A cockadoodle Christmas

Si Phan Don, also known as "4000 islands" is an archipelago of (mostly tiny) river islands in the southernmost part of the Mekong in Laos. Three of the islands are open to tourism, and are famous for the relaxed atmosphere. This is where we decided to spend our Christmas.

The choice of the island was made at the very last minute, and in part led by chance. We had purchased a bus ticket for the first island, but when the bus stopped there we decided to stay on board. This last minute change of mind caused quite some stress to K (she likes careful and unchangeable planning), which culminated in the remarkable exclamation "We are not hippies!". Nevertheless we stayed on the bus and reached the second group of islands. From there we took a boat which should have taken us to the second island (Don Det) but instead dropped us directly on the third one (Don Khon). While bringing even more stress to K, this random outcome turned out to be the best possible.

Compared to Don Det, the island of Don Khon is bigger, a little less touristy and has more natural attractions (three instead of none...) The main village is just one road with houses, small shops, and a few guesthouses and restaurants. Even in peak season, like Christmas, it retains a quiet and dormant feeling, as most of the people come here to relax, not to party. What naturally abound here,as in the whole country, are chicken and roosters. Laos may not be anymore "The land of a million elephants" but it definitely is "The land of a million roosters".

One of our many noisy neighbours

The busy life of Don Khon

With a rented bike we were able to visit the whole island in less than one day, including a waterfall, the old french pier from where you can see Cambodia, and even a couple of rusty locomotives, last remains of a troubled and once glorious railway.

The trees on the back are Cambodian trees!

This tract of the Mekong river is filled with waterfalls and rapids, which makes it impossible to travel by boat. The French decided that this wouldn't stop their dream to connect the whole Mekong area with the South China sea, and decided to try a different approach. Boats from Saigon and the Mekong delta would arrive at the southern point of Don Khon, be dismantled in three parts, which would then be carried by train to the northern shore of Don Det and rebuilt there, where the Mekong becomes navigable again. This crazy plan actually worked well for a few years. Today there's almost no trace of the old railway.

Monument to the past

Having accomplished our touristic duties we were able to do what we had planned from the very beginning: rest on our hammocks, read, drink young coconut milk and enjoy the sunsets from the bridge to Don Det island. Napping during the day is almost mandatory. since the cockadoodling birds around our bungalow woke us up before dawn every morning. This is an aspect of Laos that we will not miss.

Refreshing bath before bed time?

Lazy afternoon from our bungalow

The view at sunset

The only downside of these days was the limited network connectivity. We had planned to talk with our families on Christmas day, but it turned out to be impossible. Apparently every tourist on the islands had exactly the same plan, and the network became unusable most of the time. Thanks to that we weren't able to update the blog and wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!