Day 1:
We woke up promptly at 7:00am, got ready and walked round the corner to wait with the other backpackers for the minibus to Don Det. As we were waiting, Dan went to the ATM because we heard to stock up on cash as there is only one ATM on the island which is usually out of service. As he was away, everyone began boarding the mini bus so i carried mine and his backpack on in order to secure two seats together. Everyone had got on the bus except for Dan he was taking ages and then finally he appeared and we were on the road. After driving for around an hour, with a stop in between, we arrived that the boat place by the river. We all unloaded off the bus to walk down to the river and board a long boat to Don Det.

The water was a dirty blue colour and there were loads of small islands with bushes and plants propped up out of the water; must be why they call it 4,000 islands, maybe with a bit of an exaggeration. As we all got on the boat with our backpacks it began swaying from side to side and once everyone was sat down we headed off to the island of Don Det. We passed loads of people in boats, transporting people as well as goods such as pillows and food. We were approaching a small beach area of the island and there were four children rolling around naked in the sand and jumping into the water having the tike of their lives. When the boat pulled up, they all held on to pull it in and hold it steady while everyone got off. We walked up the sand onto the street to find a place to stay. The shore was lined with raised bungalows sporting hammocks on the balcony, definitely a place to chill out.

After walking down for around 10 minutes we decided on a bungalow. There was once room with a double bed bang in the middle of the room with a mosquito net covering it. There were two wooden shutters, one facing the view of the street and the other facing the terrace with the hammock overlooking the river. The shower and toilet was a short walk through the restaurant and into the back yard, all this was good for 50,000kip a night, around £4. We got settled in and checked facebook, Andrew "bob" had messaged Dan saying he was still on don Det and that we should meet him down by the beach where he's staying. I was positive the main beach wasn't the one the boat pulled onto so we went out for a stroll. We went opposite the bungalow to the restaurant to get lunch. We both got a bageutte and shared a plate of chips. When webhad finished we headed further down the road to see what Don Det had to offer. There were loads of ducks, dogs and cats wandering around. We walked passed loads of tourist info places and cafes and restaurants when we reached the end of the road where there was a beach. It was a pretty smallish section of sand but the backpackers were taking advantage of it. Because we weren't wearing any swimwear we headed back to the bungalow to chill out and smoke in the hammock to enjoy the beautiful view of the river and boats as well as the mahoosive tree which resembles the tree of life right opposite out room.

After chilling for a while we headed back out to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up walking to the beach and found a place called 4,000 Islands bar which had a decent menu and were playing really good music, so we went in and sat on one of the raised wooden platforms doused with cushions. We both ordered a banana shake, happy bag and two chicken tikka masalas. The young girl with very short hair gave us an extra smoothie with looked green in colour. I advised dan to send it back as we didn't order it and would have to pay but he was adamant that it didn't matter and he would pay. It was only when i suggested that it was a happy shake he figured we should have sent it back. You could definitely taste the weed inside even though it was mixed with banana. The older woman came over shortly apologising and saying the girl had given another tables drink to us and that it was a happy shake. The food arrived and it was presented nicely with a dash of yoghurt on top of the curry and naan bread cut into triangles along with the bowls on steamed rice. It tasted delicious.

As we were eating, we spied Bob at the bar talking to the indian looking man with owl eyes who works there so we called him over and he joined us for the rest of the evening. After he had eaten we all ordered pancakes which tasted amazing until i got a taste of garlic which put me off a bit. We then played the card game "s*** head", and surprise surprise, i was always the s***head so i got fed up and refused to play another game. There was a slightly special needs looking local who was walking around the bar sitting with random travellers and he came to join us on a number of occasions which was a bit uncomfortable but he meant no harm. We ended up getting pretty high at the bar as it slowly began to get busier and busier and the music louder. I was feeling very tired as was Dan so we said goodnight to Bob and headed back to the bungalow for some sleep.