Blogs from Si Phan Don, South, Laos, Asia - page 2

I arrived at the boat pier and met a lad from France, Nico. A trainee doctor, travelling whilst he has just finished his recent studies. We go the long tail boat across the river to Don Khong. The biggest of the islands. This is the only place with an ATM so we stocked up on cash. From here we had to rent a long tail boat and driver to Don Det. Cost 220000KIP for the boat and it took around an hour to get there. Travelling along the mekong was lovely. Arriving in Don Det we took the first set of bungaows, which turned out to be 'sunset view', a little expensive, we have now discvered as we are paying 50000KIP each for our bunglaows, however they are right on the rivers edge and do have ... read more

We broke up the almost interminable bus journeys in southern Laos with a detour to the impressively vast and vastly impressive Kong Lor cave, which runs for about five miles under south central Laos’ mountains. The cave is over 100m high in places, with small waterfalls occasionally pouring down, illuminated only by our torchlight, their sound amplified by the gloom. An adjoining cave provides a chance to leave our tiny wooden boat, and explore a land of gigantic stalagmites and stalactites on foot. Unfortunately the floodlights aren’t working, but this merely adds to the unearthly atmosphere, as our meagre torches illuminate the columns one by one, slowly revealing a vast cavern full of eternally developing formations. A few days later, at Laos’ south-western tip, we found Si Phan Don, literally “4000 Islands”. They’re all named Don ... read more

The bus South to the capital of Cambodia was a day bus. There was no over-night option. Too bad. The border crossing was uneventful except for the so called "stamping fees" ... there was the $1 for a Lao "exit stamp" and a $1 for a health check fee to enter Cambodia ... the guy even tried to stick a digital thermometer looking thing in my ear ... I yelled at him to back off ... no way, am I getting an ear infection from something that's been up enough other people's ears ... reluctantly gave him $1 because I was not ready for an argument ... then the visa charge came to $23 even though it should have been only $20 ... well there were 3 people in the "Visa office" so each had to ... read more

Si Phan Don; is the real name for 4000 Islands - and comprises of two main islands - Don Det (where we based ourselves) and Don Khon (a larger island connected by a small bridge). Don Det is unique - at least to me. It's extremely laid back and slow paced, and though sometimes annoyingly slow, it was a nice change from the crazy antics of it's northern cousin - Vang! With only receiving electricity in 2006 it is easy to see why this mellow town is so tranquil. Natives even still wash daily in the river. There's two main streets - Bungalow Boulevard (as i aptly named it), which ran along from the "beach / port" - provided the majority of the accommodation, and faced south on to one of the many Mekong tributaries. The ... read more

At the southern tip of Laos, the Mekong river swells and divides to form the 'si phan don' or 'four thousand islands '. Some islands are a foot across and only surface in the dry season, some are big enough to house a few fisherman, others are home to villages, temples and rice paddies. On some of the larger islands, stilted bungalows are available for hire and an abundance of travellers lounge in hammocks gazing out over the meandering mud brown Mekong. It was on the Island of Don Det that we spent our last few days in Laos, before heading south to the Kingdom of Cambodia. We took a songthaew from pakse to Ban Nakasang; it was a bumpy, dusty journey. With our feet wedged between peoples vegetables and our mouths covered with handkerchiefs we ... read more