Tuesday 30 november

In the afternoon we arrived at the most southern part of Laos: the 4000 islands (Si Phan Don).
This is a section of the Mekong River that fans out into a 10 kilometre-wide labyrinth of shallow waterways and islands. There are 3 islands where you can stay on. I stayed on Don Det, it's the most popular one for backpackers. For €7 I shared a bungalow with Pieter. It's perfect with 2 hammocks in front and a great view on the river and sunset.

The first evening we played card games and saw an incredible sunset. I finished my video from the Thakhek Loop which I showed the others and everyone really liked it😀 (I posted the link of the video in my last blog). After that we ate Indian again and watched the stars before going to bed. Everything closes at 23:00. I really like the quiet island so far.

Wednesday 30 november
After one of the best sleeps on a while, I woke up at 8:00 and went for a jog with Pieter, Per and Ingeborg. We wanted to do an exploration jog around the island, which is like 6 km.
The start was okay but after 3 km my stomach felt bad and had to walk the rest. The island is not so big and is excellent for a morning jog.
After jogging I ordered fresh pineapple and chilled in a hammock. Everyone was very lazy/tired and I even started reading my book for the first time.
In the afternoon we went fishing on a boat with barbecue and music. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything special, but the sunset was nice and we had a good time all together. The local guy brought a big speaker and I could put my phone on it🤘

Thursday 1 December
I woke up a bit more early today and went jogging again with Erik and Marlou. Today we did the 6km about twice as fast as yesterday😅 Erik runs so easy and so fast. He used to do athletics. Later the day we chilled and in the evening we went to a bar. It was one of the best nights so far for me. We were with a big group and had a lot of fun. At some point I could not stop crying because I had to laugh so much. I think it had something to do with the "happy shake".... We ate some samosas as a late night snack. Samosa is a Indian snack like triangle springrolls. The outside is made out of flour and tastes a but like the Dutch "Oliebol". Inside you can choose chicken, vegetables, pumpkin, banana or coconut. I liked the coconut the most😍
During our stay at the bar a local guy kind of stalked us. He was following Laurens and Gea (Dutch couple) the whole evening and he didn't stop staring at us the whole night. The people from the bar sended him away but he came back every time. He looked a bit like a retard or down syndrome. Buy the people call him crazy men, and they say he is only "20% human" instead of some kind of syndrome 😂

Friday 2 December
This morning I woke up later and went for a jog by myself. After having a chicken baguette with egg salad, it was time to head off to the waterfalls. These waterfalls are on the next island, which is connected by a bridge. We rented a bicycle for €1 and headed off. Luckely as I am, I had the shittiest bike😬
We first went to spot some dolphins at the river, bur they weren't there. After that we headed of to the waterfall. I didnt expect to find this kind of nature on the island. It was like a canyon with brown water rushing through. If you fall in here you have zero chance to make get out alive..

When we wanted to go back to our island I noticed I had a flat tire and still had to drive 7km. I tried to keep going but the tire really got destroyed and got off the rim. After going for like 3 km I saw a little truck driving on the road to collect big waterbottles from local people. Luckely I could put my bike in the back and drive with him. The others were still cycling their asses of as I drove by them hahah😅
In the evening we ate for the last time at the Indian restaurant and had some beers. Tomorrow I'm leaving the island. I really loved this place although I didn't do so much. The view from the bungalow was amazing, the group were i was travelling with was amazing and the atmosphere was very relaxing.

The next days I'm heading off to Ubon Ratchathani in East Thailand. It is only 100km away from the Lao border. I'm goIng to meet a local girl there. I met her last year in Phuket. She was working in the hostel I was staying and she showed me around on the island. She lives in the eastern part of Thailand, which is not popular to tourist. This makes it very interesting for me and I'm really curious how people live their life there. She lives together with her parents and she said I could stay there for a couple of days. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I heard they don't have hot water to shower with.... Off to the next adventure ☺

Geschreven door FrankArends