Day 52 - 54 Don Kon

We have on quite a few occasions become flash packers...opting for a flight rather than a long bus ride. So in one of our flash packer days we took a flight from Luang Prabang to Paske in Southern Laos. Our time in Paske was limited as we were off to find the hospital to remove my stitches and then to the bus stop to travel four hours south to an arena know as 4000 Islands. Here the Mekong widens and you can find thousands of islands in the middle. Our hospital search in Paske was another memorable experience and for some reason our tuk tuk driver took us to the Vet, apparently a Vet is as good as a doctor in Laos. After our trip to the real hospital we were on our way to the bus terminal where we boarded a local bus (a converted lorry truck). There were already 30 people on board with more climbing on the roof and others hanging out the back, I now know why a noticeable amount of Asians fall asleep on transport...it's a coping mechanism and the only polite thing to do instead of steering at the other passenger 1 inch away from your face. Sharing our trip with bananas, sacks of rice, and sleeping children we travelled three hours of red dirt roads, and made a few stops for "meats on stick" until we made it to the jetty to get over to one of the main islands Don Det. We decided not to stay at Don Det as we had heard of more local experiences at its neighbouring smaller island Don Kon. We were so glad that we had made that decision as upon getting to Don Kon we were greeted with the most beautiful sunset of the trip on the shores of the Mekong.  We stayed at the Floating Studio an amazing room literally floating on the river, and it was actually quite difficult to drag ourselves off the deck. Once we could pull ourselves away we explored Don Det top to toe, the waterfalls, the villages, bike paths, and scanned the river for dolphins. We were almost the only tourists there and felt as though we blended into local life. The Laos children and families on the island were the happiest I had ever seen. Every one worked on the land, big families meant more help around the properties and little 5 year old girls would be doing their difficult chores with such precession that all Mike and I could do was steer in amazement. Each family had at least 2 pigs, many chickens, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 kitten, 2 cows, 5 children, 1 bicycle or motorbike for the entire family to share and on occasion the dog. Mike and I would just sit in the family run restaurants observing their family life, the coming and goings, the laughter, the lady's at work washing clothes in the river, the dusty bare bumed children playing with kittens, men dragging fishing nets up the bank. We really hope that life in this beautiful little place only changes for the better and no too much from where it stands today, life in one of its most simplest and purest forms.