Four Thousand Islands

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Following my recent dissertation, i am going to keep on top of my blog as much as possible between places!!!
So from Pakse we were heading South to Si Phan Don - The four thousand islands, we had to get a local bus which is basically a pick up truck where you all face eachother. So we have agroup of 4 heading down, we get on the bus and set off with mainly locals and their cargo on board! I manage to bag a seat at the back so i can dangle my legs off the end (no health and safety laws apply here!!) An elderly Lao woman gets on typically next to me, and i notice she has some red substance oozing from her mouth i thought her mouth was bleeding it was so bad (i later found out this is a beetroot tobacco type thing they chew, and its a status thing amongst woman, the most red = most attractive) she kept grabbing my knee and moving me out the way, she had a hand grip and a half i can tell you, wouldnt want to cross word her in an argument!!! She also fell asleep on me half way down!!! i have my feet resting on a sack on the back, thought nothing of it until they moved it and i looked down to discover it was a live pig inside this sack with its snout sticking out for air!!!!
So off we go, grandma with the blood red substance oozing from her mouth, a load of random cargo and Henrietta the pig on our 3 hour journey to the Islands!
On route the locals all cme running out to sell you food, one of the travellers we got talking to bought some roasted beetles ona stick and grasshoppers......yes i tried one, i put it in my mouth and chewed it - it actually didnt TASTE bad but the crunching and its legs going around my mouth was all too much and it came straight back out again!! oh dear!!!
Finally made it to Don Khet after gettig a boat across from the mainland! Really quiet islands, cheap bungalows to stay in - definately an opportunity to re-charge the batteries! Spent the first day (saturday 9th) chilling out in the hammocks, abit on the riverside beach then went to the reggae bar at night for a couple of beers and im sure you can guess what else may happen there (mum ill explain when i speak to you!!) haha. The sunday we hired bicycles and went to the next island, Don Khon, saw the biggest waterfall ever, it was so nice defo worth the bike ride through the heat....then we hired a boat to go dolphin watching,must admist was abit dubious about how likley it would be we would see the dolphins, but i take it back as it wasnt long before we were dumped on a rock in the middle of the Mekong and saw them all jumping about and making noises. These are the rare Irrawaddy dolphins, the only freshwater dolphins and are so extinct theres somethig like 17 left in the Mekong!! So we were al pretty made up to have seen them!
Monday 11th, - Now sat back in Pakse, had to come and collect my visa for vietnam, our bus leaves this evening and arrives in Vietnam tomorrow morning! Another country a new adventour!

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