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Published: March 12th 2013
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The sleeper bus was an experience in itself. I felt as if I was in Harry Potter which made it even better. Thankfully though when we set off the beds were stable and to my knowledge we didn't shrink down and squeeze into tight spots however it wasn't long before we were lulled into a deep sleep so who knows? By morning we had reached Pakse and a bus change was in order however nobody could point us in the right direction so jumping on to the bus heading to Cambodia which was full of Mozzies was our only hope. 2 hours later we had arrived in in Nakasang for our final part of the journey another BOAT and of course like others we had been before this was just as unstable and we were likely to fall out at any point. Don Det came into view and we were impressed as we pulled up to the beach knowing we would spend the rest of the afternoon here. Harriet and I even dared a dip in the river - wet shoes on. As we dried off and the sun was beginning to set a pack of dogs appeared out of nowhere,
big ones, skinny ones and even one with no fur made an appearance to claim their territory for the evening so we made a quick exit.
An early to start to find a bungalow with a river view balcony and hammocks and that's exactly what we found in Mr. Nois bungalows all for the small price of 80,000 kip (around £7 for the three of us for three nights) and okay the toilet is a squat but a real bargain). We ditched our bags and rented bikes something we hadn't done for a long while so none of us were prepared for the cross country route bumps and broken bridges we cycled across. It was beautiful taking the riverside path dotted with water buffalo and bungalows of all shapes and sizes and plenty of greenery. We also took several paths through rice fields and made an attempt to cross the bridge over to Don Khon our neighbouring island.. It was great to be back on the bikes exploring parts of the island we would have otherwise not seen but there came a point where we had hit too many bumps and the deicision was made to give up. Stopping
at a little place called Crazy Gecko (which we wouldn't have found without the bikes) it had a lovely river view, chilled music and plenty of hammocks slung around. It was time to try something new - fresh spring rolls and well at least we tried them I think I put us both of when I decided the wrapping had the texture of skin YUMMY! While enjoying a Beer Lao on our balcony we discovered a new negative of our bungalow although not Mr. Nois fault he wasn't to know that our neighbours would be terrible singer/songwriters (lyrics are far to rude to be repeated) and appeared to have an aversion to washing. However to balance this out a new positive there is a western style toilet about 10 steps away from our bungalow actually closer than our own squat. Being Australia day we thought it only right to hit the Australian bar and help them celebrate and well with cocktails (unknown mix) for only 15,000 kip by the time we reached curfew we were all rather merry.
On further investigation Mr. Nois' shower wasn't the most pleasing sight a blocked drain did not help it out however we
had seen several of the locals washing in the river and well we decided to follow suit. We clambered down the slope next to our bungalow towel in one hand shower gel and shampoo in the other. I can't believe we managed to brave the unknown water long enough to not only wash ourselves but to also wash our clothes. I believe the term is "going native" and we sure did and we all really enjoyed it so who needs a shower when you have a river which was also closer than the shower. Dinner was interesting, Harriet and I decided to have another taster session this time with the Laos speciality Laap (minced meat or chicken or fish mixed with mint chilli, shallots and lemongrass) I think opting for chicken was our downfall not a meat you would usually see minced. Our pineapple "fried" rice was more mush than anything and I'm sure our tempura vegetables was a plate of tempura plant (probably from the river). All the while we were trying to eat we were also being pestered by two kittens normally we would find this cute however we just wanted to get out of there. Once the
waitress saw the kittens she proceeded to pick one up by the neck and lauch it into the back garden we really hope it made it (not exactly what you would call fine dining entertainment).
Our final day in Si Phan Don we wanted to do something different. We may have had a lie on the beach in the morning but the afternoon was dedicated to a tour we had booked through Mr. Mo and no sooner than we had sat down outside 2 boys who can't have been much older than 16 arrived telling us to get on a boat. They turned out to be our tour guides for the trip although they seemed to have just as much fun as we did. A short boat ride back to mainland and a hunt for a driver (backing up our theory that our tour guides can't be very old) we were all in a car heading to "a very big waterfall" as stated on our ticket. We were in shock as we were expecting the waterfall to have been exaggerated to get us on the tour but it was amazing the water spraying off the rocks high in to
the air, we found a little pool to dip our toes in and we spent a good half hour clambering over rocks to get good pictures of this sight. Our tour guides picked us up and told us it was now time to go to see the irrawaddy dolphins. We were a bit skeptical due to it not being anywhere near sunset which is said to be the best time to catch them but we went a long with it. As we pulled up the fear crept in that we would be kayaking to the dolphins, thankfully we walked straight past to a boat manned by a 12 year old (they really do start them young). We were taken out really far we could see Cambodia, the boat engine went off and we were sat in the quiet staring at the water, staring at nothing but then all of a sudden in the distance we saw them bob out of the water once, twice there was defintely more than two and one even jumped out and we saw its whole body. they circled us and came really close but they were still far to fast to pap, I ended up
with a lot of shots of disturbed water. Out of nowhere this man in plain clothes on a boat came over shouting at us and a few other boats but apparently in Cambodian so not even our Laos guides could understand. What should have been scary because we were probably too close to the Cambodian border and therefore liable for arrest all we could do was laugh. On returning we washed in the river for a final time (Harriet and I are such daredevils nowadays) and we returned to Crazy Gecko which we all agreed should have a spot in the lonely planet. We were sad to be leaving four thousand islands and we could all see how many before us have ended up staying longer than they planned due to its laid back vibe but we were excited for the next part of our journey.
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Han
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Wowser
I love this picture....what a cool view. All the pictures from don det and 4000 islands look really really beautiful. Xx