Oh wow. Si Phan Don (meaning '4000 islands'), at the southern most tip of Laos, was the *nicest* place to chill out. After only spending two days there we fell in love with the island of Don Khone. We only had a vague idea of what it was going to be like but what we experienced was tranquility, beautiful river surroundings, friendly locals, good friends, topped off by a lot of hammock-sleeping and drinking.

The Mekong river flows through the province and is just above the Cambodian border. In fact, at one islet you can see Cambodia across the river. During the French colonial times a narrow railway bridge was built for transportation across the waters, and we were lucky enough to have prime location with the bridge in view from our balcony.

The reason I like this area is because there were no beaches - it was just river life to the max. There were a few accommodation options and restaurants and most noticeably no electricity. A generator just about gave light from 6pm - 11pm each night and of course always cold showers :) We stayed at a place called Seng Alhoune, which for $6 each a night, got us a cute riverside view bungalow with balcony. We chatted to our Swiss neighbours for a lengthy period at times exchanging travel stories - always nice.

The two other Swiss travellers we met back in Pakse, Flavia & Flavian, were also at the islands so we met them for dinners and sunset-watching. It's been great getting to know them and I'm sure we'll keep it touch. They have totally convinced us to visit Switzerland, it sounds great!

The only exercise we did was a 30-minute bike ride (in the blistering heat, may I add) to check out the other island of Don Det. Basically, there was much more going on, a lot more backpackers and a lot less in terms of views in comparison to the island we were staying on - lucky decision, eh?

Wondering around Don Khone was really memorable. The Li Phi waterfalls were surprisingly good and riding along the dirt tracks was.. bumpy. So far Laos has only impressed us, let's hope it continues that way..

I've uploaded only a selection of island photos as the internet is so slow here. Also, the Mekong cycling trip/Phu Quoc island photos from Vietnam are so up - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kejalashra/sets/