Don Det, Laos

Look, if there is a Beast, I will protect you. But if there is a Chicken, I am running in the opposite direction!

You’re a Chicken when you see a Chicken!

The only chickens I like are the ones on my plate.

The thing with Don Det is that you don’t need to go searching for a Happy Time. It will literally hit you in the face. Happy Pizza, Happy Cookies, Happy Shakes. Just all round Happy People.

It is a different feeling when you are traveling across South East Asia. Not sure if it is the people, the relaxed chaos or the very feeling that time has stood still for you. For me, South East Asia transformed me as a traveler.

I had been traveling for over a month now and had finally entered Laos from Cambodia in what seemed to be the most ‘Asian’ border crossing. It was about 6 in the evening as we reached the border crossing which to my dismay was shut. Now, if you are imagining immigration checks and security personnel, you are wrong. It is a hut. Yes, the border check is a man in a hut.

And apparently, the fellow in the hut had packed up and switched off the lights. “You have to come back tomorrow,” said the bus driver to me and a bus filled with 5 Australian tourists. Nah, this wasn’t happening. I got off the bus and walked to the ‘Hut’ where I saw a man sitting in his boxer shorts.

I need to cross.

Come tomorrow. Border Shut.

No, I need to cross now.

Border Closed.

This time I slipped him $5 and looked at him as sincerely as possible. The lights came on, the man sat up straight and said okay you can cross now. There is nothing a Fiver couldn’t achieve in South East Asia.

I finally reached Don Det and got myself a nice Bungalow on the Mekong River. I was definitely looking for a Happy Time.

And it was definitely looking for me. ‘Get your Happy Bags’ read out signboards. I joined a Dutch girl who I had met on the boat to the island as we got ourselves some bikes and rode across this 7 km island.

If there is one thing more blissful than the those Happy Bags in Don Det, it is the sunsets that smack you in the face with different colours and hues. I have always loved sunsets more than sunrises, perhaps it is to do with the colours of the sky or the fact that I am probably not going to wake up for the sunrise.

We parked our bikes at one of the cafes, you know one of them hippie, everyone and everything is love cafes with their mattress and low-lying coffee tables surrounded by those huge pillows to lean back on. I have always wondered if it is the same guy who designs these places or perhaps being closer to the ground gives you a better high. This was a place to do absolutely nothing but rest your soul with some Beer Lao.

Would you like a shake?

Yes.

A Happy one?

Aye!

And a cookie too.

Happy Cookie!

We bit into our cookies and drank the shake slowly as the cafe played some 90s pop and lo and behold time moved even more slowly than it did on the island as we reached a perfect place where both us and time stood still.

Now to be honest, parts of this story are missing because I am not sure how we reached our Bungalow. I do recall having a conversation about chickens and walking beside a paddy field. Although, this could have been any other conversation at any other time. It’s all Chickens and Paddy Fields.

This is why you come to Don Det. To get away from the craziness of the rest of it. You are not here to find yourself. You are here just to be. You are here to have a Happy Time.

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Noooooooooo, I screamed!

What is it?

Ghost!

A Ghost?

I pointed at the Ghost hovering above us.

Umm, that’s the mosquito net.

Oh Shit, it is. I thought it was a ghost.

Looks like you’re still stoned.