Say "NO" to corruption

So there we are on the Laos/Cambodian border, in the blazing midday heat arguing with border officials why we shouldn't have to pay the $2 extra 'fee' they try and overcharge you, and a local pushes in front of us handing over his passport plus the $2 bribe - wearing a grey t-shirt with "Say NO to corruption" plastered across the back. The irony was clearly lost on him.


All told, the officials try and extort $8 in bribes per person on that crossing - for various dubious reasons (stamp fee, weekend tax, health fee). About 45 minutes of arguing managed to save us $6 - the price of a room for a night - so I was happy. In any case it was a good introduction to the endemic corruption in Cambodia.

Laos I felt was a horizontal country - in that I seemed to have spent most of my time there in a horizontal position, be it lying in a hammock, hospital bed, conked out on boats along the Mekong, or even while loving the comfort of the sleeping bus - this was a new concept for both of us! These buses have full-on sleeping compartments arranged over 2 floors - although if you're a single traveller, finding yourself snuggling up with a stranger may not be your favourite way to travel!

We had travelled overnight in the sleeping bus from Vientiane to Si Phan Don (4000 islands) in southern Laos in search of a nice quiet place to spend a few days after the craziness of Vang Vieng. We aimed for Don Det, a small island on the southern tip with a few bungalow operations and shops. The place was only introduced to electricity 2 years ago, but it's been a quick introduction thanks to the backpacker trail (for better or worse - already a lot of the residents are entranced most of the day by a multitude of melodramatic Thai soap-operas).
Our experience was slightly soured by the seemingly schizophrenic guesthouse owner who alternated between aggressively demanding and overly friendly in seconds. It could only be dampened slightly though given the stunning location of our bungalow perched on the water's edge.

Life is particularly stressful here as you can imagine - waking up slowly and taking a morning dip, swimming across the Mekong to the small island beach opposite - one morning we even stretched so far as to swim around the island! With no roads the only sounds come from outboard motors propelling the longtail boats as they weave through amongst the islands.

We toured the small island on push-bikes....

...and were pleasantly meandering by the water's edge one afternoon when an old Laos guy, caked in brown clay as he was making an outdoor oven, got my attention by throwing a lump of mushy clay at me. He missed thankfully, but beckoned me over and though he didn't speak 2 words of english, through some animated gesturing he proceeded to predict the course of our lives over the next few years... using our birthdates, gender and a strange 16-sided calender shape drawn in the dirt.

First he described the last few years and how they were for us (spot on), then moving onto predicting when we'll have a house, get married, have kids... I won't tell you exactly what he said but the dates struck close to home!