The river absorbs everything. Light wisps of mist in the morning float just above the still water, then the golden hue of sunrise, for another day of summer. It does seem like perpetual summer here. The water takes in the rays of gold and then, as the day progresses, the sounds of children playing, the shouts of joy from the winning boat team of young teenage boys, paddling with crude wooden oars and having the time of their life out in the hot noon sun in their narrow wooden canoes. Back and forth, back and forth, they row and race with the abandon and laughter that is youth.
Late afternoon brings a million incandescent sparkles on the water, broken now by women washing their clothes and more children taking their daily baths. As the sun sets, the river turns a holy trinity of amber, orange, and tangerine. Now, as the mosquitoes come out to feed, the fish follow to the surface to catch them. Fishermen throw their nets from their boats, a graceful arch, time and again, repeated till the sun finally fades and it is night.
The bright crescent moon now sits on the water, her clear reflection broken now by ripples from the remaining fishes. The air finally cools and in time, the water is still again, resting, rested, ready for another day to begin.
After an overnight bus ride from Vientiane plus another day of travelling, we reached the steamy Si Pha Don area of Southern Laos. Known as the Four Thousand Islands, it is where the mightly Mekong River fans out as it crosses the Lao border into Cambodia. Traveller usually go to the main islands of Don Khong, Don Det or Don Khon. We decided on Don Khon, for its quiet slice of Lao life. A slanted thatched hut with stilts over the water cost us $2 per night. It has a veranda with the best sunset view, shared squat toilets, and no electricity. Water came and went from the Mekong. It is run by the sweetest family. The only electricity was in the restaurant sitting area and that comes on only from 6 to 10 at night. The family cooks over charcoal stoves and uses a car battery to run their fruit shake blender, which also provides the light in the shared bathroom. When the blender comes on, the light in the bathroom flickers! At night, it is dark, with stars abundant. And quiet. We loved it so much that we stayed for four days.
In the daytime, we rode bicycles on dirt paths crisscrossing the island and crossed over to Don Det on an old French build railway track. We explored rice fields and waterfalls and ate very well. E went to see the rare freshwater dolphins at the Cambodian border. These Irrawaddy dolphins are almost extinct but in the early 6 am sunrise, she and another couple actually saw quite a few of them! In the evening, E puts on her fire-dancing glowballs and showed the children how to twirl them around. Good times. Rustic, but darn if it wasn’t the finest place we’ve been so far.
