DON KHONG – KHONG ISLAND

Into the 4,000 islands region of the Mekong River.

The mini bus pulled into the tiny village of Ban Hatxai Khun, really nothing more than a few houses and a shop or two. This was the ferry landing for transport across the Mekong to Muang Kong on Khong Island.

Don Khong is a large island in the middle of the Mekong River. It is one of the first islands in the '4000 Islands' area of Southern Laos. It is 18 km long and 8 km wide in average width. A road goes right around the coastline and there is one which crosses directly across the island.

Within a few minutes three of us were boarding a motorised long boat, with a roof, to cross the river. The boatman asked 15,000 kip (under $3NZ) per person and would not bring it down at all. This seemed a fixed charge no matter how many were actually travelling. But the guest houses lining the oposite river bank looked inviting in the distance and after an hour plus in a fast moving mini bus, who wanted to worry about a few kip!

I suppose the trip across took 5 or so minutes and it was pleasant to be riding across the smooth flowing late afternoon water. Up stream I spied several islands of varing size and I suddenly realised that yes, there must be some of the famous 4,000 islands. And that was sort of exciting.

We eased in to the muddy river back between two other long boats, giving us a certain degree of stability to alight with. Just a step from the bow and I was onto the sloping earth bank. A few steps climbing up to the end of the concret steps and onto the road above. Straight away to my right I could see two of the guest houses I had selected to check out.

Inspired by a fellow passenger, I made sure that where I stayed could get ESPN sports channel. A Canadian, John was mad keen to watch the final of the world cup rugby that afternoon and I thought it could be worth doing as well. He had decided to come here rather than Don Det because this was the location where some guest houses mentioned having satellite tv. So his first question wasn't 'how much' but can your satellite system pick up the game. The first guest house seemed promising but I checked out next door as well. Rooms and price were ok but they could not get the channel I needed on their tv.

Back at Pon's Guest House the foyer tv set was already tuned in and the one in the room I was shown also picked it up. Seemingly the system had been specially retuned while I was checking out next door. However right on start time he realised that it was not on ESPN and so maade the manager search. through 200 channnels to find the coverage on Star Sports. I didn't know that was happening aand was in my room scannning. the channnels trying to find it, when suddenly there itwas about 2 minutes into the match. Thanks John from Vancouver.

At Pon's GH I was given a front room #10. It is a upstairs double room at the front of the guest house which gives me a river view. Slightly obscured by trees and a restaurant roof or two, to be completely honest. It opens out onto a large balcony with cane chairs and tables. Seems a very colonial feel. I could just imaging a group of colonial expats sitting here in the late afternoon enjoying their gin and tonics. It could be just was director needed for a feature film.which opened out onto the verandah- this was shady. and airy and from time to time a cool breeze woulde bnloww over it. My room comes with air conditioning, fan expellair and ensuite -with hot water.

Pon's have their own resturant set up on a roofed, open sided terrace jutting out over the river. Several other ghs havesimilar arrangements..This is not the busy season thank goodness but I can imagine in a month's time that all these terraces will be a hive of activity. The same owner runs a more modern up market hotel a little bit further along the road. This is where we go to get an internet connection.

While both Pon's establishments have pretty much the same restaurant menu, the hotel is better presented with table service set up starched white cloth napkins etc. Prices do not vary much between the two though. Cooking standards do though.

There isn't a lot to do here in the village and several people are just stressing out and relaxing while their final visa days run to a close - as I am also.Why not!

Besides long boat day trips down the river to Don Det you can hire a bicycle and ride around. This not a. costly aactivity asbike hire for the day is only 10,000 kip.

Now let it be known that I last rode a bike at least 50 years ago and I had no way of knowing if I could still do it. There is a comment about never loosing the riding skill - but you have to test it out to find out.

