Blogs from Si Phan Don, South, Laos, Asia - page 4

Breanne told her trip in Siphandon, Laos in New Year Festival. Her travel here also includes kayking. Happy Lao New Year! Well I'm a bit flustered because of my own stupidity, I wrote this whole post already but be it my luck or not, the power cut out just as I was spell checking and I lost 2 hours work. My fault for not saving, I was almost pulling my hair out, but at least I wasn't writing a paper or something like that... with a deadline haha deadlines I remember those!So here we go again...Si Phan Don (4000 islands) is a beautiful display of natures talents. The Mekong fans out to distribute thousands (apparently some think 4000 or so after which the place is named) of islands of various sizes. We stayed one such an ... read more

Although translated as "4000 Islands", only a few of islands that split this part of the mighty Mekong are actually inhabited. We had originally decided on the quieter of the populated islands, Don Det, as our chosen destination, but had to change our plans when we found that it would require chartering a boat ourselves. Instead we headed for neighbouring Don Khon. The longboat that carried us out was well loaded with people and packs and sat deep in the water. We slalomed between islets until coming upon a tiny stretch of sand surrounded by a few open restaurants and cafes. The room we chose on the other side of the small island was the typical asian wooden bungalow, just large enough to hold a bed. For a few dollars we hired two very basic bicycles ... read more

i arrived at the jetty on the mainland after catchin a mini van from Vientienne and changing at Pakse, this change was where the problem started. it worked out that when we changed minivans my bag was loaded first but i was last to get on and ended up not havin a seat, instead of unloading 10 other bags to get to mine it made more sense to just jump in the other minivan and collect my bag at the other end........ i thought. a girl that i had just met promised she would look after it for me, not expecting that to be necessary i said thanks and went to jump on the other bus only to find that it wasnt leavin yet. this bothered me slightly but i was under the impression that the ... read more

Only 11kms of the four hour journey to the Laos border were tarmaced but as I was only sharing a row of seats meant for 3 people with just 4 it all seemed relatively luxurious in comparison to my last two journeys. Two wooden shacks in the middle of nowhere turned out to be the Dongkalaw border between Cambodia and Laos. Normally border towns smell incredibly unpleasant but here it just stunk of weed. Parting with a one dollar bill was necessary in order to leave Cambodia and another one was required for the "administration fee" to enter Laos despite it already being essential to have a 40$ visa in advance. At least he had to stamp each passport four times so had to work for his money however I was probably just paying for his ... read more

Don Kong was spectacularly peaceful, dirt roads in every direction, a few houses, kids, chickens and goats milling about, people riding bicycles, no cars. The few guesthouses were all within 500 feet of where I arrived so I compared a few and found a nice room with a fan and a bathroom for 50,000 kip a night (about $5.50). I appeared to be the only tourist currently visiting the island, which was fine with me. Don Kong is 15 miles long by 5 miles wide and is almost entirely inhabited by rice farmers, who mostly eat the rice they grow, as well as the fish they catch and the vegetables from their gardens and from the small outdoor market. I biked around the flat island and saw huge fields of rice, looking as it does like ... read more