4000 Islands

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The 4000 islands are a group of small islands situated on a wide area of the Mekong River in the far south of Laos close to the Cambodian border. I don't think there are actually 4000 of them but there cerainly a lot, most of them are just tiny patches of land in the middle of the river but there are three larger principle islands which have been developed to cater for tourists. We got a boat out to Don Det, the island we had decided to call home.

The island had a string of bunglaows and restaurants along its east and west sides and we found a nice little place with a balcony over looking ther river. The scenery was not as dramatic as that of the riverside villages further north but it was still beautiful. The island is becoming more touristy, but for now it is still pretty laidback and is a nice place to wander around and watch the locals.

We did a day trip to visit the Khone Phapheng waterfall just few kilometers down river. It is the largest waterfall in South East Asia by volume. We weren't expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised and it was far more spectacular than we had imagined it would be. The trip also included a boat ride into an eiree rocky waterway on the river which is home the rare and ellusive Irrawaddy dolphins. We were very lucky and spotted about four of them, which considering there only twelve left in this area is pretty good going. We floated silently along the river for some time watching them.

That evening we went to watch the sunset on the west of the island. The river and scenery on this side of the island was more spectacular than the other. The river was dotted with reeds and rocky islands and huge hills dominated the horizon. We went for a beer in a locals home and met one of the most facinating and strange people we've met on our trip so far. His name was Jockey. He was a Laotian but had spent much of his life living in the US. He was thin, had googly, crazy eyes and his arms and hands were covered in tattoos. We spent the next couple of hours chatting with him and he told us his life story, which was very colourful. He had fought in both the Laos civil war and the Vietnam war when he was only a teenager. He told us how he used to see bodies floating down the river near to where we were staying. His father was a high ranking officer in the Laos army and with the help of his friends in the US army he sent Jockey to America to learn English. He ended working for Boeing, buliding plane parts which isn't so exciting but he told us that he had spent much of his youth in and out of prison and had managed to get himself involved in the the drug gangs of Seattle in the 1980's. He started working for them which he said was better money than working for Boeing. He told us loads of stories about the gangs and the mafia, we're pretty sure he'd killed some people and he showed the scars where he had been shot and stabbed. He had managed to make a lot of money working for the gangs but had subsequently lost it. Somewhere along the line he had also spent time in the Arctic fishing for King Crab. He was back in Laos as he had made too many enemies in the US. He now spent his days hanging around on Don Det smoking.

The following day we just relaxed as there wasn't really much else to do. We're not too good at just sitting around being hippies and became a little bit bored to honest. In the afternoon we rented some big rubber rings and floated down the river, it was nice to watch the activity on the banks and the fisherman out in the river. At one point of the river our rings were commendered by a gang of small children and we watched them play for a while before returning to our bungalow.

The next day we decided to leave and get the bus to our next country...Cambodia!

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