So taking courage in both hands I did rent a bike for the day. My take off was a little wobbly but I soon realised that I was going to manage ok. The bike technology was what I recall from all that time ago.Two handbrakes and no gears. No safety helmet either. The new thing for me was a basket on the front. There was no cross bar and in the old days I would be riding a woman's bike.

When I chose my bike I thought it would be good to have one where my feet could easily touch the ground, so I suspect that I got a bike a little small for my use. Oh well, I did not have to angle across to put afoot on the ground.

So off I went on the bike tor my first long ride. I knew it was 8 kms across to the next settlement and that meant I would be doing at least 16 kms for my first ride. Actually, coming back around the island on a mixture bank top track and the parallel road must have bought me up to around 20 kms. Not bad eh?

Fortunately the road was not only sealed the whole way, but it was flat as well. Mind you I did have weave around several pothole collections along the way. Sometimes the pothole had been filled in and sealed with a light coloured material which looked the same colour as pothotes did. So sometimes I was avoiding something completely safe.

The flat rural countryside was ideal for rice farming and that is what I found. I really enjoyed the slow cycle through the rice area. It seemed to be at several stages in its growth. Some fields were at the padi stage, others varing stages of greenness and some a golden colour of ripeness. In there fields I saw many small groups of women bending over cutting the stalks. It seems that harvesting is very much the women's job. I did see some men doing it but women were in the majority. I did tske photographs but in most cases the workers were just a bit far away for my short zoom lens to really do justice too.

Along the road a bit I came across a small group operating a bright blue threshing machine on the road side. Blue seems to be the standard colour for these machines inLaos. I have seen a number working as I have traveled along in a bus and they were all blue.

But this was nice and close so I stopped and took several photos of the activity around the machine. Chaff would fly out of a shoot in a graceful golden yellow arch before landing on a pile beside the machine. Very picturesque. Like several I have seen, this was on a trailer attached to a Kobto cultivator engine. These units are a crucial part of rural life and pull various impliments and trailer units along the road. I have seen one which was a regular passenger transport between a town and a village. I know because it was written on the side of the trailer. But today I also came across a couple which had their rubber tyres and wheels replaced with metal wheels edged in 'paddles' to assist with cultivating in the damp padi fields.

So although the ride was hot, it was interesting even if the main scenery was fields of rice. Amazing how interesting that can be if you keep looking. I past various styles of fish traps set up in the drains and padi field water races. There were larger irrigation channels which fed lines of smaller subsidary channels. There were bufalo grazing as far as their teather would allow.

Finally I could spy the radio and microwave towers ahead and knew that Muang Saen would not be far away. Lonely Planet describes the town as ' as busy river port' and I sort of though there would be a few larger river boats there. But no, all that was around were the narrow long boats used to ferry folk across the river or to an island. Not much more activity than at Maung Khong. However, the actual town had lots of small businesses trading in the basic essentials of local rural life. A couple phone outlets, some clothing mixed with other goods, hardware and dry grocery goods. I went back later to inspect the little local market which I had passed coming into the town. Perhaps 20 fresh fruit and vegetable stalls, some fish and that comprised the middle section. I assumed from the protective wrapping aropund some fruit, that it had been brought in from outside the island. We have the same sort of protective wrappers on some NZ imported produce too. I thought about the way in which the world is increasingly becoming just one great global community. I remembered elsewhere in Laos seeing imported USA grapes as we get them back home. Apples I think were Chinese. Disney was right 'It's a small world after all".

Around the perimiter of the market courtyard layout were dry goods clothing hardware – exactly the same sort of gods which the shops lining the streets also had.

I did see trays of bright red chillies set out in the sun to dry next to three trays of small fish, open up to dry more quickly I supposed.

Floating on the Mekong was quite a large local style bar and restaurant and I went aboard for a cold orange drink, which although it came from the bottle refrigerator, was not all that cold. It was from Thailand and only 25% orange with added sugar etc. It didn't taste all that like orange I know.

