The World Effect - Around the world travel blog

Sleeping on Water: Done Khone, Laos

After sing the duet "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers to Beau a thousand times in our floating hut, I don't think he could decide what was worse; my singing or being violently ill from the fish laap.  I am going with the illness because we are still married.  Besides inspiring me to sing, our floating hut at Done Khone Sala inspired my creative thoughts too.  Maybe it was the rocking motion of the water that made me relax and clear my mind but I could focus on brainstorming for work and sketching in my travel journal (that I am severely behind in).  Our floating hut also got me thinking about design and how I could have a floating hut, which coincidentally is not possible since our permanent home is in a very dry part of the US.
Done Khone Sala resort has three floating huts available for occupancy.  They also have a main house in French Colonial style, a few small guesthouse, and a restaurant.  None of the other rooms are as cool as the floating huts, but I might be biased.  


The design of the Don(e) Khone floating hut is a basic wood frame construction with woven mats covering the walls.  The ceilings are made of woven palm leaves with ventilation slots between the ceiling and walls.  Yes, the mosquito nets in the picture are beautiful but very necessary too.  Hardwood plank flooring creates a richness in the room and completes the island feel.  Each hut is divided into two guestrooms with private bathrooms that include hot water.  A raised wooden platform with Thai pillows and the exterior porch are the highlight of staying here.  You have a front stage view of watching life on the river and a great place to read and sketch.  


   If you are like me and love sleeping on the water in a floating house, check out these cool modern floating homes on Trendir and The Design Blog.  The design options for a floating house are limitless.  

4,000 islands of Laos: Done Khone

We found a perfect a place to disappear, relax, read several books and sleep -a lot.  Just a 13 hour night bus, a 2 hour local bus and a leaky boat ride south of Vientiane lies the Si Phan Don (4,000 islands) province.  All the aforementioned attributes are also excellent for recovering from a violent illness... more on that later. 
As the name implies, Si Phan Don consists of thousands of islands surrounded by the Mekong River in Laos just above the Cambodian border.   There are 3 somewhat populated islands with some modern conveniences.  We stayed on Don(e) Khone which is said to be less "happening" than Don Det, but a little more "happening"  than Don Kong.  Like the storybook Goldilocks and the 3 bears, Don Khone turned out to be just right. 
Don Khon is a sleepy little island with a small village on one corner and farmland and fishing huts throughout the rest of the island.  The island has no cars and just a handful of motor scooters.  Almost all of the restaurants and guest houses are family owned by the world's friendliest people.





We stayed on a floating hut, which was fantastic.  We had our own little porch to watch the world float by until the beautiful sunset.  We have a design post coming up next sharing the wonderful world of sleeping on water.  We really didn't do much in Don Khone and that was great.  We mostly just chilled out on our floating oasis or at one of the few restaurants in our village.  Our guesthouse, Sala Done Khone played music concert DVDs nightly, there's nothing like watching The Rolling Stones in a thatched hut overlooking the Mekong.  We did rent bikes a few times and rode the loop of the island.  We checked out a few of the little fishing areas, the rice paddies and played a little football with some of the local kids.
So, the grand finale.  Before we left on our big trip around the world, we had lunch with a couple who traveled around the world a few years ago.  One piece of advice they gave us was to avoid eating freshwater fish.  Fast forward about a year,  we met a lovely Irish couple in Don Khone and had dinner with them.  We had several beers and laughs.  Feeling a bit adventurous, dismissing all advice, I ordered something called fish Laap.  I had eaten chicken and pork Laap up north and loved it.  I thought I'd go for the Laap trifecta.  Laap a mixture of ground meat with lemon grass, lime and chili  rolled in leaves of lettuce.  Long story short, our little floating village wasn't hearing The Stones echoing down the Mekong that night, they were hearing Beau get violently ill.  Each floating hut has two units, our poor neighbors were only separated by a mat of grass from my heaving agony... sorry whoever you are.   Sparing you all the details, I wasn't right for about a week and successfully lost my "spare tire" from all the amazing street food of Thailand.
  Relaxing, recovering or whatever idle activities you have in mind are great to do in Don Khone.  We love it, except of the freshwater fish, of course.



          

 

How did 2 days turn into 7 days in Vientiane, Laos?

