Laos? You might have to see the nit nurse about that...

Well what a border crossing that was! We were at the bus stop at 8am as requested but the dodgy old minibus didn't leave until 9am. Sion was given a durian fruit by the man next to her to store between her legs, these are the fruits that we told you about before, and they smell of rotting vegetables, nice! We arrived in Strung Treng and were dropped with five others travelers at a restaurant. At midday the five were taken away in the same minibus as before and we were told to wait. At 1pm we were escorted to the border in a car. By 2pm we were bribing Cambodian border police with dollar bills to stamp our exit visa, by 2:10pm we were doing the same to the Laos border police to let us in. Although Phil’s first dollar was refused as it was too ‘dirty’, Phil tried reminding him that what he was doing was illegal but he really did prefer to have a clean one! It's so corrupt but it happens to everyone; if you don't give them a dollar, they won't stamp your passport, which seemed only fair when we'd already paid $40 for the visa!! We were then driven to a restaurant in Laos and were told that we had to wait for five more people until the minibus would take us to our boat. At 4pm, we drove back to the border to pick up the five people we'd been waiting for and low and behold it was the same five from earlier, somehow we'd managed to beat them across by 2 hours even though they had had an hour’s head start! It turns out they'd been told that unless they paid extra they wouldn't be going to Laos but they revolted and managed to get there without having to pay any more. So it could have been worse for us! Once we'd picked them up we headed to the boat down the bumpiest road we've been on yet! We had to wait a few minutes whilst the driver bucketed out many pales of water and then we were finally able to start the last leg of our journey. The boat trip across to Don Det Island was very beautiful. The fast flowing Mekong was making it difficult for the old boat to reach any speed but the views were worth taking in. We finally arrived at 5pm, 9 hours from when we started, having only spent about 3.5 hours actually 'travelling'.
 
After a long old walk around the island we finally decided on a place to stay just around the corner from where the boat dropped us! We picked a stilt bungalow over the Mekong with our very own hammock on the porch. Unfortunately the toilet was about 20m away and was a squat toilet but for $1 a night each (yes, you read that right!!) we couldn't complain! After a play in the hammock we set out to explore our new surroundings in our brand new country! That evening we met up with an Irish couple who had been through our horrific travel day with us and had dinner and drinks with them. Our first Laos curry was very tasty indeed. After a few games of pool in one of the very few bars we retired to our bungalow for a very early night! 
 
Don Det, like many of the Si Phan Don (four thousand islands) has no electricity. Generators provide power between 6pm and 10pm in most places but we had no lights at all in our room. It was fun having to use torchlight but it was mighty scary trying to find the squat toilet in the middle of the night! The next day we had our first lay-in for ages and managed to stay sleeping until half 8 despite the noise from the resident cockerels and pigs and the heat of our little room with no fan. After a filling banana pancake for breakfast we decided to hire a bicycle each and explore the island. We biked slowly along the narrow dirt paths, ringing the bell at every near collision with stray farm animals and small children! We discovered a rocky path which led us through rice paddy upon rice paddy and through some amazing little homes and farms. It was so much fun feeling free and doing some real exploring. We came across a bridge which when we got to the other side we had to pay a dollar for! It was worth it though as it led us to another island, Don Khon. We made our way along muddy paths and followed signs to a waterfall which was on another island (our third of four thousand). When we got there it started to rain so we sought refuge under a tree with a couple of locals who were very chatty but we had no idea what they were saying to/about us! The Li Phi waterfall was massive, not in height but in volume; the power of the water was immense. On the ride back we stopped at a little stall to have a coconut with a local family. The lady hacked the top off and stuck a straw in it for us to drink. Once we'd finished she took it off us to cut it open so we could eat the flesh, only her 3 year-old son had other idea's and had disappeared with the meat cleaver, a perfectly normal thing for a three year old to be playing with. Anyway the whole family found it highly hilarious and once the little boy succumbed to his mothers’ requests and returned the very sharp object we laughed along nervously... Still the coconut was gooood!

On our bike back to our original island we stopped for a bite to eat and then made our way back the way we'd come. It was a great day, the only down side being our sore bums! That evening we went for a Lao Lao cocktail each, Sion’s tasting of Sangria and Phil’s (the more manly drink of the two), tasting predominantly of whiskey. After a very long wait for dinner we had a pumpkin burger each which was very tasty along with a potato salad that reminded us of home. After a few more games of pool in our 'local' and another Laos beer (which is very nice!) we headed back to our pitch black bungalow for another early night. Tomorrow we're off to mainland Laos to see how they live with electricity in this new country, which so far, we like very much...