Laid-back island life

Total distance: 6590 km
Pakse - Champasak - Don Khong - Don Det

From Pakse we cycled just a few kilometers to Champasak - the ex-capital of a Lao kingdom. But not much of that is left today. Champasak today is just a small one-road village, right on the banks of the Mekong. However not far from the village there is Wat Phu, an archeological UNESCO world heritage site and the temple is said to be the blueprint for Angkor Wat. It was really interesting and from the top of the hill we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The next day we continued south with our bikes to our next destination: Si Phan Don - 4000 islands. We spent one day on Don Khong and three lazy days on Don Det. It was great! We stayed in a small bungalow, with two hammocks on the patio and a great view over the Mekong. The island was a lot quieter than expected and we enjoyed that very much. Despite all the tourists the locals seem to continue their ordinary lives not much different than anywhere else: growing rice, herding water buffaloes, growing chicken and pigs. We spent most of the day with a book in the hammock, went for a walk here and there, fed the dogs and cats that came for a visit, ate a lot as usual and enjoyed the beautiful sunset... What a life!

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