Onwards in Laos

From Attapeu, we bussed it over to Pakse, a larger town but not what one could classify as a city.  It wasn't all that far but Laos roads leave a fair amount to be desired so the trip still took time.  

We arrived in Pakse and took a tuk-tuk to our hotel (pretty tacky) which was right on a road with some major earthworks in progress causing an unbelievable amount of dirt, dust and mud.  Pakse really had nothing to offer but we did find a fairly good Indian restaurant right across the road so our meals were sorted.

Our main objective was to find transportation down to the Four Thousand Island region of the Mekong River where we hoped to spend a few days.  A nice option would be to take a live aboard river boat down but that proved to be way beyond our budget.  We could also have booked an organised tour but wanted to do the trip on our own so a local bus down was the only other alternative.

Well, the word 'bus' is a bit of a misnomer in this instance.  It was one of those open-sided wagons with seats running along the sides and one down the middle designed to take about a dozen and a half people but, naturally, they managed to stuff in twice that and the luggage!  It doesn't exactly fall into the category of the VIP or luxury classification I can assure you.  Three and a half hours of this and we were well shaken, rattled and rolled.

As we travelled, abject poverty was very much in evidence.  Tiny wooden structures built on stilts, most without windows or electricity and none with running water.  Laos has a population of barely over six million people and about 80% of these practice subsistence agriculture but there's apparently only a very small percentage of the land which is arable, something like 4%.  However, with demand for its metals, it's economy is accelerating rapidly.  It's a single party socialist republic that espouses Marxism and is governed by a communist politburo dominated by the military but despite communism, like Vietnam, free enterprise is developing throughout and two thirds of the population openly practices Buddhism.

The area called Four Thousand Islands lies just north of the Cambodian border and is a riverine archipelago on the Mekong River.  There are many islands with tourist accommodation but we chose one of the smallest, Don Det, and thought that we'd wait until we got there to find a place to stay after hearing that there was plenty to choose from.  We'd no sooner hopped off our 'bus' when we realised we were heading into a backpackers mecca. 

A rickety ferry took us a short distance over to the Island where this was confirmed; everything was geared up for the younger generation and there were hundreds of them just hanging out.  I know, I know, I was one of them once too.

We walked through an array of small dilapidated hutted rooms until we finally found one that had three to accommodate us all - definitely not salubrious by any stretch of the imagination but it was a bed.  However, when we relaxed in the poor excuse for a restaurant enjoying a drink in the quiet ambiance next to the river, a French chap came in (NB: we were the only customers in the place) and turned on some very loud music.  We politely asked him to turn it down; he refused.  When we pointed out that there was no one to listen to the music and we wished to hear ourselves talk, he none too politely informed us that we could leave and that included the rooms as well.  I would never have thought I'd ever get kicked out of an establishment but here we were, all six of us:  evicted, not welcome.

However, we stayed that night then went on to find somewhere else the following morning but we went from bad to worse as our next abode really hit an all-time low.  Something I haven't mentioned before is that we've never, not once, stayed anywhere on this journey where the plumbing actually works properly.  We've had a 100% hit on leaking basins!  I promise I'm not exaggerating, but this one topped the lot!  If you spit into the bowl after cleaning your teeth, it simply landed up on your feet.  But to make matters worse, the beds all had sharp springs sticking out so none of us got any sleep.

We couldn't wait to get out of there so Jason went out early the following morning to find something a little (no, make that a lot) more acceptable. He did.  A brand new building, new beds, new everything, great.  But, true to form the record was not broken, the basin leaked; none of the doors closed properly, the wiring was appalling, the finishes beyond shoddy.  This would be considered a very good standard by anyone living in this part of the world so we happily accepted it.  Most importantly, it was clean and comfortable. 

Getting to know the locals and the way they live? No one can accuse us of not trying.