http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , South , Don Det en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:31:44 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:31:44 UTC I was sad to leave Vang Vieng but excited about going to the 4000 islands which I'd heard were really cool relaxed etc. We left on a bus to Vientiene the capital of Laos I'd taken it easy the night before so wasn't dying from a hangover probably the only one on the bus We changed buses in Vientiene and while doin so got a whistle stop tour as we drove around the city for about an hour an http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-348423.html Sabadee motherfunkers.....sorry for being long updating this thingSo my last post was from Pai i'm now in Cambodia Phnom penn but i've spent the last 3 and a half weeks travelling through Loas....so here's a rough summary from memory....spent 2 days on a boat getting from the border of thailand into laos which was painfull and stupidly overcrowded at the best of times...I shared the journey http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-343256.html Our next destination was to the four thousand islands right at the bottom of Laos where the Mekong fans out. There are actually only 3 islands you can choose from Don Khong the flash one it has electricity Don Det the backpackery one and Don Khon the very quiet one. We had 6 days before our visas expired so we went to Don Det intending to head to Don Khon after a few nights depending h http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-343111.html And so in quick progression due to the democratic process of petitions you facebookers we hit the next blogHaving arrived in Vietienne after a hectic and extreme sports day we set about finding some cheap clean and good accomadation. We quickly realised that 5.30pm was not the best time to arrive in the city as all the cheap places were already full and you could see by the panicing rush http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-325160.html SabadeeI have so many languages floating around in my head now that I had to seriously concentrate to find the word for hello in LaoSo made it to yet another country to Laos the land of smiles. The border crossing went smooth it's so laid back here that when we arrived at the immagration post a shed marked with spray paint reading 'Customs' I thought we were going to need to wake the customs http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-320051.html 20 July 2008I got up early and had a shower packed rushed brekkie went to the ATM to get to the minivan in time. The minivan turned up at 8am and I left for 4000 islands. I was heading for Dondet having received a facebook message from Ray to say that she was there. Tom also decided to go. It was a two hour journey with a 15 minute break. I was glad to get out for a little while because i http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-318135.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREIt is exactly as the Lonely Planet puts it just when you thought your blood pressure couldn't drop anymore you arrive in Si Phan Don the socalled 4000 islands on the Mekong bordering Cambodia. And that's coming from Northern Laos. As I was coming from Cambodia I really needed that morning in bed to help me adjust right away with the pace of life on Don http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-312491.html I'm actually sat writing this in Hanoi Vietnam. I haven't wrote on here for a long time its now the 708 so im gonna do this in bites so much has happened.We went from Vientiane to a halfway house town en route to Don Det called Pakse. Pakse was pretty basic and theres nothing interesting to report there was on the way back but thats for later so i won't bother. Don Det on the other hand was http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-311159.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREI can't quite figure out why I love traveling by bus so much. You get up at 5 or 6 am the baby sitting next to you kicks and cries and barfs all over the place while his mom talks on her cell phone or it's a big guy who likes to sit legs wide apart and burp the bus either stops in the middle of nowhere where only guys can relieve themselves or at roadside re http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-309342.html Hiya everyoneRob Bis and Danielle Don't read this blog entry cos I sent you all letters last week telling you about this bitI know it's been forever since I wrote on here but I'm going to try to catch you all up with what I've been upto. The last few weeks have been the best yet and I'll write a few entries now for each place.So from Luang Prabang Dury and I caught the bus to Vientiane whi http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-308212.html Hi everyoneHere is our latest from Laos. We both absolutely adore this country. It has such a laid back atmosphere due to the simplicity of life and the happiness of its people. Nobody is in a rush to get anywhere as its just not required. This can be quite difficult for us to grasp when we are used to having everything organised and on time On a recent bus journey what should have taken 4 hou http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-307740.html Well we just love it here. We've spent the last 3 days cycling round Don Det island where we are staying and Don Khon which is the one connected by the old railway line. Our bikes are fairly Retro with handy baskets on front picture Maria Von Trapp cycling round the streets of Salzburg and you've got a clear picture. Don Det is mainly farmland yesterday we cycled around the whole island http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-305889.html Si Phan Don DetWhich literally translates as The Four Thousand Islands which are a bunch of islands in the middle of the Mekong river some 300km south of Vang Vieng. We got ourselves a cool bungalow with river views and hammocks and hung around for 3 days. These islands are extremely basic they only have generator power between the hours of 6 and 9. And there was literally nothing to do but http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-305045.html We arrived at Savannakhet at 2am slightly concerned that we'd be kipping in the bus station til sunrise however we decided to take our chances and walk the 300 metres into town to try and find a guesthouse. Thankfully there was one almost directly across from the bus station and luckily there was a late footie match on so the Laos dudes were still up. Our room was the nicest one we'd had for a http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-289460.html After a rough nights sleep mainly due to the huge storm that raged outside but also partly due to the hundreds of assorted bugs crawling all over us At one stage Me and Ollie in our very subdued states managed to get out of bed collect our washing from the line and 'batten down the hatches' At around 10am we dragged ourselves from our beds and the safety of the 'bug forcefield' also known as http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-285699.html Today we left Kratie to head North into Laos. We knew it would be an interesting journey but what occurred was very fun. Early morning start at 6.30 am to be downstairs for the bus which would pick us up at 7.30. By 8.10 we started to wonder but a pick up truck did arrive and Mark and I threw our bags into the back and hopped in. One minute later we stopped and were shown out of the truck and into http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-285688.html Okay so just hours after the previous rather optimistic blog we find ourselves completely screwed over in the middle of nowhere Previously I was mentioning problems with exchange ratesgetting ahold of money here. So Alyssa was unable to get money out of the atm this morning at Pakse so we were living off what I had out until we got to another atm. We took at longtail boat the guy completel http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-284447.html Don Det http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-281279.html Day 28 The journey to Don DetLeaving it just a little too late to comfortably get breaky in as usual we had it thrown into plastic bags as we jumped on a tuk tuk15k heading to the ferry only to wait there for another 15minutes before it left. We got the ferry across as it started bucketing down rain our tuktuk then dropped us off at the local bus stop which provided some shelter as we waited http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-275779.html We finally arrived in Laos with some regret at not being more organised. I guess it is one of those you live and learn moments. It was well worth the effort though as Laos is amazing Arriving across the border the difference in the landscape was marked. It was more green and luscious. We drove to a small harbour town and got a long tail boat the rest of the way. We had to pass through some of http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Don-Det/blog-272932.html