Dolphins, happy pancakes and bike rides.....

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Woke up about 930ish, Karen was still asleep but it was a lovely day (and already piping hot!) outside and i had the dilemma of yoga or a swim, with the heat the swim won, tho decided that bikram yoga could be quite good here with the heat, but there'll always be tomorrow ;-) We'd planned a bike ride over to the neighbouring island Don Khone later so didnt want to knacker myself out too much and the beach was calling :-) So had a dip, some sunbathing, breakfast on the hammock - yes we still have a hammock even though we don't have a bamboo hut so all good 😊

Around lunchtime we set off for our bike ride, we cycle for about half an hour up to the bridge where Don Det meets Don Khone, this alone was amazing scenery though hard as the path was a bit rough in parts so had to keep an eye on where we were going as well as on the scenery :-P We passed lots of little islands, more water buffalo and generally lots of animals wandering around freely - so nice to see, even the pigs, so far none on sticks!!

After the bridge we headed on the straight main path through Don Khone, there were 3 main things we were aiming to see here - a waterfall, the irraddy dolphins and a temple. We cycle for about half an hour and come to the boats that take us to the dolphins, this literally borders on Cambodia and the dolphins are really rare so unsure whether we'll actually see any, apparently they are only here and in Kratie (Cambodia), we share our boat with a German girl called Emma who's cool and head off dolphin spotting, damn i should've brought some binoculars, ha! Well shock, horror, we had only been going about 15 minutes when i spot one, over all we spotted them about 10 - 12 times jumping in and out of the water, however they don't come too close. Now ok, maybe i'm being a bit naive here as i didnt at this point know the difference between salt water dolphins and these irraddy dolphins, but i decided why not try to swim with them, it's a lovely day anyway and we're not too far from shore, so why not!? So i jump over and our boat lady starts to look rather confused - am i the only person to jump off a boat before, surely not! But maybe i was, or maybe she was worried i couldnt swim! Well i didnt get to bump into any of the dolphins but they were nearby that was good enough for me to say i kind've swam with dolphins ;-) I then got back on board and our boat lady started to laugh - think she was relieved she wasn't going to have to go back to shore explaining away why one of her passengers jumped overboard!!

Anyway going back to the dolphins, even though they weren't the salt water ones i still got the energy and lovely spiritual feeling from feeling them around us (actually before we spotted our first one.... ) so was such an amazing experience. We then headed back where i had a pint of mint tea (yup, a pint not a cup, ha!) perfect way to end the afternoon!!!

We then needed to head back as it was near sunset (sunset time is 530 here) so decided to try and find the waterfall and temple another day, the cycling is so much fun and a great way to see these islands so not too fussed we need another visit here.... We pass lots more buffalo and their young so take lots of photos (they'll get on facebook one day,. i promise!!)

We get half way back to the bridge and are relieved as at least it means we will get back before dark (no roads or lighting on these islands!!) but a heart breaking sight is in front of us, a dog with a huge skin infection with it's neck covered in all sorts of lumps and sores, i remembered how i'd been told even people don't get hospital treatment here so there's definitely no hope for this poor little doggy, we make a fuss of him and he goes to follow us, so sad, but he does at least look well fed so we said farewell and went on our way back to our neighbouring island, apart from the unfortunate dog it had been a great day......

We've noticed quite a few places here too have 'happy menus' so decide to treat myself to a happy pancake! it's actually the tastiest pancake ive ever had so not actually going to be too fussed if that is all that is happy about it, hmmm, it's actually that good i wonder if they'd think i was mad just asking for a normal 'unhappy' pancake maybe another time!! I then go for some noodle soup and for the first time since ive been in Laos i understand all the 'waiting for ages' that people have told me about..... but my happy pancake starts to work which is probably just as well being at this point im still waiting for Karen, they are playing Christmas tunes and have more pathetic xmas tree decorations (sorry nothing against xmas decorations in general but some here really do make me laugh, happy meals or not ;-) - what is it with 'happy' menus in this place and xmas decorations in february! And i swear im not imaging them!!! :-P

Well the rest of the evening is chilled and as the pancake promised a happy one, ha! We just chill on hammocks and by the beach before heading home for the night, no alarm clocks set for tomorrow, just a really chilled day on the beach and more island discovering ........

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