Full of Surprises

Trip Start Jan 09, 2009
1
15
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Trip End Feb 23, 2009


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Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  , Champasak,
Friday, January 23, 2009

The commanding sound of the resident cockerel forced me to get up. Its sound would have been even more commanding, had not a spanner, in the form of a croaking modification, got in the works, needing a spanner to fix it - probably an old bird. It looked amusing; its dark-red chest and shiny feathers nonchalantly strutting around the premises, weaving in and out of the bungalows. The guest proprietors seemed nowhere to be seen, but it hadn't occurred to me to look in at the restaurant headquarters across the way and say "hello!" as nobody turned up asking for me to cough up, I began wondering where you did.
I met up with Anne-Marie once I'd stopped at one of the shore side eateries and had a taste of breakfast - mainly Laotian - a banana pancake and a Lipton tea - a tea bag fused in boiling water.
Anne-Marie seemed to have her eye on the ball. Being French explains why she was a bit anxious, a bit argumentative, a bit like my half-English-French cousins Local Buffalo
Local Buffalo
 . She was also teaching poor Khmer kids English over in Phom Phen, Cambodia, a destination soon to be realized on my itinerary.
Once I'd fussed around selecting the best of the bikes left to hire from a nearby woman standing next to a row renting them out, we were off. We passed Buffalo grazing in an enclosed area, took a few picks of a temple in its grounds. The tracks were soft and sandy making it difficult to pedal the machine. We rode around, our curiosity making us take all morning, and came back to our respective accommodation and napped during lunchtime.
We were off - again - sojourning at a labyrinth of impressive churning waterfalls among zillions of rocks in an unspoilt wilderness. That's what I appreciate about poor countries, they remain relatively free from man-made development. We sat away from the distant foamy roar and chatted facing a couple of conversant guys.
A long-haired young woman was busily kneeling down chopping the kern or shells of the coconuts she was selling as well as manning a stall. Anne-Marie couldn't help but comment:
"It's always the woman who work the hardest in these parts. It's the same in Cambodia. The men think they don't need to, once they have woman to do the work. Is it the same in China?"
"Largely, yes, although it's developing fast, so the men do more than their fare share."
She turned to the woman,
"5,000 Kip is too much Temple Gateway
Temple Gateway
 . Why not 2,000."
The woman let out an incredulous bashful Laotian toothy smile,
"If I only charge 2,000, I'll barely make any business."
Seeing her point,we sped off - again - this time along a conspicuous trail that ended abruptly at a beach-cum-bay area. Besides other ensconced tourists lapping up the heat, and in the water, we watched fisherman man their long boats, and watched others swim in the cool recesses.
Some guys were playing Ker plunk, or pitch n' toss on the sand.
Anne-Marie, besides asserting the game being French which is why Laotians have adopted it, couldn't help but enthusiastically lay down the rules to me who'd never played before. However, the guys soon lost their enthusiasm for throwing the led ball once we weren't prepared to buy them a Beer Lao if they won. So it was off - again - to our lodgings.
We met later for an evening meal. It was black and pleasantly cool, making our way back along the shore road, listening to the distant beating jibe of resort-type music emanating from the opposite shore on Don Det, complemented by dimly lit restaurants overlooking the shore on this side.
That's what I liked about Laos, the '4,000 Islands' turned out to be full of surprises.  
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