savanakhet to don det

don det, laos

luckily, we really couldn't do too much after the lady with the home depot-esque apron knocked us out with that rich food in that public square the night before. sleep would come early and easily, the ensuing 7 a.m. wakeup the same.

through either serendipity or prearrangement with the guest house owner, a tuk tuk was present and ready to carry us two kilometers to the bus station on the outskirts of town. we could stare out at the quiet early morning streets and try to figure out which trees were bougainvillea. the 8 o'clock bus was going to leave at 9, giving us time to take a baguette with scrambled eggs and a coffee. i was about to order a second round, but my travel partner passed the rest of his over to me. he had time for a couple round-trips to the toilet (1000 kip) because he was coming down with the shits. there would be a later bus, but he said he would be good to go.

good thing too. a six-hour bus ride will call your bluff, especially this one. he had a good view from his window seat, but just so happened to be right behind the only broken chair on the bus. my legroom was ample, but the aisles soon filled as we picked up passengers every kilometer or so. they had a plastic stool that they could sit on. the guy in the aisle beside me had a black shirt that read, "memory of a time: america" and had a big bald eagle on it. i spent a fair amount of time thinking about the designer.

it got hot. a dry, stanky kind of hot. we were all crammed in comfortably (travel partner the exception) and the trickles of sweat on the forehead and pools on the stomach actually felt good. i felt like i was earning each drop. the girl in the broken seat was wearing a pink parka (with one inch teddy bears) and wool gloves. she kept them on the entire trip.

there were a number of other westerners aboard and we all got off when we got to pakse. somebody just said that, "pakse" and we disembarked. it was some nameless street and there were a pair of tuk tuks waiting. we were skeptical that we had to get off but everyone else was, so we did. the tuk tuk charged us 40,000 kip for the ride to the bus station because it was eight kilometers. we arrived at the bus station a good ten minutes before the bus we were just on arrived.

there would be no more buses down to the landing for don det. there was a sawngthaew that would leave so soon as there were enough passengers. if you don't know what a sawngthaew is, just look at the word and that should tell you enough. we had time to get some soup soup at the bus station, next to a stall selling a t-shirt featuring abe lincoln in a g-unit hat, among other wares. the soup was delicious.

it only took an hour for the sawngthaew to fill to capacity. we were in the covered back bed while the warm, late afternoon wind rushed through us from the open sides. we went probably 300 meters before stopping to fill up on gas. then it was time to hit the road. or, rather, to backtrack 100 meters to pick up another passenger. then it was time to turn around and hit the road. and stop about six kilometers later at some roadside market for a still unknown reason. i bought a pair of doughy pastry things instead of the grilled chicken on a stick. the lady who went to buy oranges came back soon enough. we had to wait ten minutes and then drive another five minutes around the market to find the other missing passenger. she came back with a watermelon and some vegetables.

it was comical and i was delirious. i reasoned that at the present rate of travel, we would be halfway toward our destination by nightfall. but the early stops were the aberration. we had two, maybe three stops through the rest of the trip south. we couldn't see the sunset, but we could feel it. not only in the dimming of the light in the world around us, but also on the local faces relaxing into sleep or rest. passengers turned from conversation to idly staring out at the passing terrain. the cute five-year-old girl staring at me throughout the trip eventually returned my goofy smiles.

we arrived. it was pitch black and we were told to follow the girl in the green shirt. the driver pointed at her, looked to us, and said, "don det." why stop trusting now, we reasoned. we carried our bags and each grabbed one of her watermelons and stepped into the darkness. there was a landing below and we could see at least two steps in front of us by grace of the starlight. there were some distant lights and somewhere between here and there was a big body of water. the boats came into view.

the lady in the green shirt approached the "captain" and we got into a small, four-bench wooden boat with a cover and a motor. we pushed back and were out in the mekong. my ass was sore, body covered in congealed sweat and grime, mosquitoes and various insects flying in my face throughout. i was more than a little bit tired. but there was something about that water. the ride couldn't have been more than ten minutes, really just skipping over a pond.

but it was the moment that had the moment. every now and then, these moments come through where the past, present, and future all align within me for a very poignant, brief period of time. it's really hard to explain. i'll just say that we were pushing out in the warm, dark, tranquil water of a place i had been yearning to be, and everything made sense. everything. it was that feeling that you're returning to some special place you've never been to, one to which your soul has always found itself attached. and it's like all those days of longing converge upon that one sweet memory that just so happens to be right exactly now.