To be honest with you, Beau and I don't know how we ended up in Vientiane for 7 days.  We just stalled out.  We went to Vientiane as a transition spot planning on seeing the few tourist sights fast and move on the 4,000 Islands.  After a little cold, some good food, and serious internet posting we realized we had been in Vientiane for a week and nothing to show for it.  We've become stationary like this before in Jodhpur, India but we got a lot work done.  There is something humorous about where our stall outs happen.  Why can't we extend our stay at a majestic beach or clear our mind in a pristine mountain village?  Not that Vientiane is bad.  Any place that has a JoMa bakery and little waffles with fillings (at the market) is good in my book.     After we found our heads and got back to our routine, we visited Pha That Luang (the gold temple on Laos' money), Haw Phra Kaew, and Wat Si Saket.  At every location we met wonderful sweet Laotians,  That reason in itself is worth coming to Vientiane!  



 

An absolute gem: Luang Prabang, Laos

During extended travel, some places you find yourself staying another night, and then another and then maybe a few more.  Luang Prabang is one of those places.  It is certainly not an undiscovered place, as the major industry here is tourism.  We've been to some other little towns that have seemingly been scrubbed of their beauty and culture by a steady influx of tourists.

It's difficult to explain, but Luang Prabang has managed to keep a soul while successfully managing tourism without becoming tacky.  There are wonderful accommodations ranging from luxury boutiques to backpacker inns.  There's amazing street food vendors all the way up to fine dining.  The natural surroundings are beautiful, the ancient culture is intact and the streets filled with french influenced buildings are lovely. 

The stores have personality and individuality (not all selling the same stuff), as well as a great night market supporting local artisans.  I'm sure it has changed a lot over the years maybe for better or worse, but from our standpoint as first time visitors, Luang Prabang is a gem. The time we spent here was completely enjoyable and relaxing.  We were not prepared to put ourselves into a food comma every night, the food options here are world-class.  We also enjoyed visiting the several cultural sights such as the temples and the museum.

An amazing experience and at the same time, a low point of our visit was at sunrise.  Each morning at sunrise in Luang Prabang, a procession of Laos Buddhist Monks walk through the streets to gather food for the day.  This tradition to support the local monks is ancient.
This ritual is available for us tourists to see and even participate in.  It is really and amazing experience.  As beautiful as this was to witness, we also saw the ugly side of tourism.  Many of the local business have signs that give simple and gracious directions for viewing and photographing the monks at sunrise.  They encourage tourist to wake up early to see the monks procession, but they ask tourists to keep their distance and to always be lower than the monks to show respect.


We saw about an equal amount of respectful tourists and disrespectful (that's too nice, obnoxious) tourists.  We saw an entire busload of people literally walk up within inches of the monks flashing their cameras in the monks faces. 

One woman even posed for a picture wrapping her arm around an unknowing monk while he was trying to get food.  As tourists ourselves, we were mortified and completely embarrassed.  Luang Prabang really is a gem, and hopefully it and tourism can grow together not at the expense of one another.


                    

Beautiful people, villages, jungles and waterfalls -Laos

Our first stop in Laos was the beautiful city in the north called Luang Prabang.  After the journey from Chiang Mai, Meggan and I were ready to do something active.
Our first full day in Laos we hiked through a few villages and to a waterfall.  It was such a great feeling to be in a more remote location away from honking horns and exhaust.  Although seeing the natural surroundings of Laos was amazing, the people we met made our day.


  The Kuang Xi waterfall was our destination, but getting there was the best part.  We had a leisurely walk on the winding dirt roads and paths through lush jungles and agricultural communities.  Trying to communicate with the locals and playing with the kids along the way was really fun.
 


We could not believe how incredibly friendly and welcoming the people were.  We had kids showing us their chickens and roosters, men touring us around their villages and woman handing Meggan their babies to hold... I had to check Meggan's bag after each village to make sure we didn't acquire a cute little baby.



I can see after a long hike in the hot and humid jungle, the Kuang Xi waterfall is a welcoming sight.  Unfortunately, on the day we hiked there it was really cold, you can see how bundled up the kids are.


It probably wasn't that cold, but I think we've lost our cold tolerance during our trip (oh oh, better get ski boot heaters).  We didn't get the full effect of the waterfall by not swimming, but it was certainly beautiful to look at.  The aqua blue water bounces down the limestone cliffs to settle into natural pools making for a postcard perfect place, if you ask us. 
  
Our first experience in Laos was a great one and we have much more to come!