We get back to Pakse a day late to pick up our passports and visa extensions (woohoo, 10 more days in Laos!) and head straight down to Don Debt. Laos has involved a lot of long journeys and we are entirely ready to chill out. Transport turns out to be a tuk-tuk with 33 people crammed in! The woman in charge of money has to cling onto me to make sure she doesn't fall out the back and we meet a local drunk guy who won't stop talk to us. Normally I'd love this and try to make conversation but with his broken English, drunken slur and the sound of the tuk-tuk, I'm really struggling. We make it to the dark and quiet town of Ban Nagasan by the river and hop on a boat with a group of falangwho have come all the way from Siem Reap, spirits fuelled by cheap Cambodian whisky which tastes like gold dust after a month of Lao Lao. On the boat we meet 'Charlie' who sounds exactly like Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, its freaky and brings me back to Haarlem :) We surprise Morgan and Francisco, who were a couple days ahead of us and spend a beautiful full moon evening at the beach catching up and exchanging travel stories.

Well we do exactly what we planned to do in Si Phan Don- not much! Don Det is a dangerously easy place to chill out and after a month travelling through Laos; it's just what we need. We stay at the Happy Bungalows, each with hammocks looking out across the Mekong and a few strides from the Happy Bar. We don't move too far from here. At the Happy Bar we meet Manni, a cool-cat Londoner with the most impressive beard who came to Don Det two and a half years ago and hasn't left since. Manni spends his days overseeing group activities such as BBQ's, Beach Parties, Tubing and Fishing and also likes to spend his free time in the kitchen baking up a storm. The island is really small with no cars and connected to another island called Don Khong via a land bridge. The best way to get around is by bike. One day we venture over the bridge to see the Khone Pheng Falls - the largest in South East Asia and the main reason that the Mekong is not fully navigable all the way into China.

One morning we awake to find that Thibault has a boat and we all set of on a legendary ATM run to the mainland. Of course the boat is stocked with all necessary supplies: beer Lao, mini speakers precariously protected in a zippy bag, a waterproof camera and five western-sized bodies. The boat sinks immediately. Somehow we managed to make it float and make it all the way to the mainland. The guys purchase a few necessary items like Viennese-style hats along the way and some well needed cash. The route back (against the current) is even more of a struggle and we are attacked by an invasion of spiders which makes things even more exciting. Amazingly the guys manage to bring us and the boat back across the river, through blood, sweat and tears. I will never forget this day!

During our last few days on Don Det we enjoy the local Temple Party in aid of supporting the local temple and monks. In true Lao-style, the party involves much hand dancing, rapid drinking of Beer Lao and munching on chicken feet, all of which we sample of course. The pattern seems to be: stand up, hand dance, as soon as the music stops run to your seat, down as much Beer Lao as your stomach can handle; and repeat. We return to the Temple for the second day, which is considerably smaller -we are the only westerners apart from one super drunken dancing guy who gets forcibly removed. Luckily a local Lao guy takes us under his wing and shows us some Lao-style moves. We have a great time with the locals but after two days we are reaching our hand dancing, Loa-style drinking limits. We finish off the evening early with a dip in the Mekong.