Are there really 4000 islands?

Having made it across the Cambodia-Laos border and after a little mini-bus confusion we embarked upon the longboat to take us to Don Det, one of the islands making up Si Phan Don (meaning 4000 island). All the accommodation on the island was made up of a series of bungalows set up along the Mekong River. Spoilt for choice we looked at a few places and chose one guesthouse which had a nice outside balcony area with comfy hammocks (sensing a theme?...i am). We adapted quickly to island life and the slow pace at which things are done. We spent the evening in one of the restaurants on the main road slash mud/dirt track. A friendly game of pool with some other travelers turned into one of the longest games in the history of time, partly because of the terrible condition of the wonky table and partly because after about 45 minutes of constant misses most of us had given up the will to live let alone play!Eventually a few flukey shots helped us all to finish up and vow never to play on this table again.

The next day we rented bikes to visit the large, Li Phi waterfall on the adjacent island of Don Khon which is believed by the local people to wash away the spirits of the deceased. It was a little frightening to see fishermen casting out their nets from the rocks with such rapid water gushing past but i guess they were pros and knew what they were doing!
Carrying along down the west side of the island we made it to a small beach where we spent a little time paddling in the water and resting our cycling legs. Eager to get around the whole of the island (it wasn't so big) we carried on until we reached a really rocky track. We persevered along the ridiculously body shaking bumpy path until we couldn't take anymore and worrying that the road would not improve we turned around and headed back to Don Det for our afternoon fishing trip we had booked.



Unfortunately it turned out to be one of those rather uneventful trips. Despite our guide ferrying us around on his longboat to various different spots along the river, we got nothing, not even a little bite or nimble at our bait. We were hoping that he would have some sort of back up plan, especially as the trip description had featured a fish BBQ on a tiny island along the Mekong but there was no back-up plan. Our only luck was that he had bought with him one fish so we were still able to have a little bit of BBQ fish. However by 6pm the prospect of one small fish between 3 of us who hadn't eaten since breakfast seemed a little disappointing and not quite the feast we had been hoping for. On returning to dry land we hung up our rods and went for a proper dinner. I had the popular island choice, the pumpkin burger, which was really tasty and totally satisfied by starved and grumbling stomach. Post dinner and feeling alive again, we met up with some others and had some island happy shakes before retiring to our place for some late night hammocking, ideal.

This last photo is something that I was rather intrigued by as we cycled around the island. I later found out that these termite mound like structures are what the people use to make charcoal. They dig a pit and fill it with chopped wood to make a big stock pile and then they cover it all up with mud leaving some vents along the sides of the base. The mud allows the inside to get really hot and sort of roasts the wood to make charcoal...ingenious!