So we arrived in Laos on the 6th October after a very crammed and bumpy four hour bus ride, followed by a three hour wait for another bus and finally a two hour bus ride over the boarder. At the boarder crossing we were a bit unsure of what we would need to do to get our 30 day visa's to visit Laos and hoped it wouldn't be as longwinded as the Thailand/Cambodia boarder. Turns out that when we got on the bus to take us to the boarder, we simply handed over our passports, $40 and a passport photo to the rep who sorted out the visas for the whole bus. We were over the moon and instead of filling in form after form for an hour we just sat on a nice air-conditioned bus for 10 minutes and we were sorted, a new stamp in our passports and we were on our way.

We had decided the day before that we were going to visit Don Det Island (one of the many islands that makes up the Si Phan Don, better known as Four Thousand Islands) So after our short trip past the boarder we hopped onto another mini bus that would take us down to the dock. We tried to board the small boat that was advertised as a ferry with grace but it's rather hard when the boat is rocking from side to side and you have a backpack affecting your balance too. Once seated we were ready for the off and made our way to Don Det under cover of darkness. It felt like a scene from Apocalypse Now as you could see nothing but the water breaking alongside the boat and a few lights in the distance. We arrived shortly after and decided to stay at the guest house that we had been dropped off at. Plus it had been a really long day traveling, about 9/10 hours in total and the last thing we wanted to do was walk about with our bags comparing places and prices. We dumped our bags in, and hit the road to find a place to eat. Walking up the Islands main strip (that is only about 300 meters long) we bumped into some girls that we had met at Tree Top Guesthouse in Ban Lung, Sam, Kate and Becky. The next morning we all decided to hire some bikes and have a ride around the Island for a bit of exploring. It was great as we were like a little bike gang riding around on our pink bikes and seen some great sights around the Island, even finding a beach to grab a beer and dip our feet in the Mekong River. We came to Don Det with the Idea of doing nothing for a few days to recuperate after our trek that we had completed a few days before. So that's what we done for the next two days. We found a cool little bar that had great food, cheap drinks, low tables and lounge cushions so you could laze about the floor and as a cheeky bonus the owner would play any film you wanted to watch from his film list. Needless to say we were very happy for the next few days and were very busy doing nothing! Turns out that the owner of the place, Adam was traveling himself and was walking about the Island, noticed there was a lease for sale and bought it. He had only been open four months but it looks like he is onto a winner.

After two days of becoming relaxation specialists we decided that we needed to do something active and thought some hard core exercise was the way forward. So me, Ashleigh and Jace booked up to do a 1 day kayaking trip. So we woke early with a bit of a hangover from the night before's relaxation session. Ashleigh at first wanted to stay in bed and told me just to go but after a while she came round to the idea. So we were all stood at the Happy Island Adventure tour office all kitted up and looking like right nob's as we went through our safety demo in the baking sun making our sore heads even worse. But as soon as we took the short walk down to the river and into the kayak's the bad heads seemed to drift away, well at least mine did. So we kayaked for around 45 minutes south down the Mekong towards Don Khone, another Island linked to Don Det via the old French bridge. Once we got there we were out of our kayaks and walked along Don Khone and stopped to look at the last remaining railcar on the island. It looked like what Thomas the tank engine would look like if he was left outside for one hundred years then set about by a gang using sledge hammers. So I'm sure you can imagine it. We then walked down to the beach of the Island for the next leg of kayaking. We continued down river to the Liphi Falls were we had to jump out of the kayaks whilst they were taken to the bottom of the falls for us. Once reaching the bottom of the falls ourselves we marveled at the power of the river and the falls. Normally you can kayak down the rapids in the dry session but in the wet session they would rip you apart. We then kayaked for another hour down river where we would break for lunch. This was actually on the Cambodian border and was classed as Cambodian land. This is a great spot for spotting Irrawaddy dolphins like the ones we saw in Kratie and they were out in force. As we sat and ate lunch looking out over the Mekong you could spot them bobbing their heads and body's up out the water for an intake of air. After letting our lunch settle and watching the dolphins for the past hour, we hopped back into our kayaks and kayaked east across the length of the Mekong to a pick up point in Veunkham. After a hard 45 minutes, we moored up and boarded a bus, kayaks and all that would drive us to the Phapheheng waterfall. This waterfall is classed as the biggest, widest and strongest waterfall in Southeast Asia. Watching the water rushing past and the noise it gave off was something else. After watching what nature had made for a few more minutes we were driven back to our last drop off point where we would kayak back to Don Det Island. This was harder than it seemed due to a bunch of kids emerging from nowhere and jumping in the water trying to capsize us, the little b*****s. Funny though I have to admit. After a further 30 minutes kayaking we had Don Det in sights. Getting out of the kayak was heaven and all of our arms were on fire. We can just about move our shoulders now. Totally worth it though and a great way to get rid of a hangover….I suppose.

The day after, we left Don Det and headed north to Don Khong Island. We heard that there wasn't much there but thought it was worth checking out. What we heard was right but we still had a walk about to explore the island a little and used the time on the Island to catch up on our books that we had neglected the past few days. We plan to move on up to Pakse as there seems to be some things worth checking out so once we have we will let you know.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x