Si Phan Don, Laos

What is basically the southern-most point of Laos is series of islands in the Mekong River known as Si Phan Don, which literally means 4000 Islands. While most of the islands are not large enough to contain nothing but some sand and plant life, there are three islands big enough to support human life. I elected to stay on Don Det, which is the smallest of the three and the "backpacker" island.

Before I continue I need to illustrate how in-the-middle-of-nowhere this place is. The is no ATM on any of the islands. The closest place to get cash is a bank "on the mainland" and that is still about 45 minutes away. The closest ATM is about 100 miles away in Pakse. The bank holds typical bank hours and if you need cash when it is not open you may have to make the trip to Pakse, which several people do. Just about every local in the area will exchange currencies for you, but at rates that are criminal, though it is often the best option and you do it anyway. The currency in Laos is called kip, with about 8450 kip worth about US$1. The largest note in Laos is 50,000 kip; or about US$6. To reword that, the largest note in Laos is worth about US$6.

OK, with that out of the way, Si Phan Don might be the most relaxing place in the world. It is all too easy to get stuck in a hammock all day or spend hours upon hours letting the current take you which ever way it happens to be flowing while you sit in an innertube. There is kayaking but most people opt to exert less effort and just hang out all day. I usually get bored of beach towns after a couple days, and there were times when I was slightly bored, but there was never that I-have-to-leave-now-I-am-so bored feeling despite spending four nights there. When the bars close around midnight everybody makes there way to the beach where a bondfire is quickly ignighted. To me, this is the highlight of Si Phan Don. Just sitting around on the beach with the warmth of a fire and a cold beer meeting and talking to people.

During the days I would often dive off the west side of Don Det and swim to the next island, which often had a few people sunbathing. Every island after that would be deserted. I would swim (well, often walk as the Mekong was so low) from one island to the next to the next. I did the tubing thing once for a few hours one day. Other days and parts of days were just spent in a hammock or walking around.

All in all, Si Phan Don was an outstanding introduction to Laos and representative of how relaxed and easy going the entire country is.