Playing Nurse's Assistant in Don Khon

Wednesday, July 28, 2010--Pakse (Continued)

After leaving the cyber cafe, I walked out to the edge of town to try to get a massage at a physiotherapy place I had read about. When I got there, there were two problems: 1) Their prices were much higher than had been quoted where I had read about the place, and they had only women to give the massage. Here in Asia, I am not comfortable getting a massage from a woman. Too often there is a hope of selling sexual favors as a part of such a massage. Therefore, I just walked back into town.

I tried to connect with the young man from last night to go have Vietnamese food. But he was not at his business. Instead, I went to a place nearby for soup. It was a mistake. Although many local people were there, the soup was not good. It had rice rather than noodles which was not a problem. The problem was the meat. I am not sure what it was, but it was tough and was something like tongue or some other "unique" part of an animal. After that, I stopped for a steamed dessert bun, but it was disappointing, too. I got one with taro inside, and it was too starchy tasting for me to enjoy it.

Crossing the border from Thailand to Laos, there are great differences. I find it interesting how borders affect genes, lifestyles, politics, etc. Houses in Laos are still made of wood or woven cane for the most part and are up on stilts. In Thailand, such homes have mostly been replaced by concrete ones (which tend to be hotter). People in Laos are much lighter in skin color than those in eastern Thailand, and there is more of a yellow tinge to their skin. As far as politics is concerned, I see far more poor people in Laos than in Thailand, although eastern Thailand has a great number of poor people. In Laos, I cannot see that the communist government has been effective in improving life. It may have evened the situation out so that everyone is at the same level of poverty (unless a government official), but there has been no great economic progress here under Communism.

Thursday, July 29, 2010--Pakse to Don Khon

The alarm was necessary for this morning. I set it for 6:30 so that I could be out of my hotel by 7:10. Supposedly, my van was leaving at 7:30. Of course, when I got there I was told to relax and wait. We didn't leave until almost 7:50! And it was a full van with 12 of us westerners going to either Don Dhet or Don Khon (see links in post from yesterday). Most of the passengers were young backpackers who apparently had been partying most of the night as backpackers tend to do. They were trying to sleep the whole way. There were four of us who were alert, a man about my age from southern England, another man in his late 30s/early 40s from northern England, and a woman about my age from France. Of the group, the four of us headed for Don Khon, the "quiet, peaceful" island. The backpackers all headed for Don Dhet which is the "party" island known for drug usage, bars, full moon parties, etc.

To get here, the van turned off the main highway and came about 3 km (1.8 miles) on a dirt road to the Mekong River bank. There, we transferred to long boats to bring us to our respective islands.

Don Khon has no paved roads. There is a narrow road (for motorcycles and walkers) around the island, and even narrower trails that cut across the island. The villages are small. They consist mostly of woven cane houses on stilts and the occasional wooden house. The main village where the boat landed has several small guest houses consisting mostly of bungalows made from woven cane and wood. The banks of the island have coconut palm trees. It is scenic and VERY rural. I can imagine that someone who fought in the Vietnam War could come here and say that the villages remind him of the ones that existed in that country then. People are very friendly. Everyone says, "Sabadee," (Hello) as you pass their home on the trails. I walked those trails for a couple of hours this afternoon.

I booked myself into a guest house that had been recommended on a travel guide on the Internet--the Bounphan Pan Guest House. It has simple wooden/woven cane bungalows (duplexes) on stilts with fan, cold water shower, private bath, mosquito net, large bed, and hammock on the front veranda and costs $3.60 per night. My duplex neighbor is a French-Vietnamese woman--born to a father who was half French/half Vietnamese and a mother who was Vietnamese. What's interesting, however, is that she was born in Pakse here in Laos. Her parents had moved here to avoid the war in Vietnam. They left Pakse for France when she was 5 years old and she has lived outside of Paris since then. She has just made her first trip back to Pakse and said she could remember where the house was that she had lived in as a girl.

It's because of her that I titled this post as I did. She had an accident on a bicycle today. Her left food is swollen, and she cannot walk on it. Therefore, I have been nursemaid to her. I told her that I had seen a pharmacy as I walked, and told her I would go to get whatever she needed. Well, she had bandages and things, but she had no ointment for swelling. She had tried ice with no success. I went to the pharmacy which was so very tiny. There were two shelves of medications with each shelf being about 1.5 meters (1 1/2 yards) long. But he understood that she needed an ointment for swelling of the foot and had something he sold me. I also went down the pathway to ask about buses to Vientiane from here for her, since she thinks she will have to leave here and go to the city as soon as she can hobble on her food. Later, I went across the street to a restaurant and ordered food for her and brought it to her. We've talked quite a bit, although her English is limited.

After taking care of her, I went across to the same restaurant and had fried rice with pork and a large beer. The owner and her family apparently had been celebrating with the money from the two of us who checked in today. I could see 11 empty large bottles (640 ml) of beer at the table occupied by her and five of her family members. She seemed a bit wobbly. That's why I ordered a simple fried rice dish.

While I was out running those errands for my neighbor, I had a pleasant surprise. I saw a young man and woman opening a laptop trying to connect to wi-fi. They were able to do so. They said they had heard there was free wi-fi in the center of the village. But my guess it that it is from the fancy resort there that is located here and charges $45 per night for a bungalow. Well, my cheap guest house is just next door to it, so I tried connecting. I got online--barely, with only 1 bar showing the quality of the connection. Anyway, that is why I am able to post right now.