What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it - would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.
– Ralph Marston
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 (DAYS 645 & 646)
Preparing for another very long travel day that is estimated to be more than 20-hours, the journey from Vang Vieng to Si Phan Don (also known as Four Thousand Islands) is an arduous and exhausting haul. There are numerous companies that offer transportation services and the average price I found to Don Det was 250,000₭N ($31.15). While I am not on a time crunch and could have taken the local bus to Vientiane, I had heard from numerous backpackers that this is not a destination to spend much time in. Plus I would have added even more hours to my travel time, which I have learned that even though you may be saving money in one aspect, that money saved will typically be spent on other necessities (food, toilet fees, water, etc). Later, after talking with several other backpackers that went on it their own way using local transportation, many were nightmares because at each stopping point they had to organize their transportation (language barriers, and paying extra for tuk tuks or taxis at an inflated price as well as even having to pay for additional accommodations if you arrived after the last bus departed because the time frame can be so skewed). There were also instances where the bus terminal you arrived at in one town was not the same bus terminal you were departing from to the next and was often on the other side of the town. I have heard of people purchasing tickets that were either void (fakes) or only took them part of the way even though the seller would guarantee that it would cover all transportation services to the desired destination. Over my time and experience of extended travel, I’ve come to view this as a game. I do my best to talk with other travelers as well as inquire at a variety of local shops and transportation operators to determine what the best overall bargain price I can be receiving. But, I have also come to terms that you will pay more, as a foreigner, and this is just a reality.
Preparing for another very long travel day that is estimated to be more than 20-hours, the journey from Vang Vieng to Si Phan Don (also known as Four Thousand Islands) is an arduous and exhausting haul. There are numerous companies that offer transportation services and the average price I found to Don Det was 250,000₭N ($31.15). While I am not on a time crunch and could have taken the local bus to Vientiane, I had heard from numerous backpackers that this is not a destination to spend much time in. Plus I would have added even more hours to my travel time, which I have learned that even though you may be saving money in one aspect, that money saved will typically be spent on other necessities (food, toilet fees, water, etc). Later, after talking with several other backpackers that went on it their own way using local transportation, many were nightmares because at each stopping point they had to organize their transportation (language barriers, and paying extra for tuk tuks or taxis at an inflated price as well as even having to pay for additional accommodations if you arrived after the last bus departed because the time frame can be so skewed). There were also instances where the bus terminal you arrived at in one town was not the same bus terminal you were departing from to the next and was often on the other side of the town. I have heard of people purchasing tickets that were either void (fakes) or only took them part of the way even though the seller would guarantee that it would cover all transportation services to the desired destination. Over my time and experience of extended travel, I’ve come to view this as a game. I do my best to talk with other travelers as well as inquire at a variety of local shops and transportation operators to determine what the best overall bargain price I can be receiving. But, I have also come to terms that you will pay more, as a foreigner, and this is just a reality.
One of the many 'lounge-style restaurants where you will either have a loop of Friends or Family Guy playing
This morning I was awake at 9:30am (I know this sounds like a luxury to most) and after enjoying a hot shower and organizing my backpack, I headed out for a late morning brekkie at one of the local restaurants that I continued to return to because the family that ran it were so wonderful. After returning to my guesthouse, I did my routine inspection of checking for any items that may have fallen under the bed or hidden in the pillowcase. Throwing on my dual backpacks (the larger one on my back and the smaller one on my chest) I take the short walk to the transportation office and before I know it the driver is calling us to board the minibus to Vientiane just after 1pm. The short five-minute drive takes us across a dirt airstrip that is full of bicycles, motorbikes, and other vehicles driving in various directions and I cannot help but think that the last time I drove across a airstrip was in Guatemala. I suppose when there is an absence of aircraft attempting to land, every bit of road surface is utilized. Arriving at the bus terminal that would take us to Vientiane, this was on the opposite side of town from where I had first arrived in Vang Vieng. At 1:30pm our large coach bus was full and we arrived in the capital about 5:30pm. After talking with several more people, including the lone ticket agent that barely spoke English, I learned that our overnight bus would be departing at 7pm. The bus terminal in Vientiane had few amenities to offer, but I did have a chance to grab some dinner. I approached the counter of the only restaurant in the terminal and a young girl that I guessed to be 10-years-old took my order of fried rice with mixed vegetables. After taking a seat–minutes later my meal arrived–a bowl of soup with vegetables. Trying to explain that I had the rice, the young girl had no idea what I was saying and I gave up and enjoyed my hearty bowl of leafy greens floating in hot water.
Luana from Brazil, we were across-the-aisle bunk mates until she realized she was on the wrong bus!
