After an alarm mishap, we managed to make it down to Don khon. By alarm mishap, I mean we were supposed to be at the ticket place for our bus south at 7:30 but didn't wake up until 7:31. The stars must have been aligned in our favor cause we managed to pack up our crap, brush our teeth, check out and run the 500 meters to our appointed place ... All by about 7:39. Impressive I know :)
Anyway, the bus is supposed to leave by 8:00 but the ticket agent (who also has a restaurant) wants us there at 7:30. So we're there 9 minutes late, no worries. Turns out we could have slept another hour cause the bus didn't actually pick us up until 9:30. A 2 hour journey later we arrived in a tiny riverside town. The bus driver has no clue what to do with us and after a couple phone calls he realizes we're supposed to be on a ferry to Don Khon.
Quick tip: always ensure you accentuate the correct syllable to ensure you're taken to the correct destination. We're currently in the 4000 islands of southern Laos. The 3 main islands here are Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khon. Yea you read that right. So I make sure to really hang on the 'n' in Don Khon.
We finally make it to the ferry which is just a crappy old skinny boat and are taken to Don Det first then Don Khon. There must be atleast 10,000 islands all around us. I can't believe the boats remember which way to go. Our island is fairly large but not as inhabited as Don Det. Apparently it wasn't always like this. Not too long ago neither island had 24 hour electricity. Now it isn't a problem and judging from the river, Don Det seems to have much more in the way of buildings than our island. Suits us just fine. The only problem here so far is the heat. Deadly hot. Sweat is pouring off of us in streams.
We hung out around our hotel for a bit and walked around. There's a bridge connecting Don Khon to Don Det but it's a 20,000 kip fee to cross. As we tried to walk under it a local guy stopped us and demanded 20,000 kip. We both laughed at him and asked if he was joking. We went back and forth for a few minutes and finally just walked away. The Lao police have yet to come find us.
There are a couple water falls around here and some super rare Irrawaddy dolphins in the mekong nearby. So we're going to rent bikes tomorrow and explore the island and maybe see some dolphins.
We had dinner tonight with some new friends staying at our hotel. Super nice ladies from the US and Canada. They're much more travelled than we are so we chatted them up for as much info as we could get out of them. Some of their stories make us want to lock our valuables and money in a safe somewhere.
So after dinner we walk back to our room, open the door and turn on the lights. Then we notice Carolyn's sunglasses on the floor along with a cookie package nearby. On close examination we see a hole in the package and some teeth marks. Teeth marks which could only have come from .... The creature. So we've just spent the last 30 minutes searching for how it could have gotten into our room. Nothing. We can't find a hole large enough for a mosquito much less a flesh eating monster.
So we plan to sleep with our headlamps tonight just incase something decides to attack us.
Pics:
1) ferry to Don Khon.
2) ferry to Don Khon.
3) evidence of the creature.
4) crime scene.
5) Carolyn preparing to take the first creature watch.
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