After I left Champasok, I went to the 4000 islands. This is a region in the very south of Laos, on the border to Cambodia. The Mekong river is very wide here and has tons of little and a few bigger islands. I went to one called “Don Det”, as this is the island were most backpackers go. Again I had to take a small ferry boat to get there. The islands are flat and there are no beaches, but they are still a real nice place to relax.

While walking along the one side of the island, looking for accommodation (there are tons of bungalows resorts to choose from), I ran into Richard and Angie, an English couple I met in Luang Prabang. They told me that they were staying at the other side of the island, nearly at the end, as it was a lot cheaper there. Bram and Tina would also be staying there. So I crossed the island and found a nice bungalow for myself, directly at the water, for 1,80€ a night. You just gotta love Laos…

To get an idea of the island, I started walking around it. While the coast lines are wonderfully green, the inside of the island consisted of dried out rice paddies. It probably looks really nice, when they are filled with water and the rice is growing, but in this state…not really.

At the end of the island, there is a small bridge, connecting the island with its neighbor island. Back in the days, when Laos was a French colony, they build a railway to connect the to islands and as a matter of fact, these few hundred meters of railway are the only railway in whole Laos. Sadly it’s not in use anymore and is just rotting away…

It was a really nice walk around the island, as the small road goes all around the coast line, which has tons of small bungalow resorts, cafe’s, restaurants and bars. Everything is really laid back, like everywhere in Laos. A good relaxing atmosphere…

The only thing to do on the island is to rent a tube, get into the water and just let yourself flow. The current isn’t very strong, so it takes about 1-2 hours to get from the tip of the island to the place where the accommodation places end (to the other end of the island would probably take 3-4h, depending on which side you start). The tubes are really inexpensive and it’s a nice way to pass the time, get some tan and chat with some other travelers.

The rest of the time I mostly spent hanging around in the hammock in front of my bungalow, reading (I started reading “The Lord of the Rings”) and watching the sunsets. Relax, relax, relax…

When I finally ran out of money after about 5 days (there’s no atm in a radius of at least 200km), I ordered a bus ticket to Cambodia…

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