4000 Islands a little Paradise in Southern Laos
4000 Islands - I was ready to collapse, after the 24 hour journey to Don Det, but I also knew that going to sleep at 1pm would probably not be the best idea, so instead we did my favorite sport and went tubing down the Mekong River. At nearly a 100 degrees out when we arrived, it was also a great way to cool off.
We watched the sunset and ended up getting pulled by a boat back to our destination as the river wasn’t moving fast enough. When we got back, I made the rookie mistake of laying down for a few minutes, and woke up 16 hours later to a new day.
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4000 Islands a little Paradise in Southern Laos
Don Det is an island in the Mekong, thats about 4.5 miles in circumference (this is a guess based purely on me needing 40 minutes to run the island) and just had electricity introduced 4 years ago.
River water feeds the tap here as well as acts as the sewer system, trash is burned, and boat loads of Laolao beer make their way to quench the thirst of locals and backpackers each day.
Before tourism started, the island economy seemed to be fueled by rice fields, however, guesthouses are quickly replacing them, as tourism seems to be the new cash crop.
People come here in order to embrace the local sports of hammocking, bonfiring, and tubing. I completed this triathlon a few times, which made this an easy place to get stuck in.
We also ventured out onto some other islands visiting the largest waterfall in southeast asia as well as kayaked through the Mekong seeing the nearly extinct fresh water dolphins. Kristin, who happens to be mutual friends with some friends back home, and I ended up engaging in a battle of the boats, which turned into boat pirating and kayak flipping, America dominated if you ask us.
I knew this was another sleepy backpacker paradise I could get lost in, so after 4 days of recovering from the hell ride here, I decided it was time to pack up and head to Cambodia.
