Si Phan Don (translation, four thousand islands)

At the southern tip of Laos the Mekong River fans out to create beautiful fertile islands - not four thousand as the name would have you believe, but at least several hundred splotches of land ranging in size from several kilometers of beautiful rice paddies to a small collection of reeds whose roots constitute land for the day if the river is running low.

Philip and I have been lounging about on three of these islands for the past few days enjoying the lowest prices we've found in all of southeast asia. These low prices, however, are low for a reason, as we found out shortly after our arrival. After passing on our first accomidation offer of twenty-five cents per bed, Philip and I found an adorable bungalow built over the water on the western bank of Don Det - a prime location for sunset watching and hammock laying (at a price of only $1 each). We had no electricity in our small hut, but were actually quite thankful for the darkness as it helped to hide the rats, roaches, spiders, dogs, and other assorted animals that seemed to enjoy our bungalow as much as we did. (For an expanded view of this story, see Philip's account).

Cycling provides the best means to transport for exploring these small islands, so each day Philip and I would rent out single gear clunkers to peddle our way slowly across the "roads" and paths that criss-cross their way through the ironic sites of rice paddies lined with palm trees and dolphins frolicking near freshwater waterfalls. With only about thirty freshwater Irrawaddi dolphins remaining in the area, we were lucky to get a peek at them by hiring a fisherman to illegaly take us to a Cambodian island where a bribe was paid to the officials there to let us sit and watch the dolphins from the shore. Don't worry - ten thousand kip ($1 USD) and a smile was enough to get us safely back to Laos without any embassies having to get involved.