Don Khon and Don Det

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After making our way down the length of Laos we ended up in the very southerly part on two ilsands in the Mekong. The islands are attached by a concrete bridge, leftover from the colonial era in the 1800's when the only railway in Laos was built to bypass the major falls on the Mekong at the Cambodian border. These falls were effectivly cutting off trade with Indochina and the French wanted this trade. It eventually became a ruin as land routes took over.
These are two sleepy little islands where life seems to stand still are still an amazing place to visit despite being on the Lonely Planet circuit. People who don't want to party stay on Don Khon and those who do stay on Don Det where everything is 'happy'. Happy shakes, happy pizza and even happy mashed potatoes! do you get my drift?
We, of course, stayed on Don Khon! Within minutes of arriving after yet another truck ride with no space and lots of grinning babies, followed by a boat ride with the boat mafia ( fixed high prices) we were eating a delicious meal looking over the river.
A few steps down the road and we were sitting on the verandah of our home for the next week. Electricity came to the islands in the last five years providing fans, aircon and lots of good reading light. Our bungalow was in a row of three looking over the Mekong to Don Det. There were two comfortable slouchy teak chairs and a hammock on the verandah and we spent most of our afternoons there reading and dozing in the hottest part of the day. Everyday we rented bikes and rode the trails aroound the islands through villages and rice paddies.
One day we happened upon a temple in the middle of a rice paddie on Don Det where some children were sitting in the open air wat with two old ladies chewing beetle nut and looking nice and relaxed. We had a bag of soaps and tooth brushes and individual shampoos we've been collecting from guest houses which we gave to one of the ladies indicating that she could share them. She passed them around and the kids took them as happily as children at home would take candies, barely letting them out of their grubby fists to play the game I had in my pack.
We played the dice game I mentioned in an earlier blog and everyone took turns. The older kids caught on really fast. At first the head monk seemed peeved with us but when he realized we were actually teaching them numbers and addition he was much more congenial. The first ladies turn was so moving. She rolled the dice in her hands and then gently and carefully put them down on the mat. a most unique way of rolling dice and somehow endearing as she grinned through her beetlenut teeth. Over time the nut erodes the teeth and it's quite an eyesore but they find it attractive.
At one point a gong went off and the kids suddenly adopted prair positions. We followed suit and the kids couldn't hold their laughter in. We don't know why we were so funny but they thought it was hilarious. After the prayer the monks ate their lunch shile we all sat quietly. We later realized that the old ladies had brought the food to the temple.
as soon as the monks were done the ladies and jumped into action clearing up the remains of the meal and we said our goodbyes leaving the game for one of the boys. I tried to tell the other older boy that I would come back the following day with one for him but his face fell and he didn't understand me.
After leaving the temple we rode along until we saw a home with a boat and asked them if they would take us to the mainland to the market. One of the daughters of the family was home from school for lunch and having some English she was able to convey what we wanted. Return to the mainland with an hour to shop. The price was arranged and off we went after bailing out the boat. The trip over was spectacular and under half of what we had paid the mafia to get there in the first place. We bought a soccer ball, pens, notebooks and marbles as well as treats.
The next day we returned to the temple to leave the game for the boy as well as some of the other things. I had also bought a pineapple and some oranges for the monks and the younger monks were thrilled to get the fruit as well as pens and paper.
We don't think that the kids who were in the temple go to school and after the monks ate on the second day we realized that they were given the leftovers to eat just outside the temple grounds on a little covered platform in the air. We stopped to visit with them and they let us take their pictures . As we were standing there one of the old ladies came by and let me take her picture as well, one of the best people pictures we've gotten so far. She did close her mouth though so you can't see the beetlenut smile.
Everywhere along the bike routes there were water buffalo and their young, going in and out of the water and wandering at will. They have a few months off as the rice won't be planted for a few months yet.
To give you an idea, to cycle around the perimeter of Don Det would be about an hour and fifteen minutes if you don't stop to take pictures and explore or talk to people. Don Khon is a bit larger and has water falls on both sides of it. The area in the Mekong is refered to as four thousand islands. The waterfalls are created between some of the islands. On one side they were really big and beautiful. We took pictures of fish traps and the contraptions that hold them in place. In the height of the fishing season they can catch up to half a ton per day in one trap.
The villages were interesting with most of the houses on stilts with raised gardens on bamboo frames. Life is very laid back and most folks have lots of time to laze in the shade of their houses with friends and family, at least at this time of year.
We stopped by a school one day which was built for the children of Don Det by a Japenese woman. A three room school and very primitive but a school full of happy kids. As we were waiting for the teacher to come back from lunch the kids were getting braver and braver and daring each other to come and sit by us. we just started to take some pictures discreetly when two German tourists came with a guide and starting sticking their cameras in the kids faces. It was sad they were so oblivious that the woman stood right in the middle of the game the girls were playing and didn't even notice what she was doing despite the kids trying to ask her to move. It made us put the camera away. We left the soccer ball and some pens and paper for the teacher and went on our merry way.
Each night we went to our favourite place to eat. It was a young couple with a small baby. She was a terrific cook, inspired I'd say and the presentation was above and beyond. Unfortunately we were going to take pictures the last night but they weren't open.
We spent our last morning having an early breakfast to the sounds of monks chanting next door and spending a few hours enjoying the verandah before heading over the water to the mainland and back to Pakse.
Tomorrow we'll head back to Thailand and on to Burma in a few weeks time. Looking forward to Thai food again but sad to leave Laos. We didn't get off the beaten track as much as I'd hoped, thwarted by cool weather and the holidays but it was every bit as friendly and wonderful as I remembered it.