Monday 30 June 2008

4 thousand island dressing


Si Phan Don or '4 Thousand Islands' was the last point in our Laos adventure. The islands lie in the middle of the vast Mekong river and on the border with Cambodia. A truly beautiful spot. We settled ourselves on the island of Don Khon. We swam in the Mekong, watched the islanders fish in the midst of fierce Mekong rapids and hired bikes to cruise our way gently around the islands. We stayed comfortably and cheaply with a local family guesthouse who reliably told us that there used to be crime on the island until the military police came and evicted the offending family from the island. Problem solved.
One day we joined some Aussies to cruise on the Mekong to see the rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins. Our trip also took us to Cambodia a day earlier than expected, and we celebrated with a can of Angkor beer whilst watching the dolphins frolic about in the distance.

We were very sad to miss the wedding of Kathy's dear friends, Frank and Hayley. Not just because they are amazing and special people but we both knew that it would be a superb party with fantastic music and dancing. In the North of Laos we had gone to sleep with the sky lit up with a thousand dancing fireflies. In the South, on the night of the wedding, we danced on the old French railway bridge under thousands of disco stars and our own full moon glitterball. After a Gay Gordons and karaoke/dance troupe version of 'Blame it on the Boogie', we retired to bed. It was only 10pm but the rest of the island was fast asleep. I'm sure the wedding party was only getting started! We hope you had a great day Frank and Haley - and we wish you all the love and happiness for the future.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mum was reading the blog and read the boogie bit and she was laughing


from Ainsley :)= )

Mr M said...

So, you must have told her how bad my dancing is?!! Hope you are enjoying your summer hols, Ainsley. You've been amazing at writing comments, Ainsley. Thank you and keep them coming. It means a lot when you are half a world away! :-)