Day 73

I was becoming increasingly aware that Don Det of the 4000 Islands is just a collection of guest houses. The two tourist attractions are another waterfall and a French-built railway that is out of use since the 70's. The railway was needed so that the boats wouldn't have to go up river (impossible with all the waterfalls), but never got repaired after all the U.S. bombings.

1 The French Railway bridge

We went for a walk to find the waterfall and it took us longer than expected - over 90 minutes. Not so much a small island after all! We stopped at a small restaurant and chatted to the young owner about his life in Laos. He'd been off to school in Vientiane and came back here to build his business. He'd done a good job too - a nice (but quiet) restaurant and a few bungalows to let to tourists. He explained how all the young people in the area were jealous of westerners because we could go anywhere we wanted. I told him about the EU and how borders and working restrictions across the continent were practically non-existent. He was amazed since to go no more than 10 miles south into Cambodia he would need a tough-to-get visa and passport.

2 The waterfall at Don Khon

We crossed into Don Khon by bridge. The old French railway bridge was minus its tracks which been appropriated by the locals for other uses. Continuing our dusty walk to the waterfall was difficult in the heat and we determined to get some motorised transport back! The waterfall was ok, but I had gotten tired of them by now so didn't hang around long but found a restaurant near by to eat at.

The trip back was fun - the van we were in couldn't cope too well with the thin bumpy mud roads and it was throwing us around lots in the back - I thought I was in a theme park!

I bought my ticket to Cambodia - all the way to Pnom Penh the capital in fact. It was $26 and would take from 8am to 10pm tomorrow to get there. It meant goodbye to Patrick and Samantha who were also off tomorrow to Bangkok to get their flight back to The Netherlands.

3 The more impressive Mekong course after

For dinner Patrick and Samantha had bumped into Bjorn and Susan which was a great surprise - we ate and had several beers. I did my card tricks repertoire which was received greatly by Toby, a Swedish guy, and some other Swedes and English girls. Toby watched in frustrated awe and bought me two beers to show him my secret. I would have told him for free but you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth!