Most Frightening Experience @ 4000 Islands (Part 1) 4千島驚魂記

After my early breakfast in Pakse guesthouse, I took a minivan to a town further south, Ban Nakasang. The journey was about 2½ hours. All of us reached there around 10.30am and waited helplessly at the tourist bus terminal without knowing what to do next. Sooner we all were informed to walk to the river pier.

We reached at the "river pier" and we had no other choice but to cross the wooden plank. I noticed it was troublesome for people who carry a luggage along! Each of us were arranged to go on two different boats - Don Det and Don Khon, as they are moving to different island anyway.

On the boat heading to Don Det island.

The view from the boat is some lowland islands surrounded by forests. Apparently I can't notice any single concrete building. I supposed these islands are still remained largely undeveloped to maintain its natural resources and the whole ecosystem here. I have the feeling my life is going back to nature. Life seemed to be getting easier here and everything is back to the basics. 

Our backpacks were unloaded from the boat. I grabbed mine and walked away from the backpackers and a few locals were busy persuading backpackers to stay in their guesthouses.

I thought of getting the cheapest room in this backpacker’s island so I just walked further into the island. The main business on this island is tourism; there are mostly wooden chalets, guesthouses, tour agent shops, grocery shops and restaurants along the unpaved village road. It looked pretty much like a Malay kampong! But I knew there isn’t any welfare facility such as clinic, police station and very limited network facility here.  What made this self-sufficient island into a backpacker’s paradise besides its attractive nature?

I just came along the sunset side; there are some wooden chalets by the river. I checked up those but they didn’t seem to suit my needs. These chalets by the river have a good location overlooking the sunset of Mekong river but they were just below my expectation i.e : no fan and the bathroom is located away from the chalets! (pretty much like a kampong/village house). This looked terrible to me as safety and privacy is also a basic requirement for me especially on this remote island. So I just moved on until I found this little wooden chalet. It's a new twin room tiny chalet and I found out later I was the only person staying there. Each has a bathroom and a hammock attached outside.

I have tested everything: the shower and fan were working fine but only the power point is attached outside. Soon I realized the room door is not able to shut up properly. I quickly made a complain to the chalet owner. The owner and his wife both looked around the age between 35-45. He and his wife spent about 10-15 minute to remove the whole door and shove the edge of door so that my door can be closed up firmly! 

Although it was hot in the afternoon, I just felt the room condition was not so bad. I was also impressed with their kind service for helping me to fix things up quickly. After negotiating the price with the owner, I just paid them four nights (80,000K) in advance.

I was sitting and watching them doing the repair work.

The view behind my chalet is a paddy field.

I just took a nap and went to a nearest riverside restaurant for my dinner. I met the lady owner and her staffs. All her staffs looked very young. Opposite her restaurant are some bigger chalets "Don Det Bungalow". I never bother to know about those chalets since I was thinking to have a dinner by the river. Time out in Don Det island...

I spent my whole evening sitting by the river enjoy the peaceful time reading LP, chatting with the kids, playing with their kittens and it was just a simple day I thought. It was almost 8:30pm. Pretty late for the villagers. The whole islands seemed to rest very early here. Who knows…

The tiny chalet in the evening.

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After coming back to the chalet, I decided to take a shower cause the weather was hot and humid and my whole body was so sticky. Something I never ever expect had happened. While taking my shower, all of a sudden the light bulb just went off. I immediately opened the door and noticed the room lights and fan were stop working too. The whole room was in total darkness! At first I thought it might be a power trip somewhere! I just immediately covered up and walked out to check the room condition next door. The room was unlocked; I tried turning on and off the light and fan several times but the whole room still remained dark. My mind kept asking why blackout at this hour? Why blackout is a trend?? (after the May post-election everyone on the net was talking about the blackout 505 in Malaysia)

My next reaction was grabbing my lighted iPhone and quickly dashed out to look for help from the chalet owner! All I could recall the first time meeting him was at the opposite restaurant by the river. Soon I realized the whole restaurant was closed at this time! Obviously the whole restaurant was empty and even the kitchen door was closed. At that moment, I never have the courage to walk closer to the eerie looking kitchen to find out anyone is inside. I could only stand in the middle of the empty road looking around cluelessly and trying to figure out where have the owner and his family gone. Why did the guy and his whole family just suddenly disappear to nowhere? The extreme silent atmosphere was so eerie. Not faraway I could barely notice some unlit wooden village houses scattered around the dark area! As if the whole setting was extremely perfect for a Lao horror movie!

From that moment on I thought I will be really in deep trouble since I was staying alone in the chalet, my things were messy in room and there’s nobody next door to seek for help! I kept remaining calm but I was completely pissed off with the owner who had built such a useless chalet without any power supply at night! And most importantly how can I locate him in such a backward village? Why did I risk my life to stay here in the first place? This creepy atmosphere and terrible environment is not what I could stand any longer. I knew I wouldn’t let myself suffer with all these crap the whole night long here. I MUST DO SOMETHING!

My next thought is to quickly hurry off to the riverside restaurant which I ate my dinner earlier. The curtains were all down there. It was almost 9pm everyone seemed to sleep very early here. When I met the lady boss, the first thing I asked about the chalet owner that she might know. After explaining my trouble, I could notice she reacted calmly in such an unhelpful manner and suggested me to grab my things to check out the chalet next to my room since I told her it was lighted. I had no better way but to try the chalet she suggested. I did exactly what she said. I returned to the room and desperately dumping all my things into the backpack. I went to the empty chalet to test out the lights. The same incident happened again! The power just tripped after several times on and off the room light. From the chalet porch staring at the restaurant, all I could see is a bright crescent moon above the clear sky but sadly I didn't have any mood to enjoy it. My mind just told me there isn't a single sense of safety if I continue to stay here! I wasn't sure if this scary place has any thief or wild animal is lurking behind those trees or bushes. I could be robbed or attacked by them anytime soon!! I knew I was paranoid that time but I still have to settle all these and dig the owner out as soon as possible to get back my money for four nights in total!!

