I convinced Conor that we should do a kayaking trip on the Island because it seems like the only thing to do. They guy made it seem like it wasn't much kayaking so we agreed to do it. We were mislead, but the trip was well worth it even though we were exhausted by the end. (Side note: mid day of trip Conor, tired and hungry, states "I HATE DOING EXERCISE THINGS WHILE TRAVELING").
The company we booked through gave us awesome rice picker hats so our faces would be protected from the sun. We kayaked for about 45 minutes to see a "small waterfall". We stopped on the edge of another island close by and walked for about 20 minutes to this waterfall. Most people went swimming here, but I didn't which I regret. But it was beautiful nonetheless. Our kayaks had been moved by van to another part of the island so we had to walk to get them. On the way our guide found a dead snake which he took an told us he would use it to make snake soup- yum!
After another 30 minutes of kayaking we stopped in the middle of the river to look for dolphins. There is a rare form of Mekong dolphins with weird bumpy faces (google it). We saw some swimming, but not their heads. By this point I was starving so I didn't really care anyway. After a while of watching for dolphins we kayaked to a village for lunch.
This village was partying it up for PiMai. It was probably 12 or 1 in the afternoon and they were midrager. It was so fun, and all the locals were so welcoming to us and another tour group. They wanted us to join in on their fun. What ended up happening was all the foreigners got into a huge water fight with all the local kids. It was so fun and we were all glad to be able to play around together. Our guide made the snake soup with his friends and had us all try it. I had a bite, more than enough.
After a few hours of fun we kayaked to another beach and then had to carry our kayaks up a big hill. Seriously this day turned out to be some serious exercise. We were then driven in a Tuk Tuk (kayaks too) to a national park where we would see SE Asia's largest waterfall. It was huge and beautiful. We only stayed for a few minutes before being driven back to the pier.
Finally, after our whole group thought kayaking was over, we realized we had to kayak from the pier back to Don Det. We were exhausted, hot and a little sunburnt, but we all made it. This was such a great day and I was so happy to have had the real PiMai experience with the kids!
The next day we were not only leaving 4000 Islands, but moving on from Laos altogether and heading to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
* all these pictures are pictures of pictures. I didn't bring my iPhone that day only my camera. Sorry for bad quality *
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