4 THOUSAND ISLANDS

Having left Pakse, we made our way south towards the 4 Thousand Islands. We had intended to go to Don Khong initially, but our bus driver ended up going further south and dropped us off at Don Det. So, we just ran with it.... Checked into a small place overlooking the Mekong river called 'mama's something or other'. (Mama was a very eccentric old woman who would always be laughing and smiling, but hit you when you were bad (as in drank too much the night before and vomited everywhere. Seen it happen..... to someone else!!!)). Was a great little spot and spent the entire first day drinking on the decking with a few more Irish, English & Canadians. This was followed by a stop off in a local reggae bar where the menu served everything and anything (alot of which i cant publish on this blog). Happy cakes, happy shakes and the 'hangover breakfast' as it was so aptly called consisted of sausages, bacon, eggs, tea, toast, Paracetamol & Valium. (What do ya know, i managed to mention a few of them). BRILLIANT!!! Spent all that night listening to gecko's and the lizard that had been so kind as to join us in our room earlier that day.

The next day we rented bicycles and cycled around Don Kon & Don Det. We were cycling for the best part of 4 or 5 hours, but it felt like we were at it for days!!! I had shaved when we set out and returned looking like a feckin yetty. Some great scenery as we meandered through the jungle (Racing away from giant insects) and then along the river banks. (Got off the bikes and our legs were obviously in auto-mode as we nearly bolted straight into the river). As you can imagine, we didn't do much that evening but relax on our hammocks and... well, relax some more. But, i was obviously relaxing too much (Or violently swinging on my hammock) as i was awoken to a nice thump as my hammock snapped and i ended up on my arse. That got alot of laughs out of everyone else.... surprisingly i was not as amused as everyone else!!!

We left for Don Khong (Our original destination) and stayed in a really nice place for the 3 nights we were there. We said we would splash out n treat ourselves for our last few days in Laos before heading to Cambodia. (We paid 3.50 euro each per night). Rented a proper bike for this island as we had learned our lesson on Don Det (Our lesson being that we didn't wanna cycle anymore. What, that's a lesson!!!! Plus, this island was 52km round trip.) All was good but for the fact we had to get the same puncture fixed 3 times within 2 hours. For the entire morning i was pushing the bike around (like an eejit) in the heat looking for the next place that could fix it, cursing that we didn't get bicycles again. Ironic eh?? Ah well, its all part of the experience i guess!!! Just spent the final day doing nothing but lazing in the hammock, reading and drinking gallons of water.

So that was the end of Laos..... On to CAMBODIA!!!

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Part of trip: SE Asia

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