Hi, I've got it today to my Email.
I don't know this guy but he send it to many emails.. he wrote alot.. hehe 
Hello to everybody,those who know me and those who don't.I just wanted to let you
know of this fantastic destination that you get to via Ubon Ratchatani to Pakse by
international bus,stay overnight in Pakse then down to this mekong delta region
close to the Cambodian border...with Ludo's permission,I used his email address
list of friends and visitors to his Timeout place in Ban Kadun,where I'm also a
sometimes resident.Cheers!
The first time I found Don Det in Si Phan Don Four
Thousand Islands nearly two years ago I did,nt have the sense to make a travelog
of my feelings and observations but i sent some pictures round and wrote like this
: "Just got back from this place in Southern Laos(Si Phan Don,Don Det) a fantastic
journey of nearly four weeks on an island where life in many respects hasnt
changed for nearly 2 thousand years,absolutley remote from the rest of the world
and its unremitting inhumanities to man,a genuine still existing Garden Of Eden.
A Blinding,rejuvenating and healing time...... many fantastic people both foreigners
and Laos who are as benign and friendly more so there than anywhere else in the
world I've ever been.Intriguing ages old river scenes,children playing everywhere
much more overdue self discovery too....Maybe I might still be Knocking on
Heaven's Door but feel as if the catch just slipped."
Some things have changed since then but there is still so much about this place that is creation and
spiritual therqpy without a laying on of hands,it has a pulsz and a
friendliness/an eye for fun that I personally have found nowhere else in the world
like this unless you go back to the horsedrawn traffic days of my summers as a kid
in Kilcorney,co. Cork southern Ireland.
The centuries old river scenes – the casting of the nets and the ambling water buffalo,waterfalls,river dolphins,the
sensational creativities of the sinking giant red ball and the artists residues it
leaves for ages in the sky,gorgeous and nourishing scenery make the national
geographic channel and Bill Oddys springtime nature programme for once thankfully
redundant.Add fantastic food,laos beer to the ingredients of nature and the
clearest night sky Ive ever seen anywhere on this earth – no electric power after
10pm- with trillions of stars near enough you could almost reach the.Judy Garland
could be singing. There are so many nice people,Laos and foreign travellers of
many nationalities who find there way to here.
A trio of Finnish people were staying in Visai,s garden bungalows-most bungalows are on the edge of the island
facing the water.No Meandering walks or bicycle rides for them.A six month old
monkey was tethered on a metre long leash to the garden fence,frequently getting
tangled up and with ver limited mobility.Little by little every day they created
an adventure playground for him….the fact that they were stoned made watching them
all the more charming and entertaining.
Columns of bricks for the monkey emerged from the pile lying there,long planks were secured to a tree so he could walk up there,a line was suspended from the same tree so he could swing to another one.The
piece de resistance was a long line tied to the fence and to the tree to which his
short leash was loosely knotted giving him freedom of movement over about 8
metres. This all happened gradually over a period of five days.Not only would I
watch them sometimes at work,meditatively shall we say from the riverside
restaurant every family with river frontage and a decent view has four or five
bungalows and an eating area,some of them very attractive – but I,d be drawn over
there in the mornig to see what piece of good natured invention had been added.
A sleeping area up in the leafy tree made from an old wicker serving tray came…..one
day they went to Nagasan market 9 é20 minutes by a beautiful long tail boat
journey,most of the Laos owners charge for this,not Visai 9 and came back – only –
with a ring and clip so the monkeys line would run easy.Some unselfcentred
thinking had improved the monkeys life 500 % Was I back in the days of Woodstock?
Yes,I wasn,t asking,I knew it already. There are so many young people –with their
beds still unmade so to speak –leading such interesting and already accomplished
lives.
Merlin – what kind of mum and dad must he have to be given such a name –was
only éà and a year out from finishing A levels,already bankrolled himself to go to
Morrocco,several eastern European countries,to Moscow and the trans siberian
express to Mongolia,down thru China and into Laos…..reading three books at a
time,The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins,1984, and a Michael Moore skit on that
trailer park trash parallel universe over there somewhere…..it is not he or she or
them or it that you belong to I heard once,there's nothing it says anywhere why it
has to be like this or that he told me,his education ,if it will ever come to uni
would be in geopolitics,but,in his own words,he was doing his degree in the
world.Cambodia had been Anghor and Voices From S21,a book examining Pol Pots
monstrous torture chamber and execution centre in Pnom Penh.
C,mon,what a guy !See has always had a very funny slant on things when the mood takes her…..riding
one day on the narrow island pathway that circles the edge of the island,there was
a gigantic water buffalo pat shit in the middle of the path.Stopping,she placed a
large branch into it to act as a marker/warning to other people,scared their wheel
might skid if they hadn’t spotted it….more considerqte thinking that’s so good for
this old soul. But nearly a week later,seeing another one,she stopped,thai style
squatted down,picked up two sandy coloured stones and placed them into the black
mound for eyes,then powdered a handful of dust to make a smily mouth,a black and
white minstrel cum gollywog had arrived out of the produce of someones arse….you
could imagine some other stoned bicycle riders having the luck to see it and
cracking up….she was getting into it and neither of us smoke weed,you don’t need
to there,the whole island is stoned from aeons of peace and untrammelled by media
and white men,til seven years ago anyway when it was first touristed. Keep your
fingers crossed that it stays that way,I,d say it has a good chance even though
changes – the island will have electricity not supplied by generators by end 2010
but will still have a 10pm curfew for example-but it would take quite something to
make a dent in the hearts of these wonderful Laos people.
They sabai di 9 greetings/hope youre feeling fine 9 you all day long,meet you with eyes that have
no complications or conflicts or wanting anything from you . Why would they,they
have everything they need already,an in tact interiority.
That is their gift to you,a gift without any giving taking place.More,much more of this Garden Of Eden
soon,I am compelled to tell it.
Tony (UK/Ireland.)
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