No Urban Conveniences, No Problem

Upon arrival, I along with a handful of travellers were greeted with what felt like the absence of the sun’s ozone layer, because the UV rays were so powerful that it hurt my exposed skin. That day, I felt for those that didn’t have a base of melanin in them like I did.

That’s the first thing I remember when crossing the Laos-Cambodian border to get to my final destination­ of Don Det, an island in the middle of the Mekong River in Laos, made up of tiny villages.

The village where I stayed reminded me so much of my mom’s village in Punjab­–no internet, no electricity and no western sewage system. You were never more than three feet away from wild chickens, bunnies, kids, geckos, stray dogs and so many species of bugs. Not only were locals able to have an intimate relationship with nature here, but nature was able to interact with itself without any concrete distractions.

Keen to explore the village, my friend, Sarika and I started on a sweaty descent through the rice fields and dirt roads. Back then, exploring had to be done when the sun was out, once the sun set, there was a small window of twilight before night time hit and everything was pitch black. Artificial light was non-existent.

I didn’t intend to fall into a natural whirlpool that day, I just wanted to dip my feet into the crystal, blue water in…