4000 Islands, Laos (...the other side)
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2004
1
19
30
Trip End
Apr 08, 2005
Si Phan Don,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
We enjoyed a lovely 15 min cruise to Don Det, dropped our bags at the first guest house we saw (money was no object) and over paid at $4.00 a night/bathroom outside. We rented bicycles that evening and scoped out a new place to crash for the rest of our time in the islands. Don Khon is attached to Don Det by an old train bridge that the French colonists built
01 - Arriving in Ba Nakasang
. Don Khon was where we wanted to be.Don Khon and Don Det are good places to relax. The place we found on Don Khon had simple bamboo bungalows and had a big porch looking over the Mekong River between the two islands. It was actually one big bungalow dived into two rooms. Each with its own bathroom. Our neighbours were a Swedish mother and son duo. In the few relaxing days we were there, we rode bicycles to a beautiful waterfall. I went swimming downstream from the main falls. When I came out and we were walking back, Tobi noticed a sign on a tree saying "Danger! Do not swim here. Undercurrents are strong. In memory of Xavier, our friend who died here." Guess I was lucky. We also took a boat/canoe trip to another waterfall with our Swedish friends and a french couple, stuck around for a nice lunch on a terrace overlooking the waterfall and chatted the afternoon away. The french woman was a social worker and her husband was in building restoration - quite a coincidence.
We celebrated Tobi's birthday on Don Khon too, enjoying a nice dinner on the banks of the Mekong, where she had her first non-vegetarian dish of our trip. Fish. There was a monkey at the restaurant who pick-pocketed my cigarettes. She must have been watching me from across the dining area because with one quick motion she shook the pack, thrusting one smoke out and into her mouth! Then looked at me as if to say, "Got'ta light?" I struggled to get it away from her so she wouldn't eat it.
As we had a 30 day visa for Laos, that cost $50 each, we planned to stay in the country the whole time. With nothing left to do in the islands, we left on a boat early one morning to the mainland to catch a "bus" to Pakse.
