27th Jul 2006 Pakse Hi I'm back in Pakse, waiting to catch my flight to Vietnam tomorrow. I spent the last two days in the Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands). This is where the Mekong river fans out to 14km wide, creating a network of channels and I guess 4000 islands. The only way to get down there is to take the local bus (3.5 hours). Well it wasn't a bus, its a sawngthaew. This is a large pickup truck with a extended bed in back roof covering the entire truck. Three wooden benches, one down either side a third bench down the centre and it had a extended tail gate. They do not waist space at all. All luggage is put on the roof and no unoccupied bench space, not a inch. By the
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