Once I had walked up and down each side of the four short shopping areas radiating out from the central cross road and the short shop row from the market, I had seen the town.

So I headed off along the curcumference of the island. The guide books indicate the existence of a

useable track along the top edge of the river bank. And yes I did locate it and follow it along. It was quite rutted and muddy in places and in others it lamost dissappeared amongst the low ground cover. However, I kept going knowing that the road, which I could often see, was only a house or two inland from the track.

Finally I came to a section which I could not easily pass. The old bridge timbers indicated that it had long since ceased to function and the small cliff on both sides of the stream were too much for me to carry the bike down and up. I wondered if the guide book writters had actually done the track?

At this point I made my way back a bit until I found a well defined track leading to the road and past a couple of houses, past as well a rack of tiny fish set out to dry.

So I continued along the road but as I went I began to notice people obviously using the track – so how to get onto it again. UI came to a Wat which obviously backed onto the track and so I went in and across the grounds; only to find a hige wire fence and every gate padlocked. Onto the road again. But next was a school and I could spot pupils coming onto the grounds from the track. So that was the way I went.

Going along the track gave me quite a good look into the ajoining homes and small villages. On my right was the river with often good views out across to other islands and channels. Each house seemed to have their own boat moored to the bank. Often they had made convienent steps down to it – or to a fish trap, usually a basket style.

There were plently of tall over hanging trees providing welcome shade and for a while I was riding through glades of tall graceful bambo. I enjoyed that and though it very much and Asian stereotype.

At one point I came across a small shop perched above the river and beside the path. Some houses also had terraced decks set up above the river bank and often groups would be sitting there. One group of older men offered me a cold beer as I went past but I declined gracefully.

In time the track merged out onto the road. I could not find where of if it continued on later. So from then on it was along the road as were students heading for school. Often we would exchange Lao greeting. However, three young girls ahead stopped in the shade and as I past by one said in perfect English "Good afternoon". I was impressed.

Along the way I came to the vehicle ferry landing along with its few food and drink stalls. This seemed a good place to stop and watch for a while. I watched motorbikes being transported across the river on small barges made by joining two or three longboat hulls together and placing a flat deck on top. It worked and I saw four bikes and riders on one and it could have taken another four as well. Then it was buy a cool drink and sit in the shade and just watch the activity going on around. I also enjoyed watching the local collection of roosters and hens strutting around beneath the food stall tables. I decided that they have very long legs. Another time I watched a black hen in a grass area pecking away looking for all like a black pukeko.

As I got back towards Maung Khong I was again able to connect with the track. This took me past a food stall outside the back gate of a small school and kindergarten, past buffalo, turkeys, hens and motor cyclists. Then back to Pons Guest House for yet another cool drink. Soda water is a drink of choice for me but I think this time it was fresh lemon and ice.

I was originally planning to just stay here for a couple of days and then move on down river to Don Det or Don Khon. This so I could see the famous waterfalls. However,when I found that I could do a day trip from Don Khong the need to actually relocate dissapppeared. As it has for others as well, I discovered.

Pon's GH runs a boat down river to Don Det and Dopn Khon each day departing at 8:30am. They offer two choices. A return trip down and up the river with enough time on Don Khon to walk to one of the famous waterfalls. Then alternative carries on from the time at Don Khon with a transfer to a dolphin watching 'cruise' and then a mini bus to see the higher falls, before mini bus up the road to the ferry base for Maung Khong. That was alonger trip getting g back just after sunset.

I chose to do just the cheaper return boat trip although I now think it would have been good to have paid the extra cash and done the longer trip. Yes they did see dolphins.

The trip along the river followed one rir side down stream moving often through different channels to the return. Coming back we largely followed the opposite side of the river.

It was interesting passing along the bank and seeing villages and rural life. In the afternoon we found many children on the bank waving to us. There had been some in the morning too. I saw one little boy with an older brother, both were waving. But when we waved back, the littlest boy started jumping with a happy small on his face.

