An early morning start to 4000 islands, for once we didn’t travel by local bus and climbed on board a backpacker mini bus for the two and a half hour journey south. It was a welcome change from the sick bags and on route even though we didn’t manage to visit it we did pass the Lao Brewery Co Plant. We climbed off the mini bus at Ban Hua Det which was where the ferry point crossing was for our fifteen minute long tail boat ride to the island of Don Det. A little more than we usually pay but still reasonable at 70 000 kip for the whole journey and with a lot less trauma. It didn’t take us long on the island before we checked into Souksan Guesthouse which overlooked the river with great views for 40 000 kip per night.
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| Backpacker mini-bus which means the bags go on the roof... |
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| Could be worse though, might have been packed into one of these |
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| The BeerLao Brewing Plant on-route to 4000 Islands |
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| Flashing by out of the mini-bus window. So close yet so far... |
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| Long-Tail Boat from Ban Hua Det across to Don Det Island. Bags at the front people at the rear |
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| Souksan Bungalows. No gate to push! |
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| Our Abode |
The island seemed very tranquil on arrival but the first thing to hit us was the infestation of bugs. Giant flying things and plenty of mosquitos, there was a chance we could be eaten alive for the next few days but at least we had the mighty room spray and plenty of repellent.
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| Tranquil is the word that sprang to mind rather than Ghost Town |
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| What the hell is that? Giant beetle bug and the ants were having a field day |
Along the riverside the island is made up of beach shacks and sandy roads and it is one of those places along the backpacker trail where it is time to just kick back in hammocks and do nothing. We needed this after flying through Vietnam for the last month and it gave us plenty of time to do some needed blog writing with Wi-Fi connections being pretty much nonexistent.
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| Sandy roads lined with shacks |
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| The village set on the river, stunning |
With sticking to our travel plan we decided on two full days but as always we find it hard doing nothing so one day of lying around was enough. We decided to spend a day exploring on bicycles. The bikes were a bargain at only 8000 kip a day although they were knackered and hired to us by a token drunk man. It was a beautiful hot sunny day cycling through Don Det along the river bank where we crossed the French bridge to Don Kong, cycling across the bridge cost 20 000 kip, every bridge seems to cost money in this country.
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| Time to explore on bicycles |
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| Passing through Don Det Village on our way to Don Kong |
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| Breathtaking Si Pan Don |
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| The French Bridge crossing, one island to the other |
It was a hard day of exercise but definitely got the endorphins going where we probably covered 40Km along dusty gravel roads. The effort was definitely worth it as we visited the amazing waterfalls before reaching the dolphin watching area but we think there was no dolphin watching that day as none of the boat men were to be seen.
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| The never ending gravel roads of the day |
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| Don Kong Waterfall-Vast in every direction |
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| Gushing River Rapids. The White Water Rafting must be awesome |
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| Parking up at Dolphin Point. No sign of the boatmen trying to sell trips!!! |
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| The Dolphins are out there sometimes... |
Saddle sore and sweating out more fluid than we could take in we headed back to base passing obscene amounts of buffalos and cows as we cycled through lush green countryside’s and rice paddy fields. We even saw some locals brawling but decided not to get involved.
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| Time to head back to base. Sleeves rolled up and Girlie bike ready |
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| Fields full of Water Buffalo. We love these arrogant posh cows |
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| Don Kong riverside. BeerLao still advertised massively |
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| The sprawling rice paddies |
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| A perfect way to end our mammoth day out with sunset |
It was nearly time to head back into Cambodia but we were glad that we had decided to re-visit Laos and see the south even if it was only for 6 days. Out of season in May it had been extremely quiet but a visit down to the 4000 islands was definitely worth it. It’s a great place to chill out and re charge the batteries but if you do have lots of energy you can keep yourself busy with kayaking, rock climbing, tubing and white water rafting. 4000 islands had been brilliant but good riddance crazy flying bugs.
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| Being on the Mekong River meant a little more Namkhong Beer, which we sampled back in Luang Prebang. Seems fitting with the beer being named after the river... |
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| Back to BeerLao. The Unofficial National Brew. Arrived by Longtail most afternoons from the mainland |
BEERLAO GOLD, PALE LAGER, LAOS, 5% ABV, 640ML BTL
BeerLao Gold is a premium beer from the BeerLao Brewing family that uses specially selected Sapphire aromatic hops from Germany that enhanced the aroma giving it a quality feel. The BeerLao Gold was announced by the President of the Lao Brewery Company, Mr Kissana Vongsay together with Senior Deputy Managing Director, Mr Sounthone Phommachhack and Deputy Managing Director Mr Soren Lauridsen in a ceremony attended by more than 1,200 LBC’s business partners in early 2010.
The Lao Brewery Company spent over a year developing the BeerLao Gold to make it taste better and to be a new choice for consumers. It was initially launched in shops, bars and restaurants throughout Laos on 18th January 2010.
When sampling alongside the regular BeerLao I couldn’t really pick out too much of a difference. With my mind working overtime I think there was clearly more spice character running through the palate which was probably enough to just take it ahead of the original brew. If reflecting I might even call out saying that I preferred this pale lager, even though it has not seemed to be readily available in Laos during our trip. Maybe it is found in more upmarket establishments and in terms of what the local’s drink it is definitely still the regular beer but the Gold is slightly more expensive.
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| BeerLao Gold |
Laos has been one of our favourite places in South East Asia. It’s slow paced and you have always got to remember the PDR (please don’t rush).
With a direct VIP bus booked for our journey to Siem Riep it was an early morning start with the first objective of the day reaching the main land by another long tail boat. The hotel did forget about us but we made it on time. While waiting for the bus we got a feeling it was going to be one of those days. Kate’s only pair of flip flops broke after nine months of wearing them every day.
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| Time to head back to the mainland for our VIP bus. The empty BeerLao keeping us company |
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| Damn. Worn everyday for 9 months |
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| Not amused. Bare foot or Connies? |
The bus finally arrived and it was a good bus, only a fifteen minute journey to the border crossing at Voen Khan. It’s a good border crossing between Laos and Cambodia and was pretty quiet when we arrived. It was being rebuilt and the bus had to rally through the mud but we made it. The guys working the bus were very well organised and for $28 US they would sort out everything for you so you didn’t have to get off the bus, but there’s no story in that. We could save $1 each and get off the bus and do it ourselves. Rather than a one off payment we got charged in stages, exit fee 10 000 kip (had gone up since the last time we were here), $23 Visa, $1 to go through quarantine where Kate had her forehead scanned like a barcode to check her temperature, luckily it was under 38 degrees as if it is over they apparently send an ambulance for you (if ill staying on the bus is probably a good idea), then $1 to the guy who puts the visa in and $1 to another guy who stamps it. You have got to admire the money making skills!
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| Our Vip Bus to Siem Riep arrives. Looks like its already been to Hell and Back |
Cambodia now feels like our home away from home and it was great to be back. We had a long bumpy journey ahead to Siem Riep. We got bumped off the nice bus into a crammed mini bus for the majority of the journey. Interesting journey through the Cambodia countryside watching them catch crickets with plastic sheets and lights during the night.
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| Now a whole VIP Coach is pretty much bumped into this for a further 6 hours |
By the time we pulled into Siem Riep bus station it was already late and dark so we were charged $4 for the short journey to town. We always usually walk out of the bus station so as not to pay the extra bus station charges for Tuk-Tuk’s but they had us in the palms of their hand as it was late and dark.
Exhausted after the twelve hour journey it was back to using U.S Dollars and we checked into the Popular Guesthouse for $8 per night. It was nearly time for us to finally visit Angkor Wat.
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