Pakse

Today's adventure was a remote island village, waterfalls, and dolphins! We departed by bus for 2 hours to arrive at a place called 4000 Islands - it lived up to its name. There are 3 larger islands, and thousands of other islands spotted throughout the river valley. We had been told this was a good day trip so when we bought our tickets from the hotel we thought we were buying round trip tickets. As we were on our way there, though, I (Anna) started to wonder if they were only one way, as everyone else on the bus was staying on the island for a few days and no one was doing just a day trip. Once we arrived, we asked our driver, who thankfully spoke some English but he told us the only bus going back to Pakse that day was him and he was leaving in an hour. We had to go back that day because our flight left for Siem Reap early the next morning from Pakse. We debated staying on the bus and going straight back to be safe but the driver said there was a bus going past the main highway we could flag down and get on back to Pakse. As Michael says, we decided to live on the edge (he says not to worry, Mom!) and try to do the latter option so we could stay and explore.

We got onto a narrow boat, holding 20 people. It was about 3 feet wide by 40 feet long. I (Michael) thought it would capsize at any moment, especially as backpackers loaded in with their bags. The place we were going was a backpackers mecca, with small huts overlooking the Mekong river.

We set off across the river, teetering along as a loud, rustic motor propelled us. The boat ride was about 15 minutes through the waterways between the islands. We disembarked on the sandy beach and walked through the narrow dirt street, only wide enough for bicycles and motorbikes, no cars. We wandered down the street, lined with tourist huts selling tours for various destinations. We settled on one and booked a tour to see fresh water dolphins and the largest waterfall in southeast Asia (by volume of water).

It was lunch time. We decided to go to an Indian restaurant that had the same name as the one we went to the night before. Unfortunately it wasn't as good, but did give us a full stomach for the long afternoon ahead.

I (Anna) was roasting in the hot weather, so I dunked in the water and felt much better. Michael was handling the heat surprisingly well and decided not to cool down.

We got on the rickety boat to go back the way we had come. We also realized that we were the only ones on the tour. Back on solid ground, we took a van about an hour away, further down the Mekong river. We got on a similar boat and headed out. It was in the outback; no cars, people, or animals around - just lush vegetation, trees, and the sound of motorboats in the distance travelling around the area. We arrived at a small bay, along with a group of kayakers staying at  nearby resort. The driver turned off the motor and we waited for the fresh water dolphins. Eventually one surfaced, then another. I tried to take photos but we were too far away. We got some good shots on the other camera. We whistled to coax the dolphins to appear - not sure if we caused them to surface, but we had an association relationship between the 2 events.

It was hot, and Anna considered jumping in the water to col down and to swim with the dolphins. I convinced her otherwise.

After an hour on the water we headed back. The tour guide drove us to the waterfalls. These claim to be the largest waterfalls by volume. They were impressive. It was very hot so after taking photos, we filled our water bottle with the fresh, clean water. We are so thankful for the water purifier/bottle combo given to us by Anna's mom.

We got back in the van and rode back to on the main road. We had heard the bus coming from Cambodia would be there around 5-5:30, but we know it's Asia, so we expected it to be later than that. However, after waiting more than 2 hours with no bus in sight, and it turning dark, we were wondering if something had happened. Thankfully there was another larger van there to take travellers into town, and he had a cellphone. He heard that the bus had been delayed at the border, as no one had their paperwork done beforehand. Considering they had 10 hours prior to that to do it, I don't think they had any excuse.

Eventually, around 6:45pm the bus pulled up and about half the people unloaded. We got on and got to sit in the full back row. This was a double decker bus, with the driver and luggage below and seats above. Because of the size of the bus and poor conditions of the road, the top swayed left and right, more so in the back. We could only handle it for about half an hour and then moved to an empty set of seats closer to the front.

It had been a long day. We tried to rest our bodies, but the bumps and movements of the bus restricted any kind of sleep. We decided it was a good idea to travel by air rather than bus in Asia.

Our bus rolled in to Pakse at 8:30pm. We knew exactly where to go: the Indian place from last night. We ordered takeout as we were exhausted. It had been a long, adventurous day and we were happy to be back "home" to a solid, warm bed.