So we saw adults gardening, checking fish traps, in long boats – fishing in some cases, or just standing watching us go by. On most times the top of the river bank was at least 2 metres above us, usually more.

Quite often there were mature trees growing up out of the water and I assumed that during the dry season the water level would drop so that they were on dry islands. We also passed by reeds and grasses growing up well out into the river. I spotted what seemed like lots of small branches sticking up in groups. The water was making them dance and wriggle around in quite a chorographed manner. I could just imagine the dance music playing for them.

When we got to Do Det we pulled in to drop a ypoung back packer off. Don Det is reputed to be a swinging youth hang out much like Vang Vien is. Certainly when we arrived around 10am the place was totally dead. The bars were empty. It looked sort of depressing.

But we carried on along the edge of Don Det which seemd to be almost a continous line of accommodation choices. Once we past the towering remains of the French wharf with its loading facility. The colonial French had a system of wharfs and a connecting railway to get cargo past the Mekong's falls which are the spectacular attraction at this point. They block all shipping up or down the river, which is a pity in many ways. But the falls are impressive.

Further on we came to the connecting bridge linking Don Det with Don Khon. The bridge was multi purpose; railway and narrow road. It looks like a typical rural French bridge with low archs connecting solid square pillars in a regular pattern across the channel. We landed a bit before the bridge but shortly I had a good look at it as I passed by. Actually beside it is the ticket office where you pay 20,000 kip per day for the pleasure of visiting the island and viewing waterfalls and old French railway engines. The one I saw was surprisingly small with just two wheels per side. It looked like something out of a childrens construction set. But it was in qite reasonable condition for its age and wasn't too rusted away. The old railway track is now a road or cycle trail.

But I was off to see the Li Phi Falls. This was a three kilometre walk in the hot sun through fields of ripening rice. I did pass a Wat on the way but didn't go in. Later I discovered that there is a shady path from the back of the Wat to the falls. A pity I didn't know. But then I would have missed getting the photos I took during my return 'stroll' of a buffalo in its personal muddy slush pool. It kept flicking water with its tail and rolling its head into the pool. It didn't seem to mind me watching at all.

The falls were pretty spectacular really. They are not high and it is just a mass of tumbling water racing through channels in the rock rock. There seems to be a drop over a ledge or resitant rock. The first view is the one the tour groups spnd most time at. Yes we had a couple of groups there all wanting their picture taken in front of the view. But they didn't stay long really. It is possible to move on along the track and find other views of the first part and then to see fresh parts of the total falls. To the left the falls look like some gigantic rapids with a slope rather than a distinct 'fall'.

I walked on along the drack to find the beach. Yes there it was, a small bay with sand piled up high and the river water coming in and out like the actio n of waves in the sea. It was pretty obvious that the currents were curving in and out strongly and except for a shallow paddle swimming was dangerous. It wasn't very far out into the main channel with the rushing water and the currents of the little would get you out into the river pretty quickly.

So it was an interesting day. Well worth doing. I walked back into the settlement of school, guest houses and a few basic shops. I found a pleasant waterside restaurant for lunch, where I could gaze at the river sement flowing past and at the picturesque bridge and image I was in France. Then it was time to reconnect with the boat and travel back up river after a brief side trip to drop off the full day tour passengers.

From then on, my stay was really just a few days of rest and relaxation – a nice term I suppose for being lazy. True, I did wander around the near by streets, such as they are and spend time on trying to get my blog entries done.

At 5:45am there is the chance to watch the sun rise directly across the river. I did take some photos of the emense glowing ball just above the horizon. Stunning. As the sun rises, so does the feeling of warmth. The heat of the day begins. It all happens quite suddenly really, as it does in the tropics. Sunset is the reverse with the sense of twilght dulling starting around 4pm and sunset at 5:40pm followed quickly by darkness.

