4000 Islands - Don Det

8am start and a pretty smooth 2hr run to the boat crossing to bring us to Don Det Island. There is nothing to do here but walk/cycle about the island, read a book in your hammock, eat drink and relax and that is exactly what we are doing - kind of - well the blog wouldn't be interesting if Matt and I were always well prepared would it? On the bus to the island Matt read in the lonely planet that there are no ATM's on the islands so come prepared with dosh - we didn't and therefore had about £15 to our name - enough to sleep and eat for one night/ day but not to a) get us off the island b) allow us to buy our Cambodian visa's c) stay a second night. Luckily there is a place that does money exchange and another place that does a bank run but as we arrived on a Sunday it would be Monday evening before we could get any money. Our accommodation's a lovely little bungalow by the river, equipped with hammock on the porch, flushing toilet and hot shower. Thankfully the owners look for payment on leaving so we have a bit more to play with until Monday evening.

The first night we went to a little restaurant on the river to watch the beautiful sun set, we had planned to eat there too but realised that anything over £2 per person was over our budget so we left and ate in a cheaper place up the road. We then took a stroll away from the main bit to see what was happening in a few hidden bars we had passed earlier - one place was pumping so in we went, ordered our 2 large beer Lao and were given a free brownie - score, this night was going to be fun and cheap lol We got talking to a swiss couple and listened to the garage music before we decided to call it a night.

Today we got up early and hired bikes to cycle to the other bigger island to see if we could find an ATM there and to maybe see the waterfall and spot a fresh water dolphin but as we got to the bridge after cycling in the melting heat for 1hr we hadn't enough money to pay the toll - £1.75 each so we had to turn back and pedal off head in hands from embarrassment that we couldn't afford it. As we came back into the main bit we noticed a sign for ATM so we went into a restaurant and managed to get cashback - phew, now we can afford lunch and shampoo and laundry J We also paid for our ticket off the island and on to Cambodia so now we are just chilling on the veranda in the hammock, me typing this, matt reading his book - aaaah bliss! (Just a shame we're too soon after the rainy season for the teal blue waters)

S&M