4,000 Islands (Don Det), Laos

4000 islands got its name because there are literally thousands of islands in the Mekong river in one small little area.  You can only stay on two of the islands. We stayed on Don Det. We arrived in the dead heat of the afternoon so once we found an air conditioned room we headed straight for the water. We just relaxed on the "beach" area for the day but mostly in the water as it was brutally hot. That night we heard there would be a temple party. The island always celebrates together when something new opens such as a restaurant or guesthouse. In this case they built more bungalows near the temple to house more monks on the island. The party was held in a huge field and consisted of a lot of music and traditional Lao dancing. This was my second experience with Lao dancing after crashing the wedding so I would say I'm pretty much a pro. The next day we rented tubes and floated around on the Mekong. We went out to another little island and just relaxed on our tubes. We did get caught in a bit of rain but it was nice that it cooled us off for a bit since the river felt like a bathtub. The next day we went on a half day tour. We first took a boat to an area near the Border of Cambodia where there are a few Irrawaddy dolphins. We were lucky enough to see them surface numerous times. These dolphins are endangered and they say there are only 60 left worldwide. Although we did see them they were way too fast to get pictures so you will just have to take my word for it. After that we went to Khone Pha Pheng waterfall. This waterfall has the largest volume of water flowing in Southeast Asia. It was not very tall but very wide and very strong. We were also attacked by a family here that were in love with foreigners. They asked Molly and me to be in all their family pictures. They even snuck in our pictures and took solo pictures of us. I don't really understand the obsession or what they will do with those picture but I guess I can say it was flattering. 4000 islands was such a chill place and definitely a place I would have spent more time if our travels were longer. Molly's condition continued to get worse while we were here as the antibiotics seemed to not be working. She was only able to talk a little and could only eat yogurt or smoothies. With no food and being a mute it was our running joke that she was our Bernie from the movie Weekend At Bernie's. We would put her in a tube and drag her around and have her pose for pictures. She is now getting a little better but it's a slow process. We will be visiting the hospital in Siem Reap since we have heard it is much better than Laos. As we headed out we prepared for another 12 hour bus ride as we cross the border into Cambodia headed for Siem Reap!