As I mentioned earlier in Pakse(Laos) post, I didn't expect to travel to southern Lao. So I did not do much research about this place called 4000 Islands (Si Phan Don). Before going there, all these questions were running through my head :
- Why is it called 4000 Islands?
- What to do in these remote islands? Is it safe? (My main concern)
- Which island to stay? Don Khong? Don Det? Don Khon?
- How can I reach these islands?
- Any flood when heavy rain?
After reading LP (Lonely Planet), I started to have some clues. All I read on book : it's a backpacker's mecca, thousands of uninhabited "islands" on the river, waterfalls and dolphins. Please bear with me, if the explanation below maybe not be accurate or correct. It is my understanding on based on the info I found.
WHAT AND WHERE IS SI PHAN DON (4000 ISLANDS)?
Si Phan Don is an archipelago islands located in the Mekong River. Due to various geographical conditions, the endless flowing Mekong River from the Tibetan Plateau started running trans-boundary through China, Burma, Thai and reaching the most southern part of Laos, in which this area is located in a lower basin. Ultimately, this topography has resulted a wide stretch of the river that branches off into many smaller streams, forming thousands of islands/islets, rocky waterfalls and sandy deltas all the way south to Cambodia. Thus, the local simply called the whole region as "Si Phan Don" (literally "Si Phan" means 4000, "Don" means islands Laotian), a pretty cool name indeed. As why they called it 4000 islands instead of 1000 Islands or 5000 Islands, I heard that Si Phan Don sounds smoother in Laotian.
To have a better idea where is Si Phan Don located, Google Map has given the best answer. Si Phan Don is obviously located at the southernmost point of the Lao territory, along the Mekong river running down to Cambodia’s border. Also the fact it is how easy to get from here to any of its neighbours – Cambodia, Vietnam or Thailand. (Malaysians and other S.E.A passport holders do not need VISA for border crossing in the Indochina region.)
Amongst these islands and islets, only some are inhabited with villages, while most other islets are not suitable for living or some islands could submerge underwater during the rainy season. Also due to the weather condition during different dry/hot/rainy season, the size of some islands change according to the river level!
There're 3 main islands that most travelers are going after : Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khon. Don Khong had the least travelers but it's the biggest island in the river. According to the book, most backpackers would choose to stay in either Don Det or Don Khon but not in Don Khong (the largest island). I knew most traveler spots are concentrated in the southern part of Don Khon but Don Det seemed to be the top choice to stay. There's a bridge that links Don Det to Don Khon island. After much consideration, I decided to stay in Don Det island, which is closer to the sunset area, the waterfall and Ban Nakasang town (river pier). I purchased a minivan ticket from the guesthouse, costs 60,000K (inclusive boat pier transfer).
Location on Google satellite map :
Location on Google satellite map :
A : Nakasang town (bus terminal and river jetty)
B : Don Det island (river jetty)
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Here's my itinerary :
- Take a bus from Pakse to Ban Nakasang town Bus terminal [2.5 hours] (8am-10.30am)
- Take a boat to Don Det island.
- Pick a good chalet.
- Moved out to another chalet.
- Go to Don Khon island by bicycle.
- Cross the bridge
- Go to Li Phi waterfall.
Continue the most frightening experience in my life...
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