Blogs from Don Det, South, Laos, Asia - page 9

Laos ist wohl das entspannteste Land Südostasiens. Lao PDR ist die offizielle Landesbezeichnung, wobei das PDR für People's Democratic Republic (Demokratische Volksrepublik) steht. Inoffiziell steht PDR jedoch für das Lebensmotto des Landes: Please don't rush! (frei übersetzt: Immer mit der Ruhe) Eine der ruhigsten Ecken des Landes ist Don Det, eine der sogenannten 4000 Mekong-Inseln im äußersten Süden des Landes, wo der Mekong sich auf über 14km Breite ausdehnt und dazwischen eine eher an eine Flusslandschaft mit unzähligen Inseln gebildet hat. Die Bewohner leben hier von der Landwirtschaft, Fischfang und dem Tourismus, der auf Don Det überwiegend Backpacker-Tourismus bedeutet. Die Unterkünfte sind meist recht einfache Bungalows am Flussufer, deren Einrichtung ausschließlich aus Bett und Moskitonetz besteht, sowie einer Terrasse mit Hängematte. Ein eigenes Bad bedeutet schon Luxus. Das ... read more

01/24/10 - 01/26/10 Welcome to the next chapter in our wild adventures! What will go wrong this time? What great sights will we encounter? Read on to see! On January 24th we were picked up at 4:50am by a tuk-tuk to bring us to the bus station where we would board a minibus to Kampong Cham province then change to a VIP bus to bring us all the way to Laos. In Laos we were staying in the area of the 4000 Islands, specifically the island of Don Det. The 4000 Islands is so-named because in the dry season the Mekong dries up a bit and reveals 4000 islands (or little tiny bits of land). There are 3 main islands where tourists go and we stayed on the smallest of the 3 (also the most popular ... read more

And so from Pakse we headed back south to Si Phan Don (or Four Thousand Islands, on the Cambodian border) for a Christmas so far removed from what either of us had experienced before ....and swiftly sinking in to a hammock induced slumber for four days. We arrived on boxing day, getting a wooden boat from the bus drop off point to Don Det, the 'livelier' of the settlements in Si Phan Don. The short journey was a lovely glide through the waters of the Mekong, past a couple of islands covered in lush scrub, landing on a small sandy beach at the village of Don Det. This proved to be almost entirely made up of very simple, lovely guesthouses/bungalows, bars, and restaurants for tourists - particularly the young and those who are not averse to ... read more

Sabai-dii (Greetings), this is the only thing you’ll hear from the locals in the most amazing chilled out place we’ve ever been too. Si Phan Don, its literal English translation is the Thousand Islands. The Four thousand Islands is a stretch of the Mekong that during the rainy season stretches out to a breadth of 14km, the river’s widest point along its 4,350km journey from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea, Laos is the fourth country of the six it passes through. However, during the dry season the river recedes leaving behind hundreds, if not thousands of islands and islets. The largest islands are inhabited all year round and the locals are very self-sufficient, growing all they need on the islands. We stayed on the island called Don Det which in the LP is ... read more

We didn't really know what was ahead of us, heading into Laos. We'd heard that it was an amazing place but nobody could have prepared us for how beautiful this country is or how much fun we'd have here. We started off in the south of Laos and Paulo found his perfect paradise island. We arrived on Don Det in a small boat, suitable for no more than five people but in true Asian style, it was loaded with twice as many. There were no roads here, just small dirt paths with water buffalo, cows, chickens, roosters, dogs and cats roaming round. We started looking for somewhere to stay on arrival but all we could see was people lying out in hammocks. When we asked about accommodation, we were pointed in the direction of empty bungalows, ... read more