Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands)

After Savannakhet, we were supposed to go to Vietnam via LaoBao and enter Danang down to NahThrang then HoChiMinh. but but but, in the end, we sort of woke up late (hehe..) so we decided to go south, to a little town called Pakse. (oh yeah, Feast in Savannakhet was very small, but cozy) Met an Israeli guy at the bus station and travelled with him to Pakse, he recommended a guesthouse and it's a backpacker's lodge. The dorm was simple, with common bathrooms, and a nice hangout place for food, games, and tv. EVERYONE is laowai = farlang = foreigners. I'm the local-looking one who stayed there. *aherm* left the next day and got on a songtheaw = truck with two benches behind to carry passengers for 3 hours, made new friends on the truck and decided to follow one local lady to where she lives. Don Dhet. We were heading to this place called Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), but since there's waaay too many islands, we couldn't decide where to go. later, made more new friends and got on a boat together to the island. niceeeeeeeeeee....it probably was one of the most quietEST place on earth, but too bad ít was all foreigners around.

The next day was 'check-out the island' day. cycled around and saw the Mekong river's waterfall. *Si Phan Don is where the Mekong River splits into few rivers, forming few islands* Found a quiet beach with only one indian-looking guy and a white chick chilling, then we all too jumped into the mud water. later we gungho wanna cycle to the pier to get a boat to see the Irrawaddy dolphins. There were many tour packages around, one was even USD20 for a day of kayaking and seeing dolphins! we were so proud that we did everything in less than USD4!

Seeing the almost extinct dolphins swimming at the horizon of the sunset, on a small sampan boat in the middle of the river separating Laos and Cambodia, quiet, chilled... no wonder in the Writings it says that city is the home of the body and country is the home of the soul.