Exploring Don Khong (17th March 2011)

This was a typical light load on the mopeds!

After a very leisurely getting up we opted for breakfast at our GH and all ordered scrambled egg and French bread. We each had a third of a French stick and I had one of the ends, it looked and smelt delicious, or at least it did right up until I had already swallowed one mouthful and was on the second and saw that my part of the bread had an ants nest inside it! Just scrambled egg for breakfast then, oh well, lunch can’t be that far away can it?!

Our plan was to hire pushbikes this morning but it was sooo hot and the mopeds just looked too inviting so half hour later we’re all heading out on three peds. Lauren had never ridden a moped before but Hadleigh had a bike when he was younger and it’s been many years since I was last on a bike but between us we managed it although I was Laurens official starter-upper with the kick start. ;-)

First a petrol stop!

We had a great day out and managed to ride all the way around the island on two litres of fuel, I think each bike had something wrong with it though. The one with the easy gears had almost no brakes, the one with the brakes had impossible gears and then there was the one without lights! I guess we’ll get back before dark then.

First we headed straight up to the top of the island and found a little restaurant under someone’s house for lunch. It was fabulous, the lady cooking knew no English and all we could say in Laos was hello, goodbye and thank you but between us we managed to order some noodle soup and it was delicious, her kitchen although open to the elements was spotlessly clean, even with the chickens running around it, and she took great care and attention over preparing our food, she was such a lovely happy lady.

The restaurant kitchen

Some of the time some places you go to people don’t seem happy to see you or talk to you and at times I really think it’s the effect of tourism and tourists and the way they behave. When you manage to get off the beaten track a little people attitudes towards westerners seems to change for the better. We came across some really friendly happy people who seemed genuinely pleased to see us as well as some really interesting little villages all over the island before heading back to our GH (before dark!) for a last night together before I headed into Cambodia and Lauren and Hadleigh travelled over to Vietnam.

A typical house on the island




















The kids of Don Khong