Farewell to Laos and Welcome to Cambodia

We returned to civilisation earlier than expected and waited 2 hours to check into our hotel. What followed was a series of Pythonesque issues. After our 2 days of slumming it and swimming in rivers we were more than happy to check into civilisation, so at 4am we rose from our lumpy mats to agree Mr Leng who was to take us back.

Only our adventures were just beginning, we waited 2 hours to ‘check in’ as our room wasn’t ready. In hindsight I think that was a sign. However, we finally got into our room and I started the shower….only to find 10min later the hot water didn’t work. After waiting for  10min – ‘maybe someone come fix’ as the staff put it, I came down and demanded another room. Ok then, hot water works but air con and lights are broken. Hmm.

Finally we had to actually march into the managers office who showed us a deluxe room. We tested the hot water, air con and lights, once we received a resounding yes on the operational functionality of these we took it.

What a trial! 
We rewarded ourselves with dinner, trying the famous or infamous Mekong river weed! Seaweed with sesame crispy fried. Amazingly delicious.

Onwards we went travelling buses and boats until we reached the 4000 Islands of Laos. Right at the end of the country, once on the islands if you look south you see Cambodia, left and you see Thailand, right and that’s Vietnam. 

The island we stayed on is called Don Khon, the quieter sister of the party island Don Det. Sadly Don Det is now a tourist mecca, famous for the “Been there, Don Det” t-shirts worn by all the 18yr old backpackers holding beers cans and sporting dreads and smelly clothes, and the girls in tiny short shorts and bikinis – despite it being offensive to locals. Sadly this seemed to be in most places we visited in SE Asia despite numerous signs in English and guidebooks explaining this is inappropriate for a traditional and religious country, not to mention for the holy Buddhist temples.

Don Khon was more our style, with a tiny charming village with one street of tourist restaurants on one side and then a few settlements and houses dotted around the other sides. It is still mostly a farming community, with a few restaurants and a wonderful juice stand that also sold ice coffees with sweetened condensed milk. Heaven. 

We passed our time here riding bikes exploring the island, startling chickens, watching locals build fishing traps, swimming in the muddy waters of the mekong and escaping the heat of the afternoons by sleeping in our traditional wooden huts with air con – of course.

Some amazing waterfalls, and then took a boat journey down river to see the Irrawaddy dolphins! The main highlight was not the dolphins we saw in the distance but our hilarious boatman who, upon finding out we spoke a few words in Laotian, then insisted on speaking Laotian to us, despite our incomprehension.

We learnt about the ‘bakong’ (dolphins) who like Cambodia waters more than Laos. There is an invisible line across the waters where the border between the countries is, and Laos fisherman seem to know exactly where it is and are willing to toe the line to see the bakong but not too much further. The dolphins jumped and were little dots in the distance on our cameras. We continued our incomprehensible Laotian conversation to the amusement of other travellers in tiny boats. (We did actually learn quite a bit, bakong = dolphins, sun = aesngtauen, beautiful = ngam, drink = laolao, boat = heu, water = nu + the other Lao was spoke, we could kind of follow his thoughts).

Mekong fish bbq was on the menu that night along with some Laolao mojitos! Party time for our last night in Laos.

Then our exit from Laos and journey into cambodia was fraught with issues. We were charged $3 to leave Laos! Some others managed to bargain it down to $1 but the guys with the big guns really wanted their bribe money over the border. So be it.

Then upon entry into Cambodia we were woefully unprepared. Unlike the friendly and fairly easygoing Laotians, Cambodia is savy and full of people who take advantage of tourism.

We were hustled into an official health check tent and charged $1 for our health check (this is a scam and you don’t need to do the health check despite the official status listed). Also their thermometer listed my temperature as 32.5degrees. I’m guessing it was broken. 
Then Visas. Uh huh. We were hoping there was an ATM – alas it was like a border in some old wild west film, middle of no where. A few palm tree huts, and an official visa office of wooden slats and a guy with a uniform and a stamp. No ATM, no card facilities, oh and no electricity.
Ok then.

Once we’d sorted out visas and met our ‘guide’ we were then plunked onto our air con, private mini bus transport with wifi – what we’d booked.
However we got a huge bus, with open window (air con cambodia style) and broken seats. Wifi but a distant dream.
Turns out our supposed guide had transferred us onto a different bus and pocketed the money. Good times.

Bus ride in hell (the heat) for 6 hours didn’t improve things then they dropped us off 6km from Siem Reap in a darkened carpark at 9pm.

Welcome to cambodia folks. Dont mind everyone trying to rip you off and take your money from you.
Oh and don’t forget the police will take bribes too!
Have a nice time!


Next up is our adventures in Siem Reap & Angkor Wat!

Till next time
Jade & Greg 
xx

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