The most chilled place in the world

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4000 islands in the heart of the Mekong River was our next destination. A rough ride on the night bus took us from Vientiene all the way to Pakse where a quick change and we were on our way again. On the night bus we met an Israeli couple and had a good talk with them about the politics and religion in the Middle East. It was good to hear their take on things as opposed to the views of our media, until we got told to go to bed by a neighbouring Chinese lady (it was only bloody 9:30!!).

Anyway we arrived on the island of Don Det and search for some accommodation. Here life seem to slow down into first gear, then when you thought it couldn’t get any slower, it dropped into neutral, switched off the engine and took on a steady trundle…nice and peaceful. The Laos people here were extra friendly and extra laid back. We stopped a couple of nights in one room until a room at our sought after place at Sunset bungalows came free. It was when we arrived here we really kicked back and got into the swing of things (quite literally on our hammocks). Our house was a basic wooden shack, armed with the essential fan and mozzie net. A shared bathroom and a view of the west horizon overlooking the Mekong was all we needed. Days were spent lounging on our hammocks watching a beautiful sunset each night, reading and the occasional swim.

We bumped into Stevie and Kristine who we had met in Luang Prabang, so it was great to catch up with them and have a few beers. One day we hired bikes and rode to the next island where we saw a big waterfall. We headed south where the Mekong really spreads itself and went in search of the rare Irawady dolphins (freshwater dolphins). We briefly saw one bob its head up far in the distance but we are still claiming it as a sighting! On another day we hired a couple of tubes (tractor tyre inner tubes) and floated around the Mekong. We had some great neighbours called John and Angie (John was from London and a QPR supporter and Angie from Manchester). Really nice chilled out couple. All 4 of us were sad to leave but we went onto Champasak for a couple of days together.

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Photos

Night bus
Mary looking hot the morning after the night bus

Ferry crossing
from the mainland to Don Det

on the inner tubes
we floated around a couple of small islands.

Fishermen
view from our bungalow

Moths
There were plastic bags attached to lights to catch these and they were always full - minging

Sunset
this was the view from our hammocks on the bungalow - amazing.

Vicious Monkey
Poor thing was chained up and get tugging at his chain but he went for you!!

ROZA!!
Your famous kid!!