Don Det - Paradise Island - Jan 17 - 22
From the moment the long tailed boat leaves the dock, it's obvious this place is something a little different. Everywhere in Laos has been it's own kind of wonderful (well, except for maybe Pakse). The islands of Si Phan Don really have a Robinson Crusoe feel about them. The river, usually a few hundred metres across, becomes 14km wide, and thousands of islands, covered in trees and shrubs, fill its broad expanse. Only 3 are inhabited, and we are going to the middle sized one, Don Det. We arrive on the beach in the northeast corner and begin to walk south along the coast, every centimetre covered with bungalows of various design and security of structure. It takes a km before we find one that has a room. In fact, it doesnt have a room, but a young French guy who has been staying there on and off for months, offers to move into the owners house as he often does, to make a bungalow available. I say Heike can have it and I'll keep walking. She decides she wants to keep looking, so I take it.
I dump my bag (which I think I've carried for about 6km today), and buy Dan, the French guy, a beer to say thank you for making the room available. You will have to look at the photos. The feel of sitting on the dech, watching the sun set behind us as the river rolls by, is too breathtaking.
Within a few minutes, a young European woman walks into the deck asking if anyone has a pair of scissors as she wants to cut her hair off and shave her head. I offer my scissors if she lets me shave her head, and she agrees. Dan and Heike watch and a few hours later, Tatianna is free of her hair and I've shaved my first head. We all stay up talking til well into the night. Don Det already feels like it's going to be pretty special.
The next morning I'm up at 6 - moonlight, buffalo bells and roosters whose watches were obviously fast waking me through the night. I do yoga and meditation for 2 hours on the riverbank. It's the first time I think I've done it since the classes in India. I spend the morning with Dan and hire a bike to ride to the waterfalls with Tatianna. The waterfalls are spectacular - huge thundering rifts in the earth, We find a spot in the rapids, ignore the DANGER! sign and sit in the fast falling liquid that feels like a soft, heavy handed masseur. There is a beach down the river with signs clearly stating not to swim past the rope and that the current has taken peoples lives. It is easy to see how. My concentration slips for a moment and I am pulled heavily into the current, scrambling to the rocks for leverage unless I am dragged downstream to the falls. This is definitely not safe. We sunbake and head into the town on the third island, Don Kon, which is much smaller than Don Det.
I go for a ride around the island and watch the sun set on the opposite side, riding back in the dark. The stars are clearer than I can remember, there being no electricity on the island, and no town for many miles in any direction. I try a shortcut through the rice fields in the middle of the island, which was not a good idea. They are not designed to be ridden in the dark (or even in the light) on a bicycle. I eventually get back, Dan and T are waiting for me and we stay up late chatting.
Roosters, boats and buffalo through the night again - I'm sure heaven does NOT sound like this. Yoga and mediattion (2 days in a row - yay!!). Dan makes T a bamboo boat for her to put her hair on. She cut it off because she broke up with her boyfriend the day before and wants to do a letting go ceremony. They take a canoe out into the river, put the hair in the little boat with some flowers and candles, set it free - and it sinks. Oh well, when it's time to let go, it's time to let go.
I spend the afternoon helping the owner's (Mr Pao) father in law clear weeds from the river with a large tree branch. A rope is tied to the end of the branch and we pull it through the weeds to the middle of the river, clear them off the branches and carry it back. I find it titirng. He must be in his 60s, looks like a bodybuilder with no body fat, and seems to just keep going. Eventually he stops, I think to let me have a break rather than him, but it was good fun. That night we go out into the rice fields to watch the sun set behind a temple built in the middle of the island. When we get back, T offers to cook everyone dinner so she can learn how to cook Laos. I connect my MP3 to a big speaker on the deck and we sit on the deck, eating, drinking and listening to music. Every day better than the last. Truly paradise.
This night, when the buffalo come past with their bells, I get up at 3 and chase them away into the fields. I'm not in bed more than 10 minutes before they're back again. They win. At 5 the roosters start. At 6 I get up for my third day of yoga and meditation. I won't go on about this on a daily basis. Let it be said that, except for travelling days, and an occasional Sunday sleepin, I have been doing yoga and meditation now for over 3 weeks as I type this. It is a wonderful addition to my life. T is in the middle of a 5 day fast as part of a very strict nutrition schedule and invites us to join her. She also talks to us about nutrition and general health stuff and we agree to give it a try. For the next 3 days, I have only fruit and ice shakes and water. After that, only steamed or lightly fried vegetables - no potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, meat or fish. For those of you who know what a foodie I am, it came as quite a shcok how little I actually missed any of this. Once again, it's 3 weeks later as I write this, and except for a couple of celebration dinners, it's been pretty much this diet and I feel great.
I also started the habit of going for long swims every day. As the current travels south, I would walk to 1km up to the beach we were originally dropped off at and swim back, at first with occasional rest stops, and eventually in one go. Once again, 3 weeks later, having been doing that, or some similar exercise almost every day. I realise it's easier to make these kinds of lifestyle changes away from home, without the daily demands of everyday life. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Spend the afternoon with Dan and do yoga and meditation in the evening (and learn why I won't do it in the evening - the mosquitoes like it more then). Another night up late talking with Dan and T and thanking the universe for putting on such a fabulous show for us to watch.
The next day is my last on Don Det. If Goa was hard to leave, here is doubly so. Do yoga and med, walk to the waterfalls, read and sleep under a tree by the river, spend last afternoon with Dan who says he might be moving on soon as well. T and I go to the sunset cafe, meet Monique (Sweden), Annie (Sweden), Laura (Ireland), Michelle (Oz) and Jimmy (Canada). We play Yahtzee (which Monique says she reads like people read Tarot. We ask her to read ours - she needs a bit of practice but it's very funny). After we go to Mama Rastas which Isabella from Vientiane recommended, a reggae cafe with incredible food. T goes back and I join the others for card games on their deck until well into the night before heading back to wait for the buffalo, the roosters and the sun to rise on the morning we leave paradise.
posted by flamethrower77 at 5:21 AM
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