4000 Islands

　
So we were headed to Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), a group of islands in the Mekong River in Southern Laos.

We had to meet at the hotel where we booked the bus tickets at 1pm. As check out at our hotel was at 11am, we decamped to a restaurant for a couple of hours. When who should stroll along but Lee, so we got to catch up with him for a couple of hours before we set off. We took a minibus to Viantiane, where we got loaded onto a sleeper bus at a massive bus station. The bus set off at about 8pm, and they turned all the lights off at 9pm. At 1.30am the following morning the driver decided that would be a good time to stop for a food break, so all the lights came on and we stopped for half an hour. I think we arrived in Pakse at about 7am in the morning and had to wait about an hour for our connecting bus to 4000 Islands. 

We eventually got dropped about half a km away from the dock where we had to get the boat to Don Det. The boat turned up, a very unstable looking longtail, and they bundled about 10 travellers with rucksacks on, and off we went.

The first view of the islands is fairly breathtaking even in my very tired, over it all state of mind.

 

We we were on Don Det Island by about 3pm that afternoon. As soon as we arrived we booked into the first available room just to have somewhere to put the bags down. As it turned out it was like a prison cell with no window, they were charging $7 a night and the place was crawling with everything really, cockroaches, ants etc.......

We headed straight out for food and as Don Det is a tiny island soon bumped into Joe one of the friends we had come to see. There followed a quite hazy evening spent catching up and listening to some of the boys jam on their guitars.

The following morning we went on hunt of a new home, and found one for $4 per night with a great view of the river, balcony and private bathroom, perfect....

There is not a lot to do in 4000 islands and most days are spent hiring a mountain bike or a tube. We hired bikes a couple of times and went over to the neighbouring island Don Khone, where the biggest waterfall in South East Asia is.

There was even a area cordoned off for swimming, although you had to work very hard not to be swept downstream

Whilst we were out on our bikes we saw some lovely Laos villages and spent a lot of time just finding spots along the river watching village life......

 

 

The tubing was a lot more reasonably priced than Vang Vieng with a tube costing 80p for the day, although it was limited where you could go as there were waterfalls on both sides of the island. We had one very hairy moment, which involved a lot of manic kicking and splashing to avoid being washed downstream but overall just a lot of drifting lazily.

We spent my birthday on Don Det and booked a kayaking trip to go and see the Irrawaddy Dolphins. The group was not too big, and they were all fun people. So we spent most of the day paddling around the 4000 Islands, all in all pretty sedate, but there were a few rapids, which were fun. We then paddled out to a deep lake between Cambodia and Laos where the dolphins live.

Thankfully, they are free to live in the wild as nature intended, so seeing them can be hit or miss. The Irrawaddy dolphin is also facing an uncertain future. In some parts of the river they have been trapped in fishermen’s nets, or have died from water pollution. This deep water zone is a protected area where they can swim freely. Today, the Laos and Khmer don’t hunt the dolphins as they are believed to be reincarnated humans, but the 1970s hundreds were killed by the Khmer Rouge who wanted the oil for their war machinery. We were very lucky to see 3 or 4 different dolphins and set off to a local village ready for lunch very satisfied. During lunch the village children were playing a very complicated game of tag, which was very entertaining...

That afternoon after more paddling (by this point my arms were a little on the sore side) we arrived another waterfall, which was very impressive. All of the waterfalls we have seen have been lovely in their own way, but they are all very different. This one was massive and amount of water going over it was incredible, the force of nature.

On our way back to Don Det we came across a temple with a cemetery inside. We have seen a few of these and the gravestones are absolutely stunning, these are some of the blingiest we have seen....

We spent another few days relaxing on the island when we both became quite ill, with headaches, tummy upsets, sore eyes, and really sore backs. It was really very bizarre but passed after a couple of days. The weather on the island did not help, as the weather reports were saying that the temp was 39, but it felt like 43/44. Even me and i do love the heat, found it really hard to deal with. The slightest movement caused you to break out in a sweat and it didn't get any cooler at night.

Being on the island is a bit like being in a timewarp as everyday is the same, and no one has anything to do. So basically the routine for travellers and locals alike is wake up, sit in hammock for a bit, have some breakfast, go back to hammock for a lie-down. Have some lunch, then yes back to the hammock until dinner time, when the evening is spent in a hammock possibly with a good book. The Laos people are so laid back its ridiculous and they actually look a little annoyed when you go into their shop/ restaurant, as they have to get out of the hammock to serve you, or not, depending on how they feel at the time. Most of the locals hammocks are strung up under the restaurant/ shop which is on stilts. On Don Det especially the hammock is a way of life....

The plan next had always been to go on a trip to the TreeTop Explorer Experience, which is basically ziplining through the Laos jungle. This is one of the things that we have been planning to do for months and months, so it wasnt great that we were both unwell. But as this trip had to be booked from Pakse, i sent a couple of emails and got us booked in for a 2 day, 1 night trip into the jungle. Hoping that a couple of good nights sleep in a nice air conditioned room in Pakse would sort us both out.

So the journey back from the islands begins.........