Bring on the Lao Lao

Don Det: One of the four thousand "islands" yet we were sure that the rocks jutting out of the Mekong not big enough to stand on were being counted. Having no idea of the proper exchange rate, Kath and I both (in exhaustion) cussed out the ice cream man as soon as we docked who we assumed was ripping us off enormously. Great start ya boneheaded tourists!

We were directed to this little bungalow with a dangling number nine hanging off the door, dried red paint dripping sinisterly down the door where it was hung. The view, sunset descending into the glassy Mekong behind a palm frond. Price, four dollars.

Several days slipped by in laziness and early nights on the island with a limit of electricity. Kayaked for a day to find the famous Mekong Dophins. However, what we saw floating along which we photographed thinking it must have been a dorsal fin turned out to be a bag of garbage. The way back we saw a little boy playing with his bee bee gun, or so we hoped, by taking his brother hostage.

Several waterfalls on the way back took our breath away and the drivers even let us sit on the roof as they putted along at 80km with half tied kayaks knocking us around.

Tubed the next day and decided to begin at a bar which was clearly owned by the king of lethargy, a bar on the shore with a plank/diving board bending slightly over the river. Well, there we went chucking our tubes off the board and attempting to swim after them in the deceptively strong current.

Vientiane: John Smith, dad's old friend, his wife Bambina and son Sourya put Kath and I up in the Lao capital for a few days. Knowing the locals is the key to making any dull to the naked city come aliiiiiive! Going to the international school, Sourya had a healthy amount of well connected and considerably generous amigos. I had never been to any VIP section in a club and had hardly had the chance to sip Blue Label served by an attentive waiter...ever!

Bambina also took Kath and I to a spa and shopping for the day, speaking perfect french, her and Kath had plenty to talk about and Kath even came back to stay with them after we had split up a week later.

Christian and Tim, our mates from Don Det had gone ahead to Vang Vieng and drunk dialled me saying that we were to come and stay in Spicy Lao right away...they had already saved us hammocks at the tree house hostel.

It turned out to be a little like The Beach, in fact the drama that soon followed closely followed the movie as well. I guess 24/7 with one girl can drive anyone crazy after a week. But as our time together came to an end I realized an important thing. That if you want to really be comfortable being with someone like that, you have to either really know them or your have strong enough feelings that that doesn't matter. Katherine and I, unfortunately, had not developed either.

The tubing was great, the climbing better and the free drinks, well they had their uses for some but I had kindof lost my party mood from Cambodia. Even free buckets of watered down whiskey can get redundant when you have other stuff on your mind.

We split up, got back together and then, inevitably, split up again when I started my 24 hour trip to Chiang Rai to begin my volunteer posting. We left with a light smile, a kiss and clinging on to the good times.

Cambodia...they have malls here?

Touch down: Bangkok – taxi to Kao Sahn – backpacker infested microcosm intact as always (probably wouldn’t change come apacalypse). Met my crowd on day two: Tom Jones, Emily and Jack. They were up for the sleezy bars, Go Gos but not quite Ping Pong shows…I think Emily told Jack he was sleeping on the floor if he came along…the thing about BKK tho is that there is always a next time. In fact two next times to come. Kind of the unofficial yet officially the backpacker capital of … hmm… the world? Did the riverboat tour and stuck to Khao San and its quaint environs. Hey, Ive don’t it before. Missing…uhh..India a lot.

The plan was Vietnam, who knows why? Does anybody have more than a once sentence reason for traveling 500 km for another piece of land that you know just about as much about as where the melting grayish ice in your BEER (yes they do that!) came from.

Instead, Cambodia. Met Tomer Noy, a 33 year old Isreali whos english was just riddled with humerous expressions. I later slashed my toe open on a rock in Sihanookville when he asked if I wanted to make a ssschnorkal today?? We did Angkor Wat and a bike ride and Venician priced boat ride on Tonle Sap lake (biggest in S E Asia I bereive)…turned out more impressive than the temples..shhh. Dived off our little private vessel and got some great shots in the sunset. Went to a little floating restaurant where the owner excitedly showed us his collection of Alligators in a pen that was only half netted. This was about 30 feet from where I swam. CRIKEY!

To Phnom Penh with Tal and Monika, another Isreali and a Pole. Celebrated my birthday eating floor cake and throwing the rest in a strangers face. Couldn’t escape the constant sound of the movie The Killing Fields blaring from every hotel, not exactly the psych up for a night out at The Heart of Darkness club which made sure to let us know that there were no grenades allowed inside.

SIhanookville, armpit and paradise at the same time. Snorkeled, beach bummed outside beach bar number 14 I think. No, that was the name. Group had now grown to … six? Met Katherine as well, a 21 year old French Canadian that joined me and Christian (a german that thought he was Aussie) in Laos. Verdict: Should have avoided the tourist holes but Khmer people can smile better than any colgate model to date.