Sunset clouds over the Mekong
© all rights reserved
Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black
Don Khon island which sometimes is mistaken for the larger Don Khong island to the north is a small island in the Mekong river located in the South of Laos close to the border of Cambodia. Coconut palm trees are cultivated on the island. This island is a major tourist centre in the south of Laos major in relative terms and has many bungalows still without electricity. On the west side of the island are the Tat Somphamit rapids. We stayed at the Seng Ahloune Guesthouse. This family-run guesthouse has been operating for ten years under the able Captain Cu of Thep. When he is around, things hum. Checks every box: great value for money, comfy bed, clean, heaps of character: carved wooden doors, hammocks, on stilts over Mekong. Restaurant serves tasty Lao food. Watching village life from our veranda, we saw children cycling to school on bikes too big for them, just able to turn the peddles, but legs not long enough to let them reach the seat. Women walked by with long bamboo poles, a hook at one end, to poke the mangoes high in the trees and shake hard until one or two ripe green fruits tumbled to the ground. From the riverbank we saw children swimming and playing in the water using large coconuts as floats. The island beauty is best appreciated by riding a bicycle around the few sights, swinging in a hammock, reading a book and chatting with locals and travelers alike. How is it that time seems to pass so quickly when you haven't really done that much. Our time on Don Khon, a palm fringed island in the middle of the Mekong River in southern Laos was like that.
Khon is a great little place to enjoy the idyllic lifestyle of village life at Si Phan Don or the place of four thousand islands. Si Phan Don is a child of the Mekong as she fans out to a width of 14kms and forms one of Laos’s natural marvels. Here you can get to experience the real Laos. Photo of a fisherman in his dugout canoe on the mighty Mekong river nearby the island Don Khon - Southern Laos. The logboat is going upstream the Mekong. When going downstream the boatman turned his motor off to save fuel.
Don Khon eiland is een oase van rust want gemotoriseerd verkeer is er nog vrijwel onbekend. Je kunt hier heerlijk wandelen langs tempeltjes, rijstvelden, lotusvijvers en kleine dorpjes. Don Khon is wel een beetje een backpackers paradijs met goedkope bamboehutjes, pancakes en Frans stokbrood. Je kunt Don Khon per boot bereiken vanaf Ban Nakasang. Don Khon heeft geen electriciteit. Met een oude Franse spoorbrug die het eiland met Don Det verbindt, heeft Don Khon nog een aantal andere opmerkelijke overblijfselen uit de Franse periode: vervallen villa's, de Franse steiger aan de andere kant van het eiland en de karkassen van een oude stoomlocomotief. En niet te vergeten de grote Phi Li waterval, ook vaak de Tat Somphamit genoemd. Deze stroomversnelling ligt op 20 minuten wandelen ten zuiden van de spoorbrug. Vanaf een zandplaat iets ten zuiden van de oude Franse steiger in Ban Khon Tai maak je de meeste kans de zeldzame Irrawaddy zoetwaterdolfijnen te zien. Wij verblijven op het eiland Don Khon in het Seng Ahloune Guesthouse. Houten bungalows met fan naast het water van de Mekong met eigen hangmatten en badkamer. Verzorgde inrichting en muskietennet. Lekker en goed restaurant. Minpunt: door het gebrek aan elektriciteit heb je niks aan de fan ;-)
Sunset clouds over the Mekong
© all rights reserved
Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black
Don Khon island which sometimes is mistaken for the larger Don Khong island to the north is a small island in the Mekong river located in the South of Laos close to the border of Cambodia. Coconut palm trees are cultivated on the island. This island is a major tourist centre in the south of Laos major in relative terms and has many bungalows still without electricity. On the west side of the island are the Tat Somphamit rapids. We stayed at the Seng Ahloune Guesthouse. This family-run guesthouse has been operating for ten years under the able Captain Cu of Thep. When he is around, things hum. Checks every box: great value for money, comfy bed, clean, heaps of character: carved wooden doors, hammocks, on stilts over Mekong. Restaurant serves tasty Lao food. Watching village life from our veranda, we saw children cycling to school on bikes too big for them, just able to turn the peddles, but legs not long enough to let them reach the seat. Women walked by with long bamboo poles, a hook at one end, to poke the mangoes high in the trees and shake hard until one or two ripe green fruits tumbled to the ground. From the riverbank we saw children swimming and playing in the water using large coconuts as floats. The island beauty is best appreciated by riding a bicycle around the few sights, swinging in a hammock, reading a book and chatting with locals and travelers alike. How is it that time seems to pass so quickly when you haven't really done that much. Our time on Don Khon, a palm fringed island in the middle of the Mekong River in southern Laos was like that.
Khon is a great little place to enjoy the idyllic lifestyle of village life at Si Phan Don or the place of four thousand islands. Si Phan Don is a child of the Mekong as she fans out to a width of 14kms and forms one of Laos’s natural marvels. Here you can get to experience the real Laos. Photo of a fisherman in his dugout canoe on the mighty Mekong river nearby the island Don Khon - Southern Laos. The logboat is going upstream the Mekong. When going downstream the boatman turned his motor off to save fuel.
Don Khon eiland is een oase van rust want gemotoriseerd verkeer is er nog vrijwel onbekend. Je kunt hier heerlijk wandelen langs tempeltjes, rijstvelden, lotusvijvers en kleine dorpjes. Don Khon is wel een beetje een backpackers paradijs met goedkope bamboehutjes, pancakes en Frans stokbrood. Je kunt Don Khon per boot bereiken vanaf Ban Nakasang. Don Khon heeft geen electriciteit. Met een oude Franse spoorbrug die het eiland met Don Det verbindt, heeft Don Khon nog een aantal andere opmerkelijke overblijfselen uit de Franse periode: vervallen villa's, de Franse steiger aan de andere kant van het eiland en de karkassen van een oude stoomlocomotief. En niet te vergeten de grote Phi Li waterval, ook vaak de Tat Somphamit genoemd. Deze stroomversnelling ligt op 20 minuten wandelen ten zuiden van de spoorbrug. Vanaf een zandplaat iets ten zuiden van de oude Franse steiger in Ban Khon Tai maak je de meeste kans de zeldzame Irrawaddy zoetwaterdolfijnen te zien. Wij verblijven op het eiland Don Khon in het Seng Ahloune Guesthouse. Houten bungalows met fan naast het water van de Mekong met eigen hangmatten en badkamer. Verzorgde inrichting en muskietennet. Lekker en goed restaurant. Minpunt: door het gebrek aan elektriciteit heb je niks aan de fan ;-)