Laos 4000 Islands: Been there, Don Det.

Next stop: Luang Prabang to Pakse via Lao Airlines to get to the south of Laos and the area in the Mekong called the 4000 Islands. We spent a couple of days and nights in Pakse, one of the larger cities in Laos. Found a gorgeous rooftop bar called Panorama on top of a hotel and enjoyed some tropical drinks. James, so conditioned to sounding out all the Southeast Asia names of places, found this place in the guidebook and was referring to it as Pan O Ra Ma rather than Panorama…doesn’t sound so funny now, but we laughed about that for a long while.

The next day was full of adventure! We rented motorbikes for about 90,000 kip (around $10.77 USD) and Jessie, Theresa and I headed out of town with James leading the way to the waterfalls for which the area is famous.

Bumpy roads, construction areas, tuk tuks, buses, trucks, motorbikes, scooters, cars — all rushing along beside us, in front of us and behind us as we made out way to the waterfalls. The smell of frangipani mixed with diesel and dust filled our noses, and car horns and blasting pop music from the food stalls along the road filled our ears. Colorful clean laundry fluttered from lines in the front yards alongside the road, waving in the breeze like prayer flags. We passed adorable Lao children coming and going to school, dressed in their clean white button-down shirts and dark skirts and trousers, riding 2 or 3 on a bike or motor scooter, many sitting side-saddle on the back of the motorbike.

We were greeted with big friendly smiles and enthusiastic waves and we passed by. We came upon what seemed like small villages along the roads – the first group of merchant stalls were stocked with bananas. The next little “town” was Pineapple-ville with loads of fresh pineapples hanging from the awnings, tied with ropes and available for sale. Another section further along was selling brooms and baskets of all shapes and sizes.

Our first stop was the majestic Tad Fane Falls – twin waterfalls cascading over 650 feet to crash into the pools below. We hiked up to the top of the falls and were awed by the sound and sight. Enjoyed chatting with a 10 year old boy from northern Laos who spoke such good English. He told us he was attending the International School and loved practicing his English. He was smart, funny, and delightful.

A quick lunch of delicious noodle soup and then back on the scooters to the next falls, Tad Yeuang. Also spectacular.

After a full day exploring the Pakse countryside, we returned to the bustling city itself to return our scooters, shower off the dust of the road, and enjoy a meal and a few drinks before climbing into bed to get some rest before our early start to get to the 4000 Islands.

The next morning we boarded a bus at the bus-station in Pakse to the longboats which navigated the mighty Mekong River to take us to Don Khone, our home for the next few days. The 4000 Islands is an archipelago in the river consisting of hundreds of islands – most of which are uninhabited, and many of which only appear in the dry season when the river recedes. The three main islands are Dot Det, Don Kon and Don Khone (“Don” means “island”). We had read that Don Det was the “party island” for the young backpacker crowd, so we chose Don Khone instead – being a flashpacker and all. 🙂

Our boat dropped us off at the dock at Don Khone, and we found our place, Pan’s Guesthouse, which would be home for the next few days. An adorable bungalow with a comfy bed, air-conditioning (“air con” as the cool kids down here call it) and tossed our packs in the room and headed out to explore.

Don Khone was a mellow island with a handful of restaurants (all seeming to serve the same dishes; in fact, all seeming to share the same menu printing service!). We had some lunch, relaxed a bit and then decided to walk across the bridge to Don Det to check out the party scene.

It was quite a walk to the end of Don Khone and across the bridge to Don Det, and then to the “downtown” area of Don Det, almost a 2 mile walk one-way from our bungalows. Our first thought was, if this was the party island, we must be here off-season. There were maybe a handful of people in the bars and restaurants – not a crowd in sight. We enjoyed a couple of drinks in a bar owned by a Lao man and his Australian girlfriend, tried some Oreo cheesecake for dessert, and then we ading headed back across the bridge in the pitch dark (thank you iPhone for the flashlight feature!) to our digs. We had another early morning adventure to get ready for –

We purchased a tour package for $25 pp which included kayaking down the Mekong to the small waterfalls, trekking through a village to get to said falls, possible Irrawaddy dolphin sightings, more kayaking, and then the large falls. An all-day event that included lunch, water, and a tour guide. Some of the interesting people on the tour with us included a Japanese/Israeli tour guide on break from her guide job in Tokyo. She told us about her impression of the Japanese, of the daily suicides of the Japanese businessmen who are so competitive and driven to work 12-15 hour days each day, with no guarantee of success. She said the city is so crowded, but eerily silent – people don’t laugh, wave, interact or talk to each other. Everyone is very private, reserved and keeps to themselves. She had just crashed her rented motorbike in Pakse a few days earlier, and had been taken to the hospital by locals that helped her as she had blacked out when she fell. She was doing amazingly well, considering it had just happened 5 days earlier, along the same roads we had taken in Pakse to get to the falls. We also met two men traveling together – one from Germany and the other from Belgium. They were hilarious, and added good laughs to the group – especially when they managed to fall out of their kayak not once, but twice.

Fun fun kayaking in the Mekong! There were some currents, some mini-rapids and lots of gorgeous sights along the way. Theresa and I got saddled with one of the young tour guide helpers and he squeezed into our kayak with us. This forced me to sit cross-legged in the middle of the kayak, trying not to bump Theresa’s paddles in front of me as we navigated through the river. Not comfortable, but still enjoyable.

We then stopped and loaded our kayaks onto a truck that would transfer the kayaks down the river for the next part of the paddling. We loaded onto a longboat for the ride to follow the truck. Our tour guide cooked chicken skewers, sticky rice and fresh veggies for us all on the boat and we had black-skinned watermelon for dessert. We ate our lunch anchored in a spot that the Irrawaddy dolphins are known to frequent and waited and watched for a sign…we were rewarded with seeing their graceful backs crest the water multiple times as they silently swam around our small boat.

We then traveled to the ‘big falls’ – Khonephapheng Falls. These are the largest falls in Southeast Asia and were stunning. Surrounded by a large, well-maintained park with restaurants, restrooms and gorgeous landscaping, we were able to hike down to the falls and enjoy the thundering sound of the water as it pounded the water below.

Back to the truck, which now wouldn’t start…the engine wouldn’t turn over. A repair truck was called for and we waited an hour or so for them to arrive and repair the truck. Once it was ready to go, we drove with the kayaks to the put-in point and began our sunset paddle back to Don Khone.This time, it wasn’t so easy, cheerful or magical…I swear, we were heading uphill this time. The kayaking was tough and a long haul. And the extra guide we had on the earlier part was now in a different kayak, so it was just me and Theresa paddling like mad to keep up and get back before it got dark.

Once back on land, we headed back to Pan’s Guesthouse. An early night to bed, after a long, busy, amazingly adventurous day!

Our last day in Don Khone was spent sleeping in listening to the tropical rain storm, roaming around the island checking out a Buddhist temple and its adjoining cemetery, and then heading across the bridge again to Don Det. Walking in the daylight this time, we were able to enjoy the views of the rice paddies filled with water buffalo, and see along the way the mangy dogs, stump-tailed cats, adorable children, roosters, chickens with baby chicks scurrying along, scooters, bikes, tuk-tuks that populate these islands.

We stopped for a couple of Malibu rum, pineapple and coconut shakes at Earl’s Bar. We stayed there for quite some time enjoying the view from the river deck (and expecting the party island to possibly come alive this time? But it did not… 🙂 before walking back across the bridge one last time to our guesthouse.

Tomorrow, we’ll be leaving Laos and heading to Cambodia —

 

Nothing is impossible…the word itself says “I’m possible”.