much different from the north. Van stopped. I got out to use the toilet; cleaner WCs than in China. Once back in the vehicle, it was immediately surrounded by women clad in long shawled skirts, flip-flops and the conicled straw hat trying to peddle barbecued chicken, or other roasted meat. Passed up on the chance to gorge; just not interested.
A somewhat outspoken French woman by the name of Anne-Marie attracted my attention
Typical Pedlar Woman
. She was asked if she'd alight and go to Don Det:"No." I hope they don't try and charge us extra at Nakasang. They'll try anything."
Being a bit trepidatious myself, I couldn't but quite agree.
Nakasang was all a buzz when we eventually did alight. It was certainly the base for tourist trafficking; another place to rake in the cash.
Ours fears about being charged extra for the boat appeared all but true. The launching desk was crowded with traffickers. A local manning the desk tried erratically not to let us get onto a boat without paying
"I've already paid for everything."
Anne-marie was a bit more frantic.
He waved us through with no more hassle.
It was amusing to see all the rucksacks mounted on top of each other at the front end of the boat.
The spindly worker clad in flip-flops, shorts, thin shirt and straw hat manning the chugging boat that chugged out to the Islands, used body language to caution us to sit down and still, or else we'd run the risk of falling into the Mekong
Getting Nearer
.I turned my head and saw 'Uncle Tom Cobbly n' all' sitting behind. One looked distinctly Rastafarian, and with the majority, was bound for the more popular Don Det.
Once the boat emptied, we continued to the more quieter Don Khon. it all looked quiet. relaxing and paradisaical; a perfect traveler's mecca; once we looked around and set about finding accommodation. I set on a tree house among others run by some small girls:
"50,000 Kip," was pronounced.
The one bedroomed house was quipped with bathroom, hammock on veranda, and an altogether idyllic setting: rows and rows of palm trees thickly strung along the still Mekong; loads of heat and sunshine that burnishes by early evening.
I met Anne-Marie further along the dirt road where she'd found accommodation:
"It's perfect here. How about a walk later?" She was eager to team up for the next two days.
"Ok."
She affirmed, not surprisingly, "they have everything."
The one thing, though, Laotians lack, so hunger after, is hard Western currency.
Because of it we somewhat became alienated from them, so our stigma runs into the ground in such paradise islands.
