The storm was still lingering in the morning as we set off from Champasak, it was raining - we caught a boat to the other side of the river and waited for a bus we had booked seats on. The rain got heavier and heavier as we all sheltered beneath a small hut. When the bus eventually arrived it was already packed, the conducter then frantically started searching around the local shops for some plastic chairs - we remembered this from our last trip. Bus companies will book as many people as they can on a bus and then create seats for them in anyway possible. We were the lucky ones who had to sit on the plastic chairs piled down the middle aisle. After 40 minutes some people got off and me and Carolyn got some proper seats - we were only on them for about 15 mins when we were ordered to get back on to the plastic chairs to make way for some locals (who pay a fraction of the price we paid!) Kam was wedged by an older man and had a small child sitting half on his lap! As a few more people got on my plastic seat got very close to the front windscreen - I just prayed we didn't brake suddenly!

By the time we arrived at Ban Nakasang the weather had cleared up. From here we caught a small narrowboat to Don Khon which is a small island. It only took about 15 minutes and when we arrived we went room hunting. We found a bargain bungalow for 1 pound 80 we thought it was great, very basic but would do. The guesthouse had a bar by the river where you could just lounge about admiring the view which is what we did for the rest of the day. We were quite tired when we went to bed and looking forward to a good nights sleep, we put the mozzie net over us and as we were dozing off all these little black bugs seemed to descend onto us from the headboard and as the night went on we started itching...there was another huge thunderstorm so we couldn't really get out of bed and do anything about it. We had to go on a bug killing spree and they were full of our blood - the sheets looked like a warzone. In the morning we went off to find another place to stay and just 2 minutes walk away there were immaculate river facing rooms all with hammocks for just under 4 pound a night. The lady owner was lovely - she had very limited english but could speak french, luckily there was a french guy there who interpreted for us. We found out that where we had been staying has had a serious bed bug problem for the last seven years and that was why the prices were so low. She said we could have a room with her but everything would need debugging - we had to get everything washed, throw away our cotton sleeping bags and have our bags sprayed with some highly toxic stuff! Rich, Carolyn, Eleanor and Anton all decided to move to this place too - we all had hammocks lined up in a row! The lady owner also had a small restaurant - it was some of the best food we had in Laos but you had to wait at least one hour for your food! She made delicious spring rolls with garlic, ginger and carrot dip and really good Laap.

We definately felt more relaxed than ever in Don Khon, waking up to your balcony on the river every morning was great and just lounging around in the hammock. There were also many places to explore, we hired bikes and went to see some waterfalls - there were many bamboo huts balanced on the edge of the thundering water where the locals fish from - it looked mighty dangerous! We also cycled to Tat Somphamit, now we have seem lots of waterfalls before but when we saw this one we actually went wow! It was really stunning, water from three directions dramatically tumbling down huge rocks, the water spray rising with the sun setting in the background, only pictures will do it justice! There were some sandbanks nearby too which was like a beach, apparantly you could see Cambodia in the distance but we didn't know where to look! Other places we went to on the island was a lovely little circuit around rice paddies, buffalo were lazily plodding around with the bells on their necks donging, birds were tweeting and it was just so peaceful and lush. There was a temple amongst this and we could hear monks chanting - could have stayed there forever chillaxing!!

Next to Don Khon is an island called Don Det which is linked by a bridge, Don Det is a bit like Vang Vieng as in there are bars selling 'mushroom' milkshakes and 'happy' pizza- it didn't take long to cycle round and we were really glad we were staying on Don Khon instead. On our last night we decided to cycle back to the massive waterfalls to watch the sun set for one last time over Laos, it was beautiful. As it was getting dark and we didn't have torches we tried to cycle quickly back to our guesthouse. I sped over a wooden bridge and then realised you had to cycle down a narrow ramp the other end as I tried to aim for the ramp my little toe got caught on the side of the bridge and I carried on moving. I swear I saw my toe crack sideways and immediately jumped off my bike - it was really painful! I put a load of ice on when we returned to the guesthouse. We had an epic 2 and a half hour wait for our dinner that evening from the sweet old lady!

And so our time in Laos came to an end and also our time with our lovely little travelling family also finished. Eleanor, Carolyn and Rich were all off to Cambodia and Anton was only just starting his Laos adventure. We were so fortunate to meet such great people and get on with them for nearly a month, it really felt sad when we said our goodbyes and we are pretty sure we wouldn't have had such a great time if we hadn't met!