Leaving 4000 Islands proved an even greater rip off than arriving. Painful negotiations for a fair mini-bus price from the village to Champassak (smoothed over and finally sealed by gifting couple bananas to the driver and his price-maker) led to worse negotiations with a tuk-tuk driver charging $1 to drive us about 2km (should have been about 40 cents) from the mini-bus stop to a ferry that cost 30 cents, non-negotiable, to my saviour, a guest-house owner who offered a free tuk-tuk ride to his place on the river in Champassak proper, 2km away. I have no intention of staying (I am in Champassak only to see the Wat and head to Vietnam), but he gives me a lift anyway since I will rent a bicycle from him.
My quickly made friends also coming from Si Pan Don this morning loan me their Lonely Planet (as I am (gasp!) traveling without the backpacker's bible...) and I learn the famous Wat Phou is only 8 km south of town. I drop off my bag, stuff my valuables in my hand-made purse, fill my water bottle, and hop on the $1 rented bicycle, which seems somewhat sturdier and certianly more used than my last rented steed (which gave me the broken chain adventure...). It feels amazingly good to be back on a bicycle, even in 90+ degree heat. It is my favorite way to travel.
The Wat is a world heritage site, but I hear it does not hold a candle to Anchor Wat which I plan to visit in a month or so, so I decide not to pay the $3 entry fee (not part of the day's budget and I am running out of Kip...no ATM's in the south of Laos). I gaze longingly from afar. The ruins appear beautiful and I can feel the sacred vibes from across the foot-ball field sized rectangular reflection pond teeming with life separating me from the site. A barely discernable heron perches in a tree near the Wat and several fish leap out of the water, catching their dinner flying above and walking on the surface of the pond. Definitely worth the hot bike ride.
Returning to the guesthouse, I take a sidetrip down a lesser-traveled road that shortly turns to dirt and I am rewarded by shouted greetings from enthusiastic children. I wave back and smile and shout "Sabaidee!" in return. I wonder if I should stop to play with them for a bit, but they seem to just be sitting around on their bicycles or engaged in their own ritual games and I decide to remain a snapshot passing through. Well worth the dusty trip, these are the Laos people I love. I stop by a near-ruined temple on the return trip and kneel for a few minutes, praying grattitude and love.
The ride back to return my bicycle is creeky, but uneventful. My tuk-tuk driver friend now wants 5000 kip for a ride back to the ferry dock so I can catch another pricey tuk-tuk to the main road to wait for another expensive mini-bus ride to Pakse where I hope to depart for Hanoi tonight. I decline, pack my stuff re-refill my waterbottle and start walking. Half-way back to the ferry dock, he drives up laughing with another gentleman in the back, waves me in "Free, free, ok" and off we go. At the ferry dock, I tell him his smile is golden and I really appreciate it. I think he understands. Norman, from Canada, and I arrive at the dock just in time to see a small ferry leave, so we wait a few moments. We see a couple following a Laos man off to the side and wonder if they are going across, so we follow them.
Turns out, they have paid this guy $12 for a boat ride up river all the way to Pakse (about 2 hours ride) and they offer for us to join them. Negotiations begin. This man is much more kindly than many I've been negotiating with, though he starts with $5 each...phew, no thanks. Even nickel and dimed, I believe I should be able to get to Pakse by ferry and bus for $1.50 or $2. Norman persists and tries for $3 each...no no, he starts to push off. Our friends on the boat say "Wait wait, we have already paid you and don't mind if they come...don't you want to make some extra money?" so the boatman agrees to take Norman and I for $7 together...$3.50 each. Norman gets on, but I hesitate...this is more Kip than I want to part with for the journey, and say $2.50 is my max offer...not enough, so I begin to walk back towards the ferry. Boatman laughs, ok ok, come back. $2.50 ok. And so I return to travel on this river I feel so akin to and comfortable with and have said good bye to 3 times, now. I hope this trip is not my last time with her.
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