Since there was time to kill waiting at the bus terminal, I stroke up a conversation with a girl from Brazil, Luana, who had been living in Australia for about fifteen months and only had six weeks to explore South East Asia (SEA). We shared various travel stories and I told her that I have already promised another friend to visit him in Rio that I met in Colombia, but now I have an excuse to visit her in Sao Paulo after receiving her invitation as well. As we were talking I asked if she had experienced a sleeper bus yet, which was a no, and I told her I had heard that when you receive a ticket you are doubled up in beds. A horrified look came over her face as we discussed this, and unless you are traveling with someone else this can be a game of roulette as to who your bunkmate will be. 15-minutes before 7pm we boarded the 70s style sleeping bus that reminded me a bit of the bus from Almost Famous. It just happened that our tickets were the two lower bunks across from one another and Luana and I were praying that the bus would not be full and we would have a bed to ourselves. No. A few minutes later a large group of Asian students showed up and I had the privilege of sharing a twin size bed with a German guy, while Luana had a much older gentleman next to her.
The narrow aisle of one of many 'Sleeper buses' in SE Asia
The boat from Almirante to Bocas del Toro
Climbing aboard the swaying long tail boat, I’m one of the last people before we reach maximum occupancy, leaving a few stragglers behind on the shore. As the captain fires up the engine by pulling on a piece of rope that is wound tight around the starter, soon there is a slight breeze as we putter down the Mekong. The boat ride reminds me a bit of the journey from Almirante to Bocas del Toro in Panama, and I was told the same a few days before from Quinnan. Sadly as we are cruising down the river there are numerous plastic bottles bobbing above the water that we pass and I can only imagine how much worse the pollution factor may be in the years to come.
The view from outside my private bungalow that I negotiated down to less than $2 per night and included a shared balcony with only one other bungalow
If you have personal space issues, this has got to be one of the first things you get over when backpacking. Wedged in our bed you couldn’t help but touch the other person next to you, and the worst was when you rolled over and were practically nose-to-nose with your bunkmate. Thankfully Zee German that was millimeters from me for the next 12-hours did not snore, but sleep was still a constant battle from the bumpy roads and tight sleeping quarters. Just after sunrise we arrived in Pakse to the normal yelling of the bus driver for us to exit the bus in a disoriented state. The bus terminal in Pakse was next to the Mekong River and was a dirt lot where a slew of taxi drivers were waiting for the new arrivals. After confirming several times that our ongoing transportation to Si Phan Don would be a 20-minute wait. This was an opportunity to brush your teeth with a bottle of water. Yes, the joys of travel continue.
Failing to get some sleep and exhaustion is setting in #FirstWorldProblems
Saying goodbye to Luana, as she was heading to Cambodia, we exchanged Facebook info and gave the standard, “safe travels,” to one another. At 7:30am the smaller group of us were picked up and driven another short five-minute drive, where we transferred buses, yet again, and departed Pakse at 8am where I knew it would be about two-hours before reaching the dock for the boat to Don Det. Exhausted I curled up against the window in prayed for some sleep. Four-hours later, we arrived at another dirt parking lot and were told that the pier was just down the road.
Backpackers heading towards Don Det, Laos (Si Phan Don) one of the 4,000 islands on the Mekong River
Marching in a line of backpackers like zombies, the walk took between 10-15 minutes to reach the Mekong River bank where numerous long tail boats were waiting to take passengers on to Don Det or one of the other 3,999 islands. By this point the mixture of the midday heat made each step feel as though more weight was being added to your back that had a nice pool of sweat growing underneath it. Dodging speeding motorbikes, rickshaws, and merchants carrying sacks or other goods on their backs or poles strung across their shoulders, the bustling departure port was lined with street vendors selling everything from clothing to food.
Arriving after the long 12-plus hour journey and about to take my last mode of transportation...a boat to Don Det island
Sunset in Don Det
From the book that I’ve been reading, Vagabonding, I continue to find some very good and inspiring quotes, I know that I’ve been a bit neglectful in the quality of my writing, and I apologize, but I hope to catch up soon and begin doing a more proper job, so please bear with me. “There’s a story that comes from the tradition of the Desert Fathers, an order of Christian monks who lived in the wastelands of Egypt about seventeen hundred years ago. In the tale, a couple of monks named Theodore and Lucius shared the acute desire to go out and see the world. Since they’d made vows of contemplation, however, this was not something they were allowed to do. So, to satiate their wanderlust, Theodore and Lucius learned to ‘mock their temptations’ by relegating their travels to the future. When the summertime came, they said to each other, ‘We will leave in the winter.’ When the winter came, they said, ‘We will leave in the summer.’ They went on like this for fifty years, never once leaving the monastery or breaking their vows. Most of us, of course, have never taken such vows–but we choose to live like monks anyway, rooting ourselves to a home or a career and using the future as a kind of phony ritual that justifies the present. In this way, we end up spending (as Thoreau put it) ‘the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it.’ We’d love to drop all and explore the world outside, we tell ourselves, but the time never seems right. Thus, given an unlimited amount of choices, we make none. Settling into our lives, we get so obsessed with holding on to our domestic certainties that we forget why we desired them in the first place.”
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