Day 673 - Down to Dong Det

When we arrived at the bus station this morning we were greeted by a truck full of locals all headed in our direction - though they seemed more satisfied with the transport that we were! The 4 of us battled our way into the chaos and squeezed into a position we were unable to move from for the next 4 hours. Along the bumpy, dusty way a couple of other Farang (westerners) jumped aboard and to our surprise they were the people who had been in the nasty boat accident in the cave the same day we were there and are now famous with the tourists throughout Laos!

Along the way the truck stopped numerous times - this involved the driver crazily beeping his horn to alert the food mobs that we were about to stop. At this point about 20 ladies would rush up to the truck and shove grilled chicken, fruit, and bugs on a stick in our faces! It's great when you don't even have to move to get your food.
Eventually we arrived in Nakasang where were attempted in vain to bargain down the ridiculous boat cost to Dong Det (Det Island) - we tried to deal with some private boatmen but they were clearly terrified of the "boat mafia" operating for the tourists, and we had no option but to fork out the cash to get to the island. Once on the Island we found the cheapest bungalows we could (complete with man-eating spider) and as quickly as we could grabbed a beer and jumped in the water.
In the evening while eating dinner overlooking the Mekong we watched as the sky in the distance flashed between pitch black and bright purple as a storm raged in the distance. We were glad we had made it back from our stroll around town, to settle in, play cards and watch the show!

Adlibing it to an Island.