“It is Sunday 4th February. Just got back from the islands and have managed to get tickets for the overnight sleeper bus to Vientiane, leaving Pakse at 19.30. We should get there around 6am tomorrow.”
We spent 4 nights on two of the main islands. Don Khong had electricity and running water and we stayed at the spotlessly clean Souksan guesthouse.Anyway, safely arrived on Don Deth but decided not to stay here as it is very much the domain of the young backpackers and the hippies from an earlier era, who have never moved on.
The island was very nice and we spent a day on bikes exploring the southern part of the island and enjoying a noodle lunch at a floating restaurant. Two nights were just enough. We then went by boat, and by boat I mean a small old wooden boat taking 14 or 15 people and everyone’s luggage to Don Deth.
It was a 90 minute journey which was more than long enough for me especially when you realise we are in a little boat in the middle of the Mekong river which is pretty wide!!!!! Some of the passengers hadn’t grasped the concept that we needed to keep the weight balanced so when someone just decided to move across to the other side to take a photo we nearly all went with him!
This was late morning and there was hardly anyone about. Most folk here didn’t seem to emerge until later in the day. We walked the length of the island and crossed the bridge to Don Khone. There is no electricity on either island and the only light is by a generator 6-10pm at night.
All the accommodation is in bamboo or wooden huts on stilts. There is very little privacy. The islands have this idyllic image and loads of folks do just chill out here but I think we have moved on from rustic!
The first night we rented a hut with an inside loo where you had to scoop the water from a bucket to flush it and the shower attachment was just attached to the cold water tank. To be fair it was clean and the bed sheets were clean and a good mosquito net was provided.
The second night we got a room at one of only 2 more up market places. This had a flushing western style toilet and hot water as it had its own generator. Eating and walking by candlelight is quite nice though, very atmospheric.
Just to put it in perspective we paid 8$ for a really nice room on Don Khong with all amenities, 4 $ for our bamboo room and last night 15$ for the more upmarket room. Most of the bamboo huts with shared outside toilets go for around 2$. This is the price per room not per person.
One night we ate by candlelight overlooking the river at the restaurant Sala Don Khone which had excellent food. Last night was more down to earth. We had made friends with an Austrian couple and we ate with 
them at the place where they were staying.
Very, very local eating place but to be fair the food was fine and we had the best uncooked vegetable spring rolls we had ever tasted. We do tend to be very careful about what we eat and drink and still manage to eat lots of the local dishes.
We have met and chatted to quite a few other travellers including our Austrian friends and exchanged tips and ideas etc. We spent some time with them on the islands and decided to travel back to Pakse with them. The four of us with our rucksacks hired a very small boat to take us back to the mainland. As Pakse is the transport hub of southern Laos, we were expecting to be able to get a regular public bus back to there, but this was another occasion where things had changed since our guidebook was published.
There were no buses and by some local cartel arrangement, transport was provided by small trucks, (locally known as ‘songthaews’). We refused to get on the first songthaew because it was so full but didn’t fare any better on the next one because that too filled up.
We had a 3 hour journey in the back of a songthaew with 22 other folk, a cockerel that hid under the seats and crowed every now and again, a large gas cylinder balanced on the tailgate and a fridge strapped to the roof. People really do hang off the back of these just like you see on TV documentaries.
Still, we arrived in one piece but are a bit hot and dusty and not much chance of a wash until tomorrow! A few wet wipes will have to do tonight. It is still very hot except at 5 or 6 in the morning in a bamboo hut when the cold air crept in! We are catching up on our e-mails while we have a few hours before catching our over-night bus later tonight.
