Our trip to Laos was very stop and start, as we had to cross rivers on small ferries and changed mini bus about 3 or 4 times. The border crossing was very simple. We paid $47 US Dollars for a visa plus admin fees etc. Then a guy went off on a moped, and came back with it all done in our passports. Then we simply walked about 200 metres from one country to the next without being stopped and checked for anything. We then got on another bus to take us to Dondet.

Dondet is one of the larger islands at a place called 4000 Islands. This is an area on the Mekong River where there are four thousand islands all grouped together. The size of them ranges from a square metre to 7km square….like Dondet is. It was late evening by the time we got here, and after the busy day before and all the travelling we got an early night.

The next day we got up had breakfast then chilled out all day. Lloyd swam out into the river where there are areas of sand banks. So you can be in the middle of the river and it is really shallow so you can just sit, stand or lay down there. It is so shallow in areas it literally looks as if you are walking on water in the middle of a huge river. We spoke to the man who owned the bar and bungalows we were staying at, a guy called Manni. He went to Dondet planning on staying a few days… and that was three years ago! He loves it so much…. But don't worry we wont be staying more than a few days!

That night we went to Adams Bar which had been recommended by Rich, Sam and Jamie to go there and get a Happy Shake. Everywhere on this island sells weed, and it seems everyone here smokes it too. You can have happy shakes, tea, coffee, pizza, any meal basically and they will just add weed to it.

We had some normal food but thought we would wash it down with a Happy Shake. Lloyd had banana, Tim had lemon and Ben had chocolate. It takes about an hour for it to kick in, but when it does… you are just really mellow. Sometimes we were really giggly, but most of the time we just laid down on the beds in the bar chilling. In this bar they have a laptop with thousands of downloaded films and programmes connected to a TV - so you choose what to put on… then everyone just chills together watching it. This whole island is just one whole chill out…. And everywhere shuts at 11pm.

Today we got up earlyish and rented bicycles so we could cycle the 5km to the waterfall which is on the island. It wasn't too far to cycle but the bikes were awful, the roads were dusty and stone and it was 36 degrees…. So we were very sweaty at the end of it! This waterfall has the largest amount of water falling in South East Asia. It is not like one giant waterfall all falling together… it looks like 6 or 7 rivers all coming together and falling at different levels etc.

After having a look at the waterfalls we made it down to the bottom where there is an area to swim and bathe in. You have to walk across boiling hot sand to get there, which feels like it is scolding your feet, but when you get there the water is the perfect temperature. We laid there for a while and bumped into a Swedish girl we met 5 weeks ago at Halong Bay, then cycled back.

That night we packed ready to leave the next day, then chilled at Adams Bar again. We didn't have anything 'Happy' this time…. Just a few drinks and a couple films. We then went and got a kebab from a place called Big Mommas which was also recommended by Rich, Jamie and Sam…. And it was really nice! We got an early night ready to travel further north in Laos tomorrow!