Well I ended up heading South rather than north in the end from Savannakhet!
Savannakhet itself was a nice little riverside town with old decaying french colonial buildings. Everyone was so friendly and its a small enough place to walkaround. After a morning though there really isnt much to do. The highlight for me was going to a monastery and meeting some monks who wanted to speak English. I talked to them for an hour or so and ended up teaching them!.
I drank coffee and had a massage in the afternoon just to kill some time.
I got up early the next day and headed to the south of loas to Don Det (4000 Islands) which is a small island near the border of cambodia. I have been here 3 nights now and love it. Its so relaxed and chilled and there is no hard sell! Everything closes at 10pm on the Island which is powered by generators or batteries as there is no electricity connection. I am staying in a wooden bunglaw on stilts with a hammock on the porch and a fantastic view of the mekong river for no more than 3 pounds a night. Heaven. I've cycled around Don det and crossed the old railway bridge to Don Khon and cycled along the dirt tracks to see a local "waterfall" (more like a rapid!!). You can cycle both islands in around 2 and a half hours or so and its lovely seeing women washing their clothes and children in the Mekong, men fishing and buffaloes having a soak in the river to cool off. Of an evening the sky is lit up with stars and i even saw my first shooting star here!!
Yesterday all i did was just lay in my hammock and read my book. It was quite nice doing nothing.
Think I will stay here at least another night if not two and then start heading back up north to a place called Champasak and then the bolavean plateau. I have no idea where I will be for Xmas or NY or whether I will have internet access so for no, I wish you all a very merry christmas and a fantastic new year.
ten 4
M.x