Last afternoon around4:30pm we had a heavy down pour with rain and wind gusts. The guest house staff rushed up to the balcony and lowered the rolled up canvas blinds to protect the area from becoming too damp. That produced a strange sort of dullness on the balcony area. During the tropical downpour the power went off for a long while which just increased the darkness around me. It did not return until around 7pm.

Meanwhile the rain had soaked the open sided restaurant where the staff had put the chairs at an angle against the tables to let the rain drain off more quickly. As soon as the rain decreased, they had to set up two long tables ready for a bus load of tourists who were coming in for dinner. That made me decide to dine at the empty resaurant next door and so get my meal with little delay. Fried pork and vegetables with sticky rice. A tasty dish, freshly prepared and cheap.

There are two Wats close to the village of Maung Khong. The first I visited one afternoon and it was on the southern end of the settlement. I had seen it before but not gone in. The striking feature about this wat is a large statue of Buddha with a even larger representation of a naga (seven headed/toungue snake) towering up behind him. Freshly painted and bright in the late afternoon sunshine. There are paintings round the base of everyday local life and scenes plus some religious story telling.

Near the front gate a group of monks and novices were hand mixing cement and puttin in curbing and what looked like would be a path to a building. Around the wat perimeter was a high white wall with a continous series of text acknowledging the donation of money, with the amount clearly stated and the currency it was in. Obviously the temple complex is being slowly up graded as there was a half finished large sim like building standing to one side of the grounds.

At the northern end of town is yet another wat. This is spread out under tall coconut palms which provide a welcome coolness. I had walked to reach the wat and appreciated the coolness. A light breeze off the ajoining Mekong also helped.

The main feature here was an old sim which dated back 150 years or more. I took photos of the front of it which looked a bit like some Khmer ruins, but which were just a different design to the usual sim I have seen. A number of small children were playing in groups around the grounds. It all looked very peaceful and tranquil.

Across the river is a small hill. Along the ridge line can be seen a couple roof tops of Buddhist buildings amongst the trees. As well, there is a commanding Buddha statue which looks out across the Mekong. I happened to look out at the river and realised that the statue was in direct line with the Wat if was currently visiting. In fact I thought that the statue was looking right at the doorway of the sim. Not sure of the signifigance of this but I thought that it had to be more than coincidence/

Staying at Pon's for several nights were a group of travellers who are doing long journeys in 4 wheel drive vehicles. A Land Rover and a Nissan Patrol were two. One had come Australia, shipped his vehicle to South Africa and travelled up the continent. Explored Europe and then headed across Asia on his way back to Singapore, from where he shops the vehicle to Darwin and so back to home base in the south of Australia.

The other couple had set off from Europe and after crossing Central Asia, Mongolia and China where also heading for Singapore.

A third was aiming to carry on to North America before returning to the UK.

They had all met up along the way.

What a great thing to do although I guess having the vehicle and some mechanical knowledge would help. One driver said that he carried spares and this had helped when his wheel bearings gave up in rural China. Another had two blow outs in one day and had to flag down a passing motorist, luckily British, in some remote area and go 100 kms to get replacement tyres. The helpful motorist then took them back to the vehicle. That was a great way of helping a fellow traveller.

One group is attempting to raise awareness and money for UK Mountain Research and to help this have a website; www.landroveroverland.co.uk where they add blog video and photos of their travels.

The guest house became much quieter after they left – not that they were noisy, rather there were not many other guests. If any?

This is my last day on Don Khong. After farewelling the 4 wheelers, I spent time on journal writing. This one in fact. Around 11 am I set out for a walk along the path or track which runs along the river bank. While I had cycled along part of it a few days ago that had only been for the final part of this section. So I headed out as the mid day heat began to build up. Fortunately there were plenty of tall trees to provide shade over head. It proved to be a very interesting thing to do on foot. I past several rather flash guest houses and small hotels but most did not appear to be open yet for the busy season.

