Si Phan Don - Paradise, hammocks and 4000 islands!

Leaving Pakse at 8 o clock in a minibus, we arrive opposite Don Khong, on the mainland ready to cross the river. We pay a local fisherman 10,000 each and climb aboard his long-tailed boat, no wider than a kayak but long enough to fit around 12 people in.
It only takes about 15minutes to cross the river, and before we know it, our bags are all loaded off on the side and we can hop off.
"Welcom to Don Khong!" We are greeted by the locals and we arrive in Muang Khong, the apparent capital of Si Phan Don. There we found our guesthouse for 2 nights. The Island consisted of 1 road that goes around the island, 1 road that goes across the island and our road in the "capital" which, about 600m of road consisting of no more than 10 guesthouses and a Wat at the end.
As for tourists, you could count them on your hand. We chose to stay on Don Khong as it was best for the most 'authentic' experience, and it certainly was.
The amazing thing about Si Phan Don was the lack of traffic and tourists.
The day we arrived we decided to go for a walk and see what was around. The street we were staying on was a small rural village, full of houses on stilts and each household owning atleast 1 boat. Once we walked away from the river, the surroundings were rice paddies, buffalo and again their stilted houses in the middle of their fields.



Every person we passed along the way shouted out 'Sabai dee' whether it was an adult or a tiny child. Some even ran up to Sar and kissed her hand!! Everyone was so friendly and almost proud to show us their countrylife! Hardly any traffic made it even better, being out in the sticks and everything being soooo peaceful and slow!..perfect
That evening we had a meal out on the river before turning in after a long day!
The next day we rented some bicycles out so we could go further into the countryside and stroll around on the bikes all day!...I started with a sweet bike, but Sar soon swapped them leaving me with the cranky one! we must have cycled for miles, along 1 road. There were tracks off from the main road, but these were mainly dirt tracks leading into the middle of the paddies and coming face to face with a Buffalo! We biked to a crossroad where there was a little village, with a few shops where we could stock up on water and shampoo! we forked left and we biking to the south of the island, much the same scenery, rice paddies for as far as we could see and houses on stilts. Random children walking around with sling shots and parents out in the fields working. It was certainly an authentic experience!

After 2 days on Don Khong we were ready to see what Don Det ('fabled the travellers Mecca') had to offer. That morning we got a 1 and a half hour boat ride down the Mekong to Don Det, a much smaller island, and more of a paradise! Lined with palm trees and no actual roads, it was soo cool. We got off our boat, made our way down a track and managed to find a little hut on stilts, right on the river! with a balcony and 2 hammocks!!! Heaven!! that was a done deal, for £2 a night!! ridiculous...the hut was a bit rough and ready, a massive hole under the door, cracks in the floor boards and every join had gaps in....Our first worry was mosquitoes...thank the lord we are on Malaria tablets...surely malaria would be guarenteed!! But we had a mosquito net which for once didn't have any holes in! we were safe.
(Although we had not noticed the shower...back to Delhi ways, no shower just a bucket and a smaller bucket to tip the water over you with....although Delhi was a bit more luxurious, this was cold water straight from the Mekong...the water was brown, the same colour as the river!!...yummy!)
We spent the rest of that day relaxing in our hammocks admiring the fact we were on the river soaking up the timeless Laos way of life on a paradise island!

That evening we decided to get a drink, a cup of tea and some chips (so English!) and we bumped into James and Joe who we had met in China and 2 of their friends from home . Of all places, we bump into them on a pretty remote island...how strange!!..anyways we went for a few Beer Lao's and caught up with each others trips, and it turns out they are going to the same full moon party, flying to Bali around the same time as us and also spending Christmas and New Year in Sydney, surely we'll bump into them down the way!...While we were having a drink a MASSIVE fight kicked off between 3 dogs, 2 ganged up on 1 getting him in the water, almost drowning him before 1 was biting his throat and the other was working on his leg. It was sick, truly a bloodbath. Luckily some Lao guy stopped the fight and let the injured dog limp off. No medical care on these islands for humans let alone dogs...we spent the rest of the night thinking about that poor dog.

The next day we got bikes out and decided we would bike down the island to the bridge which connects Don Det to another island Don Khon. Don Khon was notorious for seeing the irrawaddy dolphins but we thought we would give it a miss, afterall we had been swimming with wild dolphins in India, what could compare to that!?
The old railway bridge was left over from WWII but wasn't running any more, although they did have the train there still which was pretty cool.
We biked further down the island and reached the massive Li Phi Falls...Wow!!! they were amazing, you could see why 2 travellers died in it recently, you'd be a fool to try and go in, it was crazy!! We biked further down to a "beach"...a sheltered bit of water with a raised sandy bit, so I guess it resembled a beach in a way!
It was pretty cool and I was so hot I had to have a swim, even though the water was brown and the undercurrent was pretty strong....sure!!
After a cool off we got some lunch on Don Khon, on the river and had a cycle through the mini villages before heading back...our hammocks were calling!
We got some tea and then spent the night chillin' out in our hammocks on the river with 2 candles...definately a paradise!



We had 2 more days to relax with our hammocks and that's exactly how we spent those remaining days, Sar hasn't moved from hers since that biking trip!...oh actually we did go for a walk, into the centre of the island briefly which again was out in the countryside with rice paddies, stilted houses and lots of kids! One night we did go for tea at an Indian restaurant and had the usual, malai kofta only to find out the 3 waitresses/waiters were ladyboys but a poor attempt. These were dressed in women's clothing, speaking all girly and dancing all girly, but when you looked at them, definately blokes!!! a bit strange and definately put us off our food. I tried to steer Sar away from the subject just while we ate our dinner but still the conversation always came back to them!! the worst part was a foreigner was at the back of the restaurant, slaughtered! and was chatting up each one of them, putting his hand through their hair and on their lap etc....he's going to have to find out the hard way!!!....we never went back....food was great though!!

The last day I decided to go for a walk down the sunset side of the island, and met a friend. A local Laos country lady, who was working on her Rice paddies, she was going around catching fish with a basket!! it was genius!...she had a fish in 1 hand so I asked her where she got it from, and she showed me how she caught it and where! she couldn't speak any english and probably not a lot of Lao as she had no teeth but used the pointing technique and I got the message! She let me get a picture of her, although I'm not sure if she was happy...she certainly wasn't smiling in the picture...lovely old lady though...I thanked her, showing off with my bit of Lao and headed on my way back to my hammock...



4000 Islands was certainly a paradise! Away from the beaten track; the most chilled out place I've ever been, definately unspoiled by tourists due to the lack of them and easily worth the 3 days travelling down to them! 'Asia's most relaxing destination'....definately!!