Don Khone, 4000 islands, Laos

We spent our last day in Vietiane lounging around the lobby of our guesthouse since Don was still recovering from his bout of gastro. We were picked up at 6pm to begin our 17 hour journey to southern Laos via tuk tuk, pickup truck, mini bus and an overnight bus!

The double decker overnight bus consisted of double beds on both levels in which two people will sleep...

The mattress is quite hard and there is a pillow and blanket for each person. Unfortunately we ended up in the very back bed with no windows and over the tires and it was quite the bone jarring trip!

Don is wondering where the heck are we now?

The bus took us to the town of Pakse around 700 km from Vietiane and dropped us off at the bus station where we waited around for 2 hours, told to get on the wrong bus, then off, look for our luggage under the bus and then by mini bus to an office where we were shuttled from bus to bus and then another 2 hours south to the 4000 islands. Here again we were dropped off, our luggage thrown off the bus and we walked to the river to catch a boat to the islands. It was now 3pm the next day!

However as our boat headed for the islands we were awed by the ride, reminded us a little of going into Inle Lake in Mynamar....

This area known as the 4000 islands is where the Mekong River is at its widest, up to 9 miles in rainy season. The are lots of small islands but only a few are populated with small towns and not many people. Don Det is the most popular with young backpackers as there are lots of cheap guesthouses and places to eat and drink.

Most of the passengers got off there...

Four of us continued to Don Khone, a much bigger but quieter island and found our guesthouse just down the road from where we were dropped off...

Our luggage in the front of the boat which has been beat up with the transportation here in Laos...

The main road leading to our guest house...

We are staying in a bungalow right on the river which is owned by a local family, they have four bungalows, a restaurant, a laundry service, a bike rental and the woman who runs the place never stops... And besides that she has three small boys! 

She is a fabulous cook and we eat at her restaurant everyday after trying a couple others that didn't compare. The power goes off here periodically and no generators. She was getting ready to make us coconut shakes...

So no shakes but being the entrepreneur that she is we ended up with fresh coconut water...

Since we are right on the river we get to see the sunset every evening from our balcony...

Often people go out to fish at that time...

We also get to see a little slice of life on the river, here our neighbour is bathing with one of her boys just outside of the bungalow...

When they finish the kids put on their pjs and then it is supper time.

One day we rented bikes to explore a couple of the islands...

We drove to one end of the island where there is a very wide waterfall though not much water running as this is the end of the dry season...

 It was still quite nice there though but you can notice in the picture the only guard rails they have a bamboo rails so doesn't give much protection.

There is also a sandy beach where we could go see the rare freshwater dolphins that live in the river, we passed on that as we had read the locals who take you out are not very conscious of the harmful effects of chasing Dolphins.

It was a hot day so lots of refreshment stops...

Their fruit shakes are so good!

Then there were the riverside places...

Some sights around town....

The school....

Kids playing ball...

A typical house...

Lots of riverside restaurants...

The town also has a pet monkey that was left orphaned, his name is Hoi and he lives in a cage in the Center of town....

There are lots of beautiful children here since the average Laos family is 7 or 8 children. It is strange to see so many children around when at home we hardly ever see groups of children out playing...

These were swimming...

 

As we were resting these two came along, one with a slingshot, Don motioned for him to shoot the hen and with glee in his eyes he was about to before Don said NO! Good thing or Don would have had to pay for a hen!

 

Riding her bike to school...

 

These two cuties were going around trying to get things to put in their purse, here it seems all the families are familiar and the kids just go from one house to another.

There was a bridge connecting two of the islands with a shack nearby collecting 35,000 kip to cross it which amounts to 6 Canadian dollars. It is supposed to be a tourist tax and they expected you to pay every day we crossed the bridge. We paid once, but like most others would not pay again. Another example of scamming the tourists!

 

Resting on the bridge...

Boat going under the bridge...

We stayed here four days and the other ones we truly relaxed and spent most of the time on the patio watching the world go by and trying to stay cool. It was the first time we had a game of Skipbo since we left, even though I carried the cards around in my bag for months! We played everyday and I am the champion!

So ends our time in Laos, a country that is so beautiful and in lots of ways time stands still.But there are a few who work hard at the tourist scam which spoils the experience if we let it. We try not to but tomorrow we must face the often written about ultimate scam at the Laos Cambodia border. Not looking forward to it and hopefully it won't be as bad as everyone says! Goodbye Laos, Hello Cambodia!