#fourthousandislands

Day 62 (Jan 9) - Don Kon by Bike | Dolphins? | Waterfall

Today’s the day Suzy and I rent a bike to explore the island. I rented