TRAVEL
4000
ISLANDS,
4000
MEMORIES Visiting Laos’ southernmost point TEXT BY ANITA PRESTON PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANITA PRESTON / EVENSONG FILM
GETTING THERE Don Det and Don Khone are accessible from Nakasang Ferry Pier, 140km south of Pakse. Lao Airlines has daily flights to Pakse from Vientiane. above: Li Phi Falls at Don Det left: One of the train engines from the old colonial railway
O
n the map, the 4000 Islands looks like a huge knot stuck in the 4350 km pipe of the Mekong, straddling the borders of Laos and Cambodia. The geographical term for this is “archipelago” an extensive group of islands” Travelers’ tales are well established about this southernmost part of Laos, that it’s so beautiful, peaceful, and laid back - a hippie haven. People have been known to get lost here for months. Once you arrive,
you might never leave. One person said, “it’s like Vang Vieng twenty years ago.” With islands spanning the 14km breadth of the Mekong, its lack of development (there are no cars on the islands), friendly locals, spectacular nature, and a variety of cheap accommodations, the appeal is easy to understand. Ironically, for one of the last and least developed places in Laos, the area was one of the first areas visited by explorers. The French-backed Mekong Exploration Commission in the 1860s was the first scientific expedition to chart and survey the length of the Mekong. Their main objective was to find an inland route to China from Saigon. They were stumped before they even began by the treacherous falls at the 4000 Islands. Nature was having none of that.
