Day 27 - Guess what for breakfast? regardless what were written on the menu... expect fried eggs n baguette in the south.
Today we went to Wat Phu, the ancient Khmer religious complex in Champasak. It is smaller compared with Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but the site layout that is unique in Khmer architecture, led to Unesco declaring Wat Phu complex a world heritage site. The stairs are unbelievably narrow and steep, that i could barely put my foot on it. The old tall trees are beautiful. They grow on both sides of the stairs and covered the sky like a tunnel. The site is big. We spent hours taking pictures and walking around.
After the walk, it was pass noon time, we got to catch the boat again and move on to Si Pha Don. I just realized we had to cross the Mekong again to the other side, where we came last night. Today we had the big boat. The weight of the big boat can carry was unbelievable. Considering it was a combination of 2 long tail like boats and a board. There was a shuttle bus on the boat with us... These boats on the Mekong are by far the most spontaneous vehicles i have seen.
We didn't know what the bus schedule was and it was getting late. So... we decided hitch hike. Guess what we got? A tractor! I couldn't believe a tractor will stop for us. 4 of us, 2 other travelers plus some locals all popped onto the back. If on a normal bus, it would take 3-4 hours to Si Pha Don, but now, i guess would be 6 hours, i guess? it wasn't the most comfortable seat, however, i was enjoying the open top tractor and the random kindness of the local people.
After an hour, we were transferred to a jumbo. It was packed. The first thing i saw at the end of the jumbo were 2 little piggies. Before we popped into it, there were at least 12 people in there, bags of rice and cements all over the floor. There were 4 of us plus another 2 travelers. We could barely squeeze ourselves into the back.
Another 2 hours of sardine experience, we finally arrived another pier. Got to cross the Mekong on a long tail boat to Don Det, one of the islands in Si Pha Don. I could only see under the moon light. After a day of traveling, we back to quietness and calmness surrounded by the Mekong and the sky.
We arrived pretty late, was about 10ish at night. Ben brought us to the place where he used to stay n knows the owner pretty well, called the Mama's. At night I couldn't see the island well, but I thought it was very small as we only walked like 3 mins from the pier and here we found the Mama's.
It was another long traveling day. I enjoyed my first time hitch hike. I like the unknown, the surprises, the random kindness and the flexibility. no rules, no boundaries.
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