On Friday morning Johan informed me that he had paid for his half of the room, and he departed for a three day motorbike journey. When I began to pay the remaining half of the bill, however, I was informed that none of the bill had been paid yet! Johan had seemed like a very honest guy though, so I stood my ground, blindly putting my faith in Johan's claims. After a circular five minute conversation of 'He paid already!' and 'He no pay!', a new member of staff was enquired who duly revealed that Johan had indeed paid up.
One tuk-tuk ride, one bus ride, and one boat trip across a river later, I found myself on Don Kho island. Following Lonely Planet to the word, I stated the magic word to the guy who sailed me over the river; "Homestay". He looked at me blankly. "Homestay" I repeated. Nothing. I figured that he clearly wanted his 20,000 kip. Once I paid him he pointed me in the direction to walk.
Stating the magic word to every other villager resulted in more pointing, and it wasn't long until I was following a bicycle to a nearby village house. After settling my stuff down I was immediately offered some food; a very salty omelette and a tub of sticky rice. I politely fought through as much as I could.
Before long I was strolling around the island. The villagers were the most friendly people I am yet to meet on my travels. Despite the huge language barriers, they were very keen to say hello and state "Where you from?". My encounters included a family who took great pride in showing me photographs and a colouring book they had received from a previous foreigner, and a bunch of happy children playing a game which involved throwing some sort of light projectile at each other.
A little later I was invited to go fishing with four young villagers. This involved the four of them dragging a large net along the shallow river floor and then dragging it together. This would consistently draw up a mass of tiny fish little more than an inch long. Following the group through the river, however, also resulted in me soaking and breaking my phone. It was inside a forgotten pocket in my shorts. This was very frustrating, I was using my phone as a clock and torch! It appears that I am breaking my electrical devices at a rate of one every two weeks, so I'm not looking forward to the moment I break my IPod in Cambodia!The oldest of the group of four was twenty-two. Her English was slightly better than the other three and she informed me that she taught English at the temple at 7pm. She asked me if I would like to come along, and I accepted. After an hour or two watching them fish, I engaged in a few more village encounters (including a meeting with a small pet monkey) and I returned to my homestay. I had some fairly good fish soup for dinner and, being lost without my phone clock, wondered if it was 7 o clock yet.
Upon asking I found out it was indeed 7 o clock. It was dark outside and I feared that the lack of light would hamper my short walk to the temple. One false move in the wrong place and I would tumble off the side of the island! Nature was at hand, however. A lightning storm was flourishing in the distance. Despite no rain and no thunder, frequent flashes of lightning lit the path, and I managed to arrive at the temple without any slips. All I found, however, were a few praying monks. If her English class was running, I failed to find it
I returned to my homestay, and it wasn't long until everyone, including myself, was asleep for the night. I slept well, although a middle of the night journey to the outside toilet was severely hampered by the lack of my phone light!
The following morning started with a salty beef breakfast which I again forced down, and another fishing trip. This time I accompanied the father of the household I was staying with. The fishing was a solo task, and I think the aim was to catch much more sizeable fish than with the technique I had seen the previous day. All it involved was walking into the river and a throwing a net, but getting the technique right was harder than it sounds. I watched the man do it a few times, and all he caught was a small fish, not much bigger than than the fish we had caught the previous day. It was about two inches, and he threw it back.
When it was my turn I caught a lot! I caught my shirt button twice and my shorts pocket button at least three times. I struggled to get the net to spread out, but incredibly I caught the biggest fish of the day! It was about three inches and extremely fat! The man seemed unimpressed, but as far as I was concerned, I had won! My fish was bigger than his.
The rest of the morning was spent exploring the far side of the island. After a few more village encounters I said my farewells to the family, paid them, and made the journey back to Pakse. On the bus home I continued reading The Beach - it's closing to the end now. I am now relaxing in Pakse and plan to go to 4000 Islands tomorrow. Whether there will be much to write about, I don't know - the islands are apparently all about doing nothing! Let's hope they have a copy of The Lord Of The Rings there!
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