The view of river and the restaurant from my chalet.

Soon dashing back to the restaurant and explained the whole incident, I asked the lady if she could provide any of her chalets for half of the price since it was almost midnight. She didn't seem so helpful but offered a bit of discount to stay in her expensive bungalow style chalet (mentioned earlier),which is just opposite the restaurant for about 80,000K per night! Of course I didn't bother to accept it after she mentioned the price! Also I knew I didn't left much Lao Kip with me. I looked totally frustrated and irritated after going through all these trouble. I started raising my voice and questioning her where the owner is hiding. I was almost like prosecuting her cause she seemed to be unwilling to help or she doesn’t want to get into any trouble? My reaction had really shocked her and she started to realize things have gone worse. 

After she had a quick talk with her staff, the young girl looked reluctant but she brought me along to a village house located near my chalet. That time I was really pissed off with this lady cause earlier she just pretended she didn’t know anything about the chalet owner. But now the truth enlightened me that she actually knew where the owner is staying but she just unwilling to reveal anything and possibly trying to avoid any unnecessary trouble to herself. The fact is their restaurant and my chalet are the closest and I have at least spent some money in her restaurant earlier. But she was clearly just so unkind and looking down on me. So this was how I have been treated in 4000 Islands. I was lamenting where are all the good people in Laos? Now at least I have seen the ugly side of the people here.

The girl and I were walking in the dark to the owner's house. "I want my $$$ back! I want my $$$ back!" these words were running through my head. While walking I felt my body was somewhat shaking due to all these sudden unpredictable occurrences. I was so pissed off with the owner, the lady and the whole bloody island where I think there was not a single sense of warmth hospitality of the Laotians here compared with what I have encountered before.

Soon we came to a double storey wooden house, it just looked like a typical Malaysian kampong (village) house! In the dark I could barely notice the lower ground is a big vacant space and there was a wooden staircase to climb up to upper floor. Both of us stood at the lower floor, the girl just started talking something in Lao. Some people noises were heard but we couldn't see who was up there. But soon I could hear a man and a lady's voice were mumbling up there. I was completely speechless then. A man from the top just appeared and he just climbed down. Finally, he is the chalet owner I have been searching for hour! I repeated my whole story slowly and tried to make it in simple English as possible. Without much hesitation, I just directly told him to return me the room money. From his blurted and sloppy speech, I knew he was expecting everything should be fine before and he wanted to confirm if the room lights are still working. At that moment I didn't believe he could do black magic and make the lights on again since both chalets were completely blackout!

Soon I can't help it and I started to lose my patience. I knew my anger is beyond my control now. I started raising my loud voice and staring at him: “My room no light! All room no light! I want my money back! I want my money back!". My voice sounded demanding but also trembling from the anxiety. All his calm and gentle voice was heard, "Understand…Understand…Understand". All I wanted him to do was to return my money no matter he wants to do later. I just behaved like an aggressive loan shark cum yakuza and threatening them to return all my money!

He still wanted to find out what’s wrong over the chalet. He stayed calm and escorted me back to the chalet. On the spot I just let him do whatever he wanted to do. He tested out each chalet and the lights and fans in room just failed to work at all. No surprise all these didn't work coz he's not David Copperfield nor Cyril takayama. Now he seems to understand why I desperately asking for refund. As we left the chalets, it just looked exactly as a haunted house as if some spirits are still staying there!

We came back to his house. His wife passed him the money but he's still trying to prove me his own village has no electricity. He pointed the whole blackout area saying, "Same same, here same same". At that moment, I felt a bit annoyed and challenged so I just pointed the riverside chalets opposite and said “They have lights! Why here no light?” He felt embarrassed and had nothing better to say so he just remained silence. He looked really unhappy when he was passing the money to me. I counted my money no less and felt relieved! Phew!

I knew he might need these money as an income to feed his family. But I didn't give a damn on him.  From my perspective, as a backpacker I don't deserve to suffer all these since I paid for the room and I believe there are still some good and cheap chalets with proper power supply all night in this backpacker’s island. I was completely disappointed and tired with all this so there’s no point continue to stay here even if the electricity is back tomorrow. To let them know I was completely pissed off, I grabbed my backpack and told him,” I won’t come back here!” and I just left his house confidently.

Walking to another bright village nearby, I managed to find a better chalet for 30,000K a night. It was way much better than the haunted chalet. It was a good sleep the whole night. :)

The better chalet costs 30,000K per nite.

MY THOUGHT:

While writing all these things, I believe I can't never forget what had happened on 21^st May in 4000 Islands. It was the most frightening experience in my life. I felt I was really lucky and brave enough to overcome all these hardship. Fortunately the chalet owner did not call any gangster to beat me up. I was glad that I have survived on the night. Most importantly I have learnt a lot from this lesson. I don't need anyone’s sympathy on this. It is me that put myself into all these trouble!

In such case, the next time I should always stay with a group of backpackers especially in those undeveloped places/islands. I should be aware of the owner's house, get the contact of the villager or at least knowing the whereabouts of the owner and people around. And I have no plan to revisit this place in near future. But other part of Laos was great! :)

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CONTINUE What to do in 4000 Islands