#6 four thousand islands, laos #7 pakse

"Welcome to lethargy," said one departing tourist as we arrived in the sleepy isles of Four Thousand Islands in Laos, near the border of Cambodia. Situated in the Mekong River, life is pretty slow on the island we chose to stay at, Don Det. No electricity, no flushing toilets, just lots of time.
The 3.5-hour trip from Pakse airport down to Four Thousand Islands was an adventurous journey riding in the back of an open truck. We met two funny guys from Melbourne, Eddie and Pazza, who were also headed to Don Det. On the way the guys had to help deliver sacks of rice, watermelon, various goods in cardboard boxes, and one massive TV. Pazza had a fondness for chillis and entertained the locals on the truck by chomping down on them raw. (Eddie's superhero power is not having a sense of smell.)
Hunter S Thomspon isn't dead - he's hiding out in Laos. On our first morning on Don Det we went to breakfast at a local cafe and met an American tourist who looked exactly like a hairy, leathery Hunter S - weird flip-up shades and all. He was enquiring about the "happy" pancakes on the menu but settled on the pumpkin burger instead. Then he regaled us with stories about his 40 year old son who was married to a woman who he met in law school, but he thought he'd do better with one of the local Laotian women.
We went for about three swims in the Mekong every day - morning, noon and at sunset, whiling away the hours on an inflated tyre tube with a longneck in hand. We also went dolphin watching and saw a few rare irriwaddy dolphins a very long way off, and we hired bicycles and rode to some spectacular waterfalls on a neighbouring island.
We had the happy mashed potatoes ourselves one night but it didn't do much. One restaurant had a tiny monkey on a chain; it was kind of sad cos he was a really young monkey and would go apeshit (ha ha) whenever he was left alone, and then when I went up to cuddle him he immediately curled up against me and fell asleep, and wouldn't let go when I tried to leave.

#7 pakse
We spent just one night in Pakse, a town originally set up as an administrative post for the French, but we did it in style: staying at Champasak Palace Hotel, the former palace of the prince. It has been converted into a hotel and was only US$35 a night. We also walked around and found this huge shopping mall and it was strangely fascinating and comforting. The strangest thing we saw for sale was the 'Nipple Pinkening' cream.