…gained ten (read the other nov. 28 entry first)
paul, katrina, and natalie have been my traveling companions for the past week. we met up in ban lung, bonded on our near-death boat ride up the mekong, and spent a week together relaxing on don deth island in southern laos, literally a stone’s throw – or a kayak ride – from cambodia.
if we each lost a life on the mekong fast boat, we gained ten on don deth island. sophie slesor, the 6 year old daughter of family friends that i stayed with in phnom penh, informed me a couple of weeks ago that i grew up in the olden days. well i’m not quite 21 but it’s all relative, i guess. anyway, i experienced on don deth what little miss sophie must imagine of my childhood. dirt paths wide enough for bicycles, perfect for morning jogs. no cars (okay, maybe the occassional motorbike, but it’s a rare site). bamboo huts. no electricity, aside from the generators that run from 6-9 pm to provide a bit of dinner lighting but mainly to power the blenders for pina ko lao laos. everyone goes to bed with the sun and wakes up with the roosters. piglets chase ducklings, chickens cross roads, water buffalo languish in roadside mud and paddie fields.
after a daily morning run down to the other end of the island, the week involved a lot of hammock time, a lot of pondering, some writing, and some great books. we decided to take on the mekong in a less shocking fashion. one day we rented bikes and cycled to a swimming hole, the next we moved from the hammocks on our hut porches to inner tubes on a tamer section of the mekong. we really outdid ourselves yesterday; a full day of kayaking down grade 1-2+ rapids.
the biggest dilemma of the week was how to get the hammock to its most comfortable hanging position. it was a welcome break after the emotional slog of cambodia. don’t get me wrong; if it’s possible to be in love with a country, then i’m in love with cambodia. i want to live in cambodia, i want to explore every corner of it, and i’m already thinking of going back having only been out of the country for a week. but its history really hit me. i cried a few times. i want to read everything about cambodia that i can get my hands on, but the problem with reading these books is that i’m afraid i’ll lash out at the first unassuming american i see. you can’t shoot the messenger, or the informed, concerned, intelligent american toursit, but shit. it seems as if that country prompted or caused nearly every conflict in this part of the world. they bombed the hell out of cambodia, laos, and vietnam. they supported corrupt officials in order to suppress their obsessive fear of rising communism. due to land mines and unexploded ordinance, many dropped or planted by the u.s., cambodia has the highest proportion of amputees of any country in the world. now george bush is saying that they will only sign on to the ottawa convention to ban land mines if an alternative method of national defense is established. maybe things have changed since i left north america, but this was the last i heard on the issue. please drop me a line if there’s been any sort of improvement. anyway, it makes me writhe. yes, the united states is a huge aid donor in cambodia (they have the means), but what sort of message is the country sending if they will not acknowledge the totally debilitating impact of land mines and agree to ban the production and use of them? especially after having played such a predominant role in propelling the cambodian genocide? that was rhetorical. it makes my blood boil.
p.s. on another note: i have to admit, i’ve been contemplating the post-asia adventure. not tomorrow, or next month, but maybe a year and a half down the road, maybe summer 2007. i picked up a rough guide to australia a little while ago and peaked through it. i’ve been meeting so many extremely cool aussies that i might just have to explore that part of the world in the not-so-distant future. check out the pics.
p.p.s. i’ve settled into traveling. i know this sounds ludicrous, but when it’s a long term thing, i think it’s something that you really need to settle into. i’m not stressed out about accomplishing great things or saving the world anymore. traveling is self-indulgent, and if you give yourself the time and the space to indulge a bit and be okay with it, then it’s fabulous.
Tags: Travel
Administrator
November 28th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
hey fabienne…
glad you made it safely into the country i love so much.
Laos is a kick ass place to be…that being the main reason i extended my visa by 10 days when i was there last.
last year, after i left Don Det..i headed north to the Kong Lo cave…something the new lonely planet talks about and is very much worth it.
at least in my opinion.
it was off the beaten track and rocked my world.
if i could do it again, i would probably stay an extra day in the small town known as Kong Lo…and maybe 3 days in Khoun Kham (at the time Khoun Kham was called Ban Na Hin… which was changed to Khoun Kham and now might actually be called Khoun Kham Kong Lo….yeesh).
anyhow.
the town is small…but elephants do inhabit the jungle nearby..there is apparently a waterfall to be seen and there’s a pleasant little guest house (XocXai…i think…5$ a night…just off the highway) and restaurant (Mithuna’s…5 minute walk from the restaurant) where an English chap gave me lots of tips on the area.
He’s a bit of a drinker though..so if he’s still around, use caution. otherwise he was super super helpful.
i would have perished without his advice.
if this sounds like your deal…go for it. the cave rocks.
it’s a 4km cave with a river that runs through it…they take you on it in a boat.
you stay in the town in a homestay.
they’ll feed you and everything.
hope things haven’t changed.
it was the most amazing picturesque place ever!!!
also.
don’t forget that North of Luang Prabang is the beautiful Mong Ngoi…very much like Don Det in its lazyness…I could do a week or two there too. lots of self-hiking…a waterfall to seek out (literally…we had to hike through a stream to find the sucker)…and great small villages to do overnights in. oh…and there’s another great cave there. slightly more dangerous than Khong Lo…there’s a stream at the heart of it. you need a good group of people with lots of flashlights. if you have experience ib bouldering or rock climbing it helps…it’s also very slippery down there. so use caution.
DON’T DO IT WITH LESS THAN 4 PEOPLE.
ok.
enough.
gotta run.
if you need any advice…let me know…or just check out my old journals on my blurty…they have everything there.
martine
November 30th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
Since you arrived in Cambodia the home library on the country doubled in size …
Enough reading to keep you going for a month. A lingusitic study entitled Why did they Kill lends a very interesting anthropological perspective.
Your description of Don Deth Island sounds very much like Lamu, Kenya 1976. I hope it inspired poetry and prose to capture all that will inevitably change in time.
The phots are fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love
Mom
December 8th, 2005 at 11:32 am
We’re following your adventures too FF, with perhaps a bit less equanimity than Uncle Ross, not being parents. Enjoying your pictures very much (my personal favorite being the parasailing series). Better get a bigger backpack, Aunt Mary wants to stow away on your next trip. Snow on the ground here, and puppies in the suite. We’ll probably talk to you at Christmas. Happy trails!