Arriving in Pakxe at 6am after an interesting sleep on board the bus we got to our hotel and watched Shawshank Redemption, what a way to start the day. We were only here as a break from travelling down toward the 4000 Islands - NAME - and specifically Don Det; the only thing we really found in the city was ourselves getting lost.. A lot. There was a bridge, a few wats, restaurants and a shopping mall only envied by The Pentagon Centre.. We ate a few times and otherwise spent our time trying to find some more information about the islands - no ATM machines there, an uncertain number and quality of guesthouses.. A trip into the unknown. Well it began bright and early the next morning, we woke up late got ready in 10 minutes then waited three quarters of an hour to be picked up.
Arriving in Ban Nagasak we unloaded and headed down to the shore, loading our bags onto a thin fishing style boat it set off for the island. There in about 5 minutes it was time to go room-hunting, we settled in the first place we found planning instead to room hunt the next day.
Where we had pulled up on the boat was a cool little beach, with sun and shade for most of the day - it led straight up to the main 'strip' running all the way along the East of the Island. This was the sunrise side, the sunset side was on the West where some incredible views were to be had. We spent a whole week on the island, taking in Christmas day when we had fried fish and chicken red curry instead of a roast.. There were a few other places we enjoyed eating and having a few drinks, overall very much a lazy little island - although this being contradicted by the amount of new buildings going up more or less across the whole 7km sq.
One day we rented out bikes and zipped off down the path towards the old French bridge and the island of Don Khon. Twice the size of Don Det it took a fair while to cycle round but with a few stops thrown in it was a cool journey. Khone Pa Soi was on the East, a small set of waterfalls and man made dams accessed by a wobbly rope and plank bridge; in the South the harbour for viewing Mekong dolphins - opposite Cambodia and not a dolphin in sight - it was incredible to think French boats could have once docked here having avoided the hazard laden maze of trees and rocks; further round to the West was a lovely big hill of a beach, not so good for swimming in though I thought; finally another set of waterfalls - Somphamit - apparently the largest in volume in the country.. These were more of a sight than the last, great channels being cut by protruding rocks and all eventually pouring into one great sound of crashing. Heading back we came along the sunset side and finally arriving back feeling just about exhausted. Other than watching a few films, reading a book and drinking or eating the rest probably isn't that interesting - skip on and we're now on our way to Savannakhet, our stop off town on the way to Vietnam come the New Year.