I went past a couple of schools and a kindergarten which all had parents waiting for their children just like in NZ – except there were no cars. A few scooters but most would be walking home. There were grazing buffalo to pass by not that any seemed to offer any challenge. Lots of hens, roosters and ducks running around. There were several groups of young chicks with their mothers scratching in the grass and earth along the track. Of course there was almost continous housing – homes constructed largely out of local materials and lots of open spaces to allow for the hot climate. Most were up on poles providing useful space under the raised floor. People were of course going about their various tasks – one woman had bowls full of washing which she was working trhrough. She was still there when I returned an hour and half later.

I was interested to look at the various gardens. Some were fenced in with bamboo rails but others were built on small terraces cut into the river bank. There were several small banana gardens too.

Much of my walk along the path was slowed down as I tried to capture some of the beautiful butterflies which were forever flying around me. In the end I did get some photos but not as many different butterflies as I would have liked. There were spme very large and colurful ones fluttering around me much of the time. Plenty of small ones as well, but it was the larger ones I really wanted.

Outside one guest house they had placed trays of sliced banana and other fruit out to dry in the sun. Here I found one medium sized butterfly which was more interested in the sweetness of the banana than in my moving around it. So here I did achieve a few good shots which I am pleased about.

I came across what appeared to be a small Chinese temple beside the track. It had an small outer room, then a small courtyard before an equally small temple with a Chinese looking god statue at the far end. Most ot the altar tables looked neglected and there were lots of leaves on them. I did wonder what the history of this small temple was.

As usual I past lots of school children coming and going, most smartly dressed in the white shirts and dark trousers or skirts. Many of the boys had little triangular scarves around their neck with the red triangle part neatly between their shoulders.

One school gate had a busy food outlet. Nothing flash, a tin roof and sideless with a raised floor which became a sitting area. Stock was very minimal. As I past along through small villages there would often be a more substancal shop beside the track. Always small but usally crowded with the stock they did carry hanging around the front area,

Finally I came to a branch in the track with one direction leading out to the road. I thought I recalled from my cycle ride a number of small shops and as I was beginning to think that a drink would be a good idea, I headed onto the road. Ahead I could see the masts whioch were at the vehicle ferry landing so I knew that there was food stalls there. I carried on along the road. On the way I was passed by several women on scooters which were laiden up and over loaded with hardware and kitchen goods. The local travelling salesperson. We gave each other cheerfull 'bai dee' greetings as I took photos.

I finally reached the ferry landing. From the map I knew that this was 2 km from my guest house. I was able to buy a couple of cans of cool drink but the food turned out to be a packet of potato crisps. Well OK, that will last me on the way back.

I located the track enterence to save another hot walk along the road under the mid day sun and set off. Less butterfly chasing this time and less need to take landscape photos as I had done it all on the way. But I did find a few new shots to take.

Finally back into the village and into the first terrace restaurant I could find. As it was 3pm, the chicken sandwich, soda water and fresh lime juice were all very welcome.

After a rest I headed down the road to Pons Arena Hotel use the Internet. Connection was fairly straight forward but downloading was painfully slow. There were only 23 emails to bring down. In the middle of it Robyn tried to establish skype contact but I didn't have the needed microphone or headphones with me. And I was in the hotel foyer. So I had to let it pass. A pity though.

Around 5pm I headed for the Pon's Restaurant terrace for a cool dring and to watch the dark rain clouds build up as the breeze got stronger. Interesting and in the distance lightning flashes and thunder. Right on 6pm, just as the bus load of tourists arrived to take up their reserved tables, the rain began. I retreated upstairs to the balcony and to type this. Once the rain had begun for earnest, staff came up and lowered the protective canvas screens. My view was blocked, not that it is all that great from here. There are trees and roof tops which block out most of the view. A pity really. The power did go off but only for an instance before everything was on again. All in all this was a much smaller session of rain than was yesterday's downpour.

My final evening meal: was a fish curry And I enjoyed it.