A Relaxed New Beginning

9:59 PM

Our ride out of Cambodia to Laos had some issues as expected...

But the border crossing was uneventful and we're excited to be in the land of Four Thousand Islands in the mighty Mekong River. This river is HUGE! We take a tiny local ferry to the island of Don Det and spend our days exploring by bike, taking in the waterfalls and rural life along the Mekong.

These falls are so big, they're impossible to capture in a photo. They may not fall from the greatest height, especially when compared to the enormous width of the river, but the shear power of the water pushing through them is intense.

Fishermen perch on the banks, holding A-frame nets into the current.

You have to keep your roosters in good shape for their next fight!

This boy clears his rice paddies of water buffalo with a slingshot.

Taxi!

My animal whisperer. Even when he doesn't try, animals he's allergic to jump into his lap seeking his mojo.

We're ready to move on, get our bus tickets and hop on the ferry to the mainland. The bus finally arrives, we board and when our tickets are checked, they tell us we should be on a different bus that's coming soon. So we grab our bags and hop off and wait for our own bus which the staff assures us should be only ten minutes. Within two minutes of that bus leaving, the bus station is shut down and all staff leave... Ummm hello?? As we're pretty sure our bus doesn't really exist, I walk the street looking for help. I find people who take my ticket and make a few screaming phone calls. They finish with the screaming, look at me and say, "Tomorrow." Yup, that sounds about right for Laos. It's back on the ferry, back to Don Det for another night. It could certainly be worse.