We set off for 4000 islands on an overnight sleeper bus that left Vientiene around 8pm. The station was packed full of these buses with ridiculous neon lights all over them called "king of bus". Unfortunately our bus wasn't quite as good as some of the newer models, but it had relatively comfy and spacious beds, and we got the space right at the front on the top deck, so we could take in the view as we went along.

We arrived in a small town called Pakse at around 6am the next morning, which doesn't really have much going for it, other than acting as a transport hub. We'd had quite broken sleep on the bus, and arrived a little drowsy, to be immediately set upon by locals trying to sell us accomodation or onward travel to the islands. As the islands are only 2 hours away from Pakse, we decided against spending the day in town, and took a bus to the islands after a quick breakfast.

We got to 4000 islands at around 10am, and had to charter a local boat to take us to the 2 main islands: Don Det and Don Khon. For no reason in particular, we decided to stay on Don Khon, where we found a nice bungalow near the river. Once we sere settled in we decided to go for a walk along the island to a nearby waterfall. We didn't expect too much from it, but it turned out to be pretty spectacular, and much bigger than any waterfall we have seen so far. We carried on walking and managed to find an empty secluded beach just down from the waterfall, where we spent a bit of time before heading back to the bungalow. The island is very peaceful and rustic, but on the flip side all electricity goes off at 9pm, and with not much else to do we headed to bed.

Another negative side to the islands empty charm is the fact that there is no ATM machine within 100 miles of the area. We hadn't taken a great deal of money with us, so after around 24 hours on the island, we were spending what little money we had left getting a bus back to Pakse (which we managed with about $1.20 to spare). Once we arrived in Pakse we decided against travelling straight back, so we stayed overnight in a guesthouse. The next morning we arranged our finances and exchanged US dollars for our border crossing to Cambodia, before heading back to the islands fully stocked up with cash.

This time we decided to stay on Don Det and were surprised with how built up it was (comparatively). The island was still very basic, comprising mainly of bamboo huts, but there was many more backpackers staying on the island, and even a few bars. After walking up and down the riverfront we managed to find a nice hut with out own toilet and balcony, complete with hamocks, for a reasonable $3.50 a night. We spent most of the day lounging around and reading, before heading out for a few drinks with some Irish guys we had first met on the slow boat to Laos.

On Don Det we had the luxury of electricity until 11pm, at which time the bars music stopped, and the lights went out without warning. We ended up in the middle of around 50 backpackers in pitch black with everyone looking for their flip flops, before we all headed down to the beach to carry on drinking over a camp fire. Once we got back to the hut we had to light candles on the windowsills and alcony to find our way around.

The next morning we went for some breakfast at a nearby cafe, and bumped into John and Matt, who we had last seen in Vang Vieng. We knew they were coming, and had arranged to meet them later in the evening, but the island is so small we were bound to see them earlier. We went down to the beach for a while, then spent most of the afternoon on our balcony listening to music and playing poker, rummy and babouska (Matt knows lots of card games). In the evening we went out for a few more drinks, but there was a big storm so we gave the beach a miss and got an early night.

The next day we all met for breakfast (and a game of rummy) before renting bicycles and heading over to the next island. The paths were really uneven and rocky. It took about 20 minutes to ride from our guesthouse, over the island, to the bridge connecting Don Det andDon Khon. By the time we reached the bridge Alan already had a flat tyre, but luckily there was another rental shack, so we got another bike and went on our way. We set off towards the waterfalls that we had seen a few days previously, before carrying on to the small beach for a quick dip.

After a while relaxing in the river, we got back on the bikes and set off towards another beach where you can charter a local boat to see the rare irawaddy freshwater dolphins. Apparently there are only 13 left in the wild. We had lunch when we arrived at the beach, then arranged for a guide to take us to dolphin territory. We had heard that the dolphins don't always show up, but the ride out on the boat was nice enough anyway, so we felt like we were getting our moneys worth. After a while we arrived on a small rock out in the middle of the lake, and within minutes the dolphins showed up a few hundred yards away. It was really interesting to see them in there natural habitat, but they weren't doing much - no jumping through hoops or anything. After half an hour or so we got back in the boat and headed back on the bikes, before heading out in the evening.

On our last full day on the island we woke up to heavy rain. The paths around the island had turned to mud, so we spent the early afternoon in the guesthouse playing more cards. In the afternoon the weather cleared up a little so Amy and I went for a swim down at the beach. We arranged our transport for the next morning over to Cambodia with John, then went out for a meal and a few drinks with both John and Matt. All in all it was a pretty lazy day. We headed to bed early, ready for a new country the next day.