Laos is the kind of place you want to go to in order to get away from the hustle and bustle of travelling. A place where the locals don't hassel you to "buy from me," they are friendly, hospitable and extremely laidback. They food takes longer because everyone is straight chillin...HARD.
The bungalows have a fan and a mosquito net and apparently only recently has the island that we are on, Don Det, acquired 24 hour electricity. Did I mention the hammock outside the bungalow where you can lay in or sleep for however long you please? And also, all bungalows come accompained with your very own rat. Surprisingly since I didn't see the rat, I wasn't bothered by it. He got to my sesame seeds and made a hole in my water bottle holder on the side of my daypack, no biggie. Anyway, you can do absolutely nothing, feel like you have nowhere to go and just escape - whether it's your life at home,the constant 'on the go mentality' as a nomad, or just the nusiance of Cambodian beggars and even your own head.
Our bungalow overlooks the water (which had a dead cow floating in it at 6am one morning) and is on the sunset side of the island. So missing a sunset is impossible and it is also a bit cooler than the sunrise side. There is a sand bar in the middle of the Mekong River which you can swim to and sit around on and, you guessed it...CHILLLLL. It looks so cool from far away, like you are sitting on water in the middle of the river. To me this seems unreal. We are living among the locals, sharing bathrooms, eating and sleeping at their restaurants, borrowing their laundry pan to wash our clothes...TRUST and a sense of community. This is just what I thought it would be in my head but 4566132 times better. It's like I'm in a movie...and I hope no one yells cut, end scene.
The next day we met a great group of people at breakfast. They were all traveling alone and met on another island in Laos. Rachel wasn't feeling too hot, so I ended up hanging out with them all day and night. During the day we swam out to the sand bar and I taught a yoga session!!!! Nothing fancy, probably 15 minutes and everyone loved it! ..or so they said. I know I loved it!!! I've never done something like this before and it was a really cool experience. The sun was shining, the sand was in our toes, and yoga...what could be better? I met a French social worker who was excited about doing yoga his first time and told me he will always remember me as his first yoga teacher :). That night we all met at the "Happy Bar" and had a guitar and a harmonica and the guys jammed out to the blues. Everything closes down at 11pm in Laos so we headed to the beach where there was a "Valentine's Day Party." There were people sitting around on the beach, swimming, watching the bonfire, listening/dancing to electronic/house music and I was just taking it all in. Seemed unreal.
No matter how far away I get from home, I become nostalgic when I travel. As I'm dancing around the bonfire with my new friends, I met a Russian guy from NYC who now lives in Thailand. After the music died down the guys got the guitar and harmonica and jammed out. I asked the Russian guy to play my favorite russian song, GOP STOP by Rozenbaum (Russians know this one) and all of the sudden I'm taken back to listening to my dad singing this song except for I'm in Laos, on a beach, and it's 2am and I'm the one singing gopstop.
The next day we went out and did more yoga in the morning, this time drawing a bigger crowd!!! As we all layed in shavasana (corpse pose) without a sound, I was in disbelief. Am I really in the middle of a river, on the sand, practicing/teaching yoga? As we all layed there, the French girl next to me says, "wow, this is so nice." I concurred.
We continued the day by renting bikes and going out to see a waterfall. Again, on the ride there and back I get taken back to when my dad taught me how to ride a bike to which I'm so thankful for. Then I think to the present and remember watching him with my nephew and teaching him the same thing that is allowing me to have these experiences on this trip. We ended our last night at the Happy Bar and after 11pm we migrated over to the bungalows and sat around a circle talking and laughing..and I thought, this is my life.
The bungalows have a fan and a mosquito net and apparently only recently has the island that we are on, Don Det, acquired 24 hour electricity. Did I mention the hammock outside the bungalow where you can lay in or sleep for however long you please? And also, all bungalows come accompained with your very own rat. Surprisingly since I didn't see the rat, I wasn't bothered by it. He got to my sesame seeds and made a hole in my water bottle holder on the side of my daypack, no biggie. Anyway, you can do absolutely nothing, feel like you have nowhere to go and just escape - whether it's your life at home,the constant 'on the go mentality' as a nomad, or just the nusiance of Cambodian beggars and even your own head.
Our bungalow overlooks the water (which had a dead cow floating in it at 6am one morning) and is on the sunset side of the island. So missing a sunset is impossible and it is also a bit cooler than the sunrise side. There is a sand bar in the middle of the Mekong River which you can swim to and sit around on and, you guessed it...CHILLLLL. It looks so cool from far away, like you are sitting on water in the middle of the river. To me this seems unreal. We are living among the locals, sharing bathrooms, eating and sleeping at their restaurants, borrowing their laundry pan to wash our clothes...TRUST and a sense of community. This is just what I thought it would be in my head but 4566132 times better. It's like I'm in a movie...and I hope no one yells cut, end scene.
The next day we met a great group of people at breakfast. They were all traveling alone and met on another island in Laos. Rachel wasn't feeling too hot, so I ended up hanging out with them all day and night. During the day we swam out to the sand bar and I taught a yoga session!!!! Nothing fancy, probably 15 minutes and everyone loved it! ..or so they said. I know I loved it!!! I've never done something like this before and it was a really cool experience. The sun was shining, the sand was in our toes, and yoga...what could be better? I met a French social worker who was excited about doing yoga his first time and told me he will always remember me as his first yoga teacher :). That night we all met at the "Happy Bar" and had a guitar and a harmonica and the guys jammed out to the blues. Everything closes down at 11pm in Laos so we headed to the beach where there was a "Valentine's Day Party." There were people sitting around on the beach, swimming, watching the bonfire, listening/dancing to electronic/house music and I was just taking it all in. Seemed unreal.
No matter how far away I get from home, I become nostalgic when I travel. As I'm dancing around the bonfire with my new friends, I met a Russian guy from NYC who now lives in Thailand. After the music died down the guys got the guitar and harmonica and jammed out. I asked the Russian guy to play my favorite russian song, GOP STOP by Rozenbaum (Russians know this one) and all of the sudden I'm taken back to listening to my dad singing this song except for I'm in Laos, on a beach, and it's 2am and I'm the one singing gopstop.
The next day we went out and did more yoga in the morning, this time drawing a bigger crowd!!! As we all layed in shavasana (corpse pose) without a sound, I was in disbelief. Am I really in the middle of a river, on the sand, practicing/teaching yoga? As we all layed there, the French girl next to me says, "wow, this is so nice." I concurred.
We continued the day by renting bikes and going out to see a waterfall. Again, on the ride there and back I get taken back to when my dad taught me how to ride a bike to which I'm so thankful for. Then I think to the present and remember watching him with my nephew and teaching him the same thing that is allowing me to have these experiences on this trip. We ended our last night at the Happy Bar and after 11pm we migrated over to the bungalows and sat around a circle talking and laughing..and I thought, this is my life.
ahhh, i love this! it sounds like paradise and exactly where i wish i was right now too...just relaxing in a beautiful place. sooo jealous but i am so happy that you are getting this amazing experience!
ReplyDeleteThanks Julia!
ReplyDelete