Now all the way through Northern Laos, Kelsey and I wanted to get down to 4000 islands. It is the very edge of Laos, and meets Cambodia by a waterfall. Have a look!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/1076/57742/Don+Det+and+the+4000+Islands,+Laos?destId=356944
We'd been told about 4000 islands by a few people on the way, Jack and Kulvin being the main ones (original Jack not Laos Jack!) and we'd heard it was a great place to chill out, relax and generally just put our feet up again.
It's a collection of islands (as the name suggests) and in fact there are only 4000 when its the height of the dry season, and every sandbank is visible. We came just towards the end of monsoon season, so there was only about 100! But it was cool to see the tops of trees appear into view day by day.
We arrived after the long-ass journey from Vientiane, which Kelsey has hopefully written about before this entry (we're simulataneously blogging and she's refusing to do anymore...) and after we'd dragged Jack here with promises of sunbathing, fishing and tropical islands, we arrived into the rain and a little rickety boat took us the final mile to Don Det. I felt bad. I was the main one harping on and on about it, but in fairness lonely planet decieved me. It was the one who put the descriptions into my head, the ones that i may have embelished slightly, but none-the-less we were expecting a little more sunshine.
But this turn of events actually worked to our favour.
Let me start by saying we adored Don Det. It was the edge of the world, where no-one can touch you, and you've got no way of communicating with the outside world. From teh moment you wake up you're surrounded by wildlife. Whether it be the buffalo grazing below your window, massive butterflies landing on the end of your table, or kittens running up and down the path, you cant escape the feeling that you aren't in a city anymore and it's so hard not to get carried away with the whole vibe of the place. Which we did wholeheartedly.
The islands is split into 2 main drags, the sunrise and sunset side (for obvious reasons) and they are connected by a small path running through the middle of the islands, surrounded by rice fields. Now, the island is only 14km in perimeter, so everything is only ever a 5 minute walk away.
We stayed in a place for the first night for 20,000 kip ($2.50!) which was a little bungalow with a balcony, all on the river, on the the sunset side. Then again for the second and third nights, at the Happy bungalows. Man were the guys who owned that place hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
On teh second night we met a Brazilian couple called Chiago and Mari. They were cooler than cool. Life loving, samba dancing, moment drinking stereotypes, and we had a blast just being around them.
They were staying at a place called 'Mr Nois That Bang Bungalows' which was closed to the public but because they'd been there 4 times before (well Chi had- probably with a few different ladies... the fox) they family who ran it had opened a bungalow on the river just for them. We decided that if it was ok with the family we would get the bungalow next door to them (now on the sunrise side) and as it happened our luck was in.
We spent the next few days having adventures. Swimming across the Mekong to an uninhabited island, wandering the length and breadth of the island to see the French colonial bridge, playing with the children, doing flips off from other bars, fishing with borrowed rods (and homemade bamboo ones!) and generally just having fun!
Not forgetting the casual throwing ourselves off the balcony into the Mekong to cool off every hour (or whenever necessary)
The river is also where we took our showers, our hygeiene habbits were quite poor here as we washed ourselves in dirt orange water but it was amazing and who cares?
The evenings were slightly different. The balcony was lit up by a solitary red bulb and we had a whole PA stack from the restuarant, which meant our own music all the time!! (Well Chi and Mari's ridiculously cool music, i couldve listened to it all night, every night). We all had individual hammocks (which were huge) a big bench and chairs, and a table in the middle.
We passed the nights in smoke, listening to the Brazillian themed music, in the red light and cool river nights. Oh yeah and eating the massive and fantastic portions that the family's Mama was cooking us and delivering to the balcony. Drinking far too many 'Beer Lao' and Lao Lao (the homebrewed whisky, which really knocks your socks off) All in all it was heaven. And without meaning to, we had been there 8 days. And had loved every second of it.
It's often said that it's the people that make moments good, but in this case it was the people, the place, the food, the atmosphere that made it unbelievable.
Oh and i cant forget the coffee, thick as mud, made with fresh Laos coffee beans, mixed with condensed milk. Sweet as you like and chased away the hangovers... which seem to be a recurring theme with this holiday.
We then booked a bus to Vientiane, as we had to get our Vietnamese visas sorted out before heading to our next country. But after having booked it found that there was in fact a Vietnamese embassy in Paxce (the closest town to the 4000 islands - still 4 hours away) and successfully changed our tickets, meaning we didnt have to go back to Vientiane, thus dodging another 14 hour bus journey, we could spend a day somewhere new, and we'd saved a lot of money and all was right with the world!
Bring on Vietnam!
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