Hammock Heaven

Morning All,

Well, we did promise to update you when we'd done something, but I'm afraid it won't take long. Our plan for Si Phan Don was always to fall in with the Laos mind set of taking it easy and we seem to have managed that with consumate ease. We have spent nearly three full days reading and lazing in hammocks, only getting up to eat or get another iced shake or beer. It just seems the right thing to do down here. The only thing rushing is the river itself which flows quite fast around the islands. There was also a medical reason for the easy life. Carol rolled her ankle on the way here and had a bit of a niggle in it. That first afternoon we hired a couple of bikes to cycle round the island. We set a very gentle pace and it still only took a couple of hours including stops. By the end of it though Carol's ankle was quite painful and had ballooned up good and proper, so a period of R&R was definitely called for. If we were going to have a little injury this was perfect timing. The swelling had just about gone yesterday so we tested it with a cycle around the neighbouring island of Don Det with no nasty side effects.

Tomorrow we head north again. We've changed our itinery slightly, and rather than bussing it from place to place every day for the next five days, we're now going to fly straight on to Luang Prabang (LP). It will be a shame to miss the capital, Vientiene, but this at least gives us 3 or 4 days in LP. Everyone we've met who has been there advises us to spend more time in and around LP rather than in Vientiene.

So we spent one last day lazing around before we pack and hit the road again. All in all, Si Phan Don was exactly as we hoped it would be, a lovely little break in the middle of our trip. A riverside ratan cabin, beautiful sunsets, very relaxed way of life and recovery time for Carol's ankle.

Love to all

Mr & Mrs McK xxx