It was never going to be easy. We had read countless horror stories of the bus from Siem Reap, Cambodia to 4000 islands, Laos.
The specifics are too tiring, and there are too many things that went wrong to write it out in detail, but it involved an overbooked bus meaning the two of us shared a single seat for 12hr, corrupt border control officials, and three bus changes, the last of which deposited us on the side of a deserted Laotian road.
It ended with us boarding a leaky wooden longboat whose engine needed a lot of caressing before agreeing to start. We crossed the Mekong in the dark, guided only by the light from the pilot’s phone.
Nearby, we swam in the river, and searched for endangered pink river dolphins, but didn’t see any.
We observed a third unique fishing method. Along with the stilt fisherman of Sri Lanka and leg fishermen in Myanmar, the men here continue to show that there’s more to fishing than a line and rod. (Most people were probably aware of this, but I wasn’t.) Here they use nets. Square, weighted nets are flung onto the surface of the river, then a line cinches it in, and the net is hauled up and inspected for fish.
4,000 Islands, is perhaps, one of the most relaxing places on earth. Other than the aforementioned sights, there’s not a lot to see. The pace of life is very slow. Residents give a new meaning to the phrase “island time”, as they slowly attend to tasks. Easily, it took one hour for simple meals to be prepared.
By chance we happened to be there for a local festival. We walked miles in the dark to reach the the party, where there were two stages, both blasting music to compete with one another. We listened to the music, viewed the traditional dances, and watched locals eat things like fried pig’s feet. 