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Don Det
Sunset from our balcony Having left Pakse, we made our way south towards the 4 Thousand Islands. We had intended to go to Don Khong initially, but our bus driver ended up going further south and dropped us off at Don Det. So we just went with it and adjusted our plans, we checked into a small place overlooking the Mekong River, we had a bamboo room with enough room for a small double bed and a little attached toilet & shower and a big long shared balcony overhanging the river below. It was a great little spot and we spent the afternoon drinking on the balcony with other travellers, and into the night we stopped at a local reggae bar where the menu served everything and anything including Happy cakes, happy shakes and the 'hangover breakfast' as it was so aptly called consisted of sausages, bacon, eggs, tea, toast, Paracetamol & Valium. There is no electricity in majority of the 4 thousand islands including the island we were on and everything runs on petrol generators which turn off at 10pm leaving the island in complete darkness. After the bar closed we stumbled/felt our way back to our lodgings in the pitch black dark we
Don Det
oh look.... ''that'' hammock spent the night listening to geckos and the lizard that had been so kind as to join us in our room earlier that day.
The next day we rented bicycles and cycled around Don Kon & Don Det. We were cycling for the best part of 4 or 5 hours, but it felt like we were at it for days! Stephen shaved before we set out and returned looking like a yeti. Here was some great scenery as we meandered through the jungle then along the river banks and through several villages. We stopped off at many viewpoints and nearly had a close encounter with a couple of water buffalos. As you can imagine, we didn't do much that evening but relax on our hammocks and... Well, relax some more. Stephen was obviously relaxing too much (or swinging too much in his hammock) as he had a nice bump back to earth as his hammock string snapped. That got a lot of laughs out of everyone else; surprisingly he was not as amused.
We left Don Det for Don Khong (our original destination) and stayed in a really nice place for the three nights we were there.
Don Det
Our lizard in our room We decided to splash out and treat ourselves for our last few days in Laos before heading to Cambodia and our accommodation cost us a whopping €7 per night. We rented a proper bike for this island as we had learned our lesson on Don Det (our lesson being that we didn't want to cycle around an even bigger island) The circumference of Don Khong was approximately 52km and we decided that only a motorbike would do for the one road that the island has. We had a bit of a rocky start as we had to get the same puncture fixed three times within two hours. For most of the morning we were pushing the bike down the road in the hot and humid south East Asian heat looking for the next place that could fix it, cursing that we didn't get bicycles again but that all part of the experience isn’t it? Once we had that puncture fixed though there was no stopping us and we loved the freedom of driving down the mostly empty rod stopping at the odd temple here and there, we had lunch on a lovely barge moored just off the southern part of
Don Kon
Fishing technique. Why try catch fish... when you can just wait for them to come to you!!! the island.
Our final day in Lao was spent doing what the Laotian people do best- slow down the pace of life. We spent it relaxing in our hammocks out on the balcony of our room, we read, chatted and watched the sleepy world of Lao life pass on by; a perfect day to end our Lao adventure.
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