Grabbing a 7:45am minibus (going to 4,000 Islands/ Si Phan Don) from our hotel, I had a wee surprise. The lass sitting in the front seat was waving at me. Shouting "hey Tom." By jove it was Sarah. She was on her way to Siem Reap from Vientiane. So we teased her almost relentlessly about her new "boyfriend" for our entire 2,30 hour journey. Saying goodbye to Sarah exclaiming I would find her in Indianapolis and make her life hell again, we jumped onto our boat to Don Khong (the largest of the Islands), annoyingly so did Garfunkel (vhiker). Arriving on the island, immediately being sold a boat trip the next morning to Don Det. We waved the happy chappy off and headed off to the only guesthouse that had dorm rooms. Garfunkel was still following us... And to be honest the place was a s##thole, but Garfunkel declared he wanted to go elsewhere and we jumped at the opportunity to stay here. We then found out we were the only people at this place, and by the looks of it the only people for quite a while. Getting some bikes for only 10,000 kip no deposit, we successfully passed Garfunkel - whom was learing around like a vulture. Cycling up the road, which are basically traffic free, a child shouts at me and runs after the bike and jumps onto the back. Cool little kid, I asked where he wanted to go and he just pointed up the road. He told me his name when I asked but I could never pronounce it right. Then he hopped off and ran off into the fields.

We cycled for hours at a fairly lesuirely pace and eventually reached the top of the island. Finding a restaurant which had a few locals in it. One guy came up to us with his bottle of homemade Lao Lao whiskey. Did a shot and poured out one for L and one for me. It was strong and pretty nasty, but it makes you feel like you're making friends! Ordering fish and rice. We got maybe pork and noddles soup. Now heading down the west coast of the island we had so many kids shouting sabidee sabidee and waving away looking so happy and excited. L and I felt like celebrities. Never have I cycled with such a smile on my face, and with such a sore arse from the saddle. Some kids ran out onto the road and Hi-fived us. Part way back we found a small stream and cooled down in it, as the midday heat was searing. Cycling alongside the Mekong, jungle, mountains, paddy fields, kids waving as us was a fantastic experience.

Dropping off our bikes, surprise surprise Garfunkel was there, in exactly the same spot as before. He said he had cycled the island too. Glad he didn't find us! We tried the Namkhong beer, booked our ticket off the island and headed off to bed pretty early.