Tag Si Pan Don
My goal for the day was to reach Stung Treng in Cambodia, but it’s only about 100 kilometers from Don Det so I spent the (relatively) cool morning hours exploring the islands. Close to Don Det is a slightly bigger island called Don Khon which is famous for two things, waterfalls and river dolphins.
I like the way the boats are surrounded by islets 
View from the bridge, who builds a house on such a tiny little island?
I took the motorbike along the little path that counts for a road in Don Det, crossed the bridge and went out … Read the rest
The sign says “Dangerous Zone” (song playing in my mind: Danger Zone from Topgun) and I can see why, in front of me, massive amounts of muddy brown Mekong waters go cascading down the cliffs in a series of steps, smaller falls feeding into each other, building up to the big one just in front. The roar is almost deafening, it drowns out the sounds of the other tourists nearby. The sign has been put up because while there is a fence, it looks none too sturdy and the ground is uneven and strewn with rocks. Trip, and you could … Read the rest
Except for ziplines there are plenty of watetfalls on the Bolaven plateau and the area around Pakse. Normally I would want to visit all of them but the next stop on the way to Cambodia, Four Thousand Islands, had such an interesting name I wanted to go there earlier. The main island that travelers visit is Don Det which can be reached by a small ferry from Nakasong. When I reached the ferry terminal I was excited to see that the ferry was actually just a small catamaran built by two narrow boats connected by a wooden platform with a … Read the rest
I’m on what counts for a ferry in this part of the world, two narrow boats interconnected by a wooden platform, forming a kind of catamaran with a long tail outboard in the back. Me and my bike are the only passengers, the driver, sitting at a wheel of rebar and controlling the motor with his foot, is a middle aged man with sunburnt skin, wearing a stereotypical Asian conical rice hat. The river, wide and brown, flowing sluggishly by, is dotted by little green islets. Some are big enough for houses, others just a few feet across. Up above … Read the rest