Ive just spent 7 days chilling n Don Det and my brain is very slow ( more so than usual) and im finding everything a bit of an effort, this is a sure sign to me any way to do something else that involves actually moving,.. I beleive my last blog was moaning about Vientiane, so since then ive been to the 4000 islands basically Don Det Don Khon and and we went to Don Son for a boat race which was the highlight of my week there. At the end of oct all around Laos they have the end of the rains celebrations which involves boat racing between villages , islands etc and lots of beer lao and lao lao ( rice whiskey moonshine ), so on this day all of DD gets on boats and goes to Don Son come my turn the boat was jam packed with backpackers and we only made it about half way as the boat was sinking fast ! no harm done everyone off and wait for 2 different boats back on and when we eventually made it fantastic. Theres no roads on most of these islands onl tracks. It was jammed with Laos people having fun all in their best gear lots of stalls with lush food and games. So we drank some beer danced and had a good time but the best was yet to come. All Back on the boats ( 2 this time) on homeward bound, some point during this pleasant drift downstream back to DD a longtail boat came alongside us with a Laos band all playing their instruments at this point Mark a little bit drunk i think launched himself into the murky Mekong. Just for a second this was a bd thing to do , then it seemed an alright thing as the band on the other boat hauled him safely aboard their vessel ! Next thing you know theres 6 longtail boats all roaped together and we,re havin a boat party ! The musicians were great and every one started clapping and playing along dancing etc, so a big thanks to those amazing Laos people who went with the flow and made that a very memorable sunset. As i mentioned at the beginning ive moved over to Champasak and this is my third day ,went to Wat Phu yesterday, which was a flat 8 ks each way by push bike and a big climb up so more sweatyphotos to post , thers just one road here and its very quiet so perfect for bikes and all along the way are animals and children and ladies harvesting rice in conical hats and they all wave and shout sabaidee (hello), its just lush.Im livng the hippy life i love , everyones great !! MMm lets see how long that lasts, x x PS happy birthday Mum i love you millions XX