Blogs from Si Phan Don, South, Laos, Asia
November 25th 2011
Viet - Lao - Dia Hallo zusammen, Wie ihr merkt, ist schon etwas Zeit seit dem letzten Blog vergangen. Wir sind schon am Ende unserer Reise angekommen! Ich hatte viel zu viel Spaß und viel zu wenig Zeit, um einen ausführlichen Blog zu schreiben. Außerdem versuche ich nebenbei auch noch ein Fach meines Studiums zu machen, was auch noch an meiner Zeit nagt. Da wir morgen Abend nach Australien fliegen und ich mich dort um ein Arbeitsvisum, Jobs, Unterkunft, Hausarbeit, Autos, Versicherung usw. kümmern muss, gibt es jetzt einen zusammengefassten Blog von Vietnam, Laos und Kambodscha und es gibt viele Fotos zum Anschauen. Bände. Vietnam - Das Land ohne Lächeln Unser Vietnamerlebnis begann in Ho Chi Minh City oder Saigon wie viele Vietnamesen diese Stadt heute noch nennen. Was hat uns der Verkehr hier beeindruckt. Einfach ... read more
July 21st 2011
The bus South to the capital of Cambodia was a day bus. There was no over-night option. Too bad. The border crossing was uneventful except for the so called "stamping fees" ... there was the $1 for a Lao "exit stamp" and a $1 for a health check fee to enter Cambodia ... the guy even tried to stick a digital thermometer looking thing in my ear ... I yelled at him to back off ... no way, am I getting an ear infection from something that's been up enough other people's ears ... reluctantly gave him $1 because I was not ready for an argument ... then the visa charge came to $23 even though it should have been only $20 ... well there were 3 people in the "Visa office" so each had to ... read more
Heading to 4000 thousand islands (Si Phan Don)
Published: May 8th 2011Asia » Laos » South » Si Phan Don
May 7th 2011
The plan was to sleep in in the morning as Candice and Duncan had crappy sleeps the night before, so we woke up around 9:00am. We left for breakky around 10:15am and planned to catch the 11:00am bus to the town with the pier. We arrived with about 5 minutes to spare at the Southern bus station. George and Lauren took a bus a few days before to the pier so we wanted to do the same. The only way to get there though was by songthaew as the only bus is at 8:30 am. We ended up missing the 11:00 and had to wait for an hour. The songthaew looked like it was starting to fill up so we jumped on at about half past. By the time we left there were 23 people in ... read more
February 8th 2011
Si Phan Don; is the real name for 4000 Islands - and comprises of two main islands - Don Det (where we based ourselves) and Don Khon (a larger island connected by a small bridge). Don Det is unique - at least to me. It's extremely laid back and slow paced, and though sometimes annoyingly slow, it was a nice change from the crazy antics of it's northern cousin - Vang! With only receiving electricity in 2006 it is easy to see why this mellow town is so tranquil. Natives even still wash daily in the river. There's two main streets - Bungalow Boulevard (as i aptly named it), which ran along from the "beach / port" - provided the majority of the accommodation, and faced south on to one of the many Mekong tributaries. The ... read more
November 5th 2010
All is quiet in Southern Laos The last post took almost two days to make. The slow internet connections make especially the photos quite demanding, and that post became so long and had so many photos that it took forever to get it done. But I did have a chance to enjoy Luang Prabang all over again. One of the things I indulged in was massages. When you travel with men it just not the kind of thing you do together, but I have really enjoyed how my newfound status as a lonely traveler have made it possible to do exactly what I want. At least one massage a day and I am becoming quite an expert. When I got massages at CCI it was pure business. The company wanted us stay as healthy as possible ... read more
Hammocks by the Mekong, a Tale of Four Thousand Islands
Published: May 11th 2011Asia » Laos » South » Si Phan Don
October 13th 2010
At the southern tip of Laos, the Mekong river swells and divides to form the 'si phan don' or 'four thousand islands '. Some islands are a foot across and only surface in the dry season, some are big enough to house a few fisherman, others are home to villages, temples and rice paddies. On some of the larger islands, stilted bungalows are available for hire and an abundance of travellers lounge in hammocks gazing out over the meandering mud brown Mekong. It was on the Island of Don Det that we spent our last few days in Laos, before heading south to the Kingdom of Cambodia. We took a songthaew from pakse to Ban Nakasang; it was a bumpy, dusty journey. With our feet wedged between peoples vegetables and our mouths covered with handkerchiefs we ... read more
August 9th 2010
Took a minivan and boat to Si Phun Don - 4 thousand island. It's an area in the deep south of Lao with these small island on the Mekong. I chose to stay on Don Khon. It's connected to Don Det by a bridge built by the French before World War 2. It connected 2 piers by a rail road on the two islands. The railroad hasn't functioned since WW2. There are a couple of waterfalls on Don Khon - more correctly they look like rapids to me, but no matter. The vast majority of backpackers choose to stay on Don Det, but since accommodation are a bit nicer I decided to go to Don Khon instead. There is not much to do on these islands apart from laying in the hummock overlooking the river. There ... read more
July 15th 2010
With 17 years' experience navigating the Mekong River, Mr Puoy is reckoned to be the best riverboat captain in southern Laos. The watery labyrinth he works in contains a reputed 4000 islands, so he needs to be pretty good. But right now, at the end of a harsher than usual dry season, the region's Laos moniker Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), seems just a tad inaccurate. In a fading tropical dusk, Mr Puoy is steering the imposing teak-trimmed hulk of the Vat Phou through a dynamic environment of sand bars and swirling eddies, ripples and rapids. Rustic nets are being cast in graceful arcs from low-slung boats bobbing just centimetres above the waterline, as local ferries transport monks, buffaloes and bac... read more
February 23rd 2010
Ah, the joys of travelling on the buses that never come on time. Make sure to pack your patience and a good book when you come to Cambodia and Laos. Hanging around the bus station, the only foreigners in sight, the bus finally arrived over an hour late to take us away from our little slice of heaven better known as Kratie north to Laos and full on tourism. While the bus coming from Phnom Penh was half full of tourists, after a few stops north and just before the border, it emptied of locals and left only the backpackers bound for the 4000 islands of Si Phan Don in the Mekong in southern Laos. At the scruffy, but efficient border crossing, we paid a commission to the border guards on both sides who picked up ... read more
February 13th 2010
We successfully crossed into Laos but not without a small standoff with the border guards. Being a remote land border crossing, the immigration officials on both sides believed it was acceptable to request a US$1 from each person for their immigration stamp. Leaving Cambodia we followed the lead of a Canadian couple who refused to pay the ‘stamp charge’. After only a small period of persistence they eventually stamped our passport and we passed. However after a short walk to the Laos immigration, we were met with much more determined staff. They bluntly refused to stamp our passports for entry until we provided a US$1 stamp fee, even though we already had visas. We decided to stick to our principles by refusing to bow to their corruption, along with a number of others. Unfortunately they had ... read more
