After Paske I headed south to Si Don Phan, also called the area of 4,000 islands. I'd soooo been looking forward to going there! This area was known for $1 riverside bungalows & pink dolphins.

photo by Andy Hall

When we got there (I'm still traveling with the Brits), after another leaky canoe trip, we found a huge stage in the center of town... with an even bigger stack of speakers... this wasn't just some boat races, this was a major party. Turned out there were 4 stages with bands & fans coming from around the country. There were lots of market stalls, typical carnival games & some rides. Very cool.

Until the night. Not so cool then. Most of the hotels in town were full... & not with westerners as much as Laotians... so we ended up at the cheapest place in town (at a $3 jacked up holiday rate). Fine, no big deal except it had bamboo walls. And there were a 1,000 speakers pointed right at the hotel. The beds actually bounced a little with the bass!! And then when the music would finally stop at 5am, the roosters kicked in! The hotel actually had their own roosters...which is now on my list of things to look out for when looking for a hotel.

But it was actually ok; I found the perfect tree to hang my hammock & caught up on my Zzz's while swinging in the breeze right over the Mekong. Not too bad.

We also spent a lot of time hanging out in a bar right over the river where we could watch the boats. Before the race the teams would row up & down the river with musicians on board trying to get people to cheer for them. And strangely, most of the teams wore English footballer uniforms... our group was now up to 4 Brits so these guys divvied out the boats based on team & we put money down. In the end, we’d drank too much & couldn't figure out who won!

Oh, & the dolphins, found out they're not actually pink & they're easier to see in my next stop in Cambodia.