Si Phan Don (4 000 Islands)

17/10/12 to 21/10/12 - We started the day with an "indian breakfast" where we booked our tickets from Pakse to Don Det (one of the 4000 Islands) for 65 000 kips per/p the day before. Then after a long three and a half hours on a dusty bus without AC and a long boat (with 5 other people and all our bags), we finally reached our destination, Don Det.

We thought we could avoid the "Sunset Boulevard" of Don Det easily, where all the backpackers land, but we only managed to walk half way through the island, because of the mercury reaching  34 degrees and our big bags on our shoulders.  However we found Mr Tho's Guesthouse who had bungalows (wooden shacks) facing the Mekong and a few more islands at 30 000 kips (around £2) a night and close to the primary school.

We pretty much snoozed there for the rest of the day, between resting in the hammock and trying in vain to get a good wifi connection.

We hired some bicycles from Mr Souk for 10,000 kip and headed south to go to the neighbouring island Don Khon. We stopped for a quick coffee at the "Mekong Dream" and had a nightmare when we saw  some maggots floating in our coffee. After apologising several times and making us a fresh cup the owner "Hom" asked us if we would be interested in a boat trip around the islands the next day, just the two of us. We said we might be up for it if he could also drop us at another of the islands, "Don Khong" at the end of the day. He told us that it was quite far, but he could do it for more money. We suggested that we could find maybe a couple more people, pay a bit more and also for his lunch if he knew a nice place to eat... and he was fine with that.

We visited Don Khon (Li Phi Falls) were we had a small plunge and a coconut in the morning and took a boat trip to the Cambodian side to watch the rare "Irwaddy" river dolphins for couple of hours and appreciate a cool Ankgor Beer in the afternoon.

We went back just in time to Don Det to watch a beautiful sunset.

We met Michel, a frenchman from Lyon and had a breakfast with him. At this place, the owner had a pet monkey tied to a tree at the back of the restaurant. I went quietly after my breakfast to see him. After 10 minutes or so, all the customers in the restaurant saw me holding him and took some pictures of me. The monkey went on to my shoulders and was looking for headlice in my hair (probably to eat) and then stroked my hair to tidy my hair style. On my way back to the table, the owner stopped me and told me that the monkey hated women and usually bit them or scratched them. I guess being born in the year of the Monkey helped me a lot.

Michel also wanted to go to Don Khong. We spent the day with Michel for another bike ride on Don Khon, but this time the other side of the island and went through friendly villages (who helped us with Michel's puncture - we had only one and still don't understand why we didn't have more with the state of the paths and roads). We stopped for lunch and had a grilled fish with sticky rice (as promised from the fisherman we met the day before on Kong Ngay beach).
At the end of our little expedition, we split three ways. Dave went back for a shower and a rest in the hammock and I went to chat to Hom, for the last details for our trip the next day. I missed the last sunshine and borrowed a tiny flash light to find my way back for the next 3 kilometres. Just enough to see the holes, avoiding the usual cats, toads and especially to keep me from falling into the Mekong when crossing the tiny wonky wood footbridge.

Hom picked us and Michel in front of our bungalow as arranged (he was 30 minutes late, which we were realising is customary for Lao people).  Dave was sick first thing in the morning, and assumed it must have been the food from the previous day as he felt better instantly.  However, once we set off in the boat he felt bad again and had to lie on the hard, wooden deck of the boat all morning to feel better.
We visited one of his mates who made Lao Lao (local rice whisky) and learned everything about its production (we even tried the fermented rice at different stages of the production and tested the final product.) We bought some for our boat trip and also to contribute to its production.

We stopped a couple of times for a small moment for Hom to say "sa bai dee" to some of his mates on different islands and he introduced us every time in a frendly way. Finally we stopped for couple of hours in a village with a family (and their friends) and had drinks comparing our Lao Lao with theirs and had a traditional Lao lunch at their place. Being the only woman, I had to carry a couple of kids and was chatted to by the grandma about having children. One of the little girls was ill, and I gave her the only paracetamol I had with me and told the grandma to give the little girl half of it now and the other half in 3 hours time  with plenty to drink (I might get told off by Zabed or Laurent if it wasn't the right thing to do, but she seemed to feel much better after an hour). We had a very good time and Lao experience and ate fish soup, morning glory (riverweed), barbequed fish and sticky rice (and Lao Lao was the only drink on the "table" and the only liquid we had). Hom dropped us at Don Khong when it was almost dark. He rushed a bit as he had to return to Don Det before it was night. We just had time to say "korp jai lai lai" and "lar gone"... and he was gone.

We also rushed to the nearest restaurant for a mineral water, but it was too late, the heat stoke/food/Lao Lao got me first and I was sick for the next few hours.  Michel also felt bad the next day, but he also had quite a bit of Lao Lao like me, so we still don't know if it was 'that' fish, heat stroke from the bike ride or Lao Lao that made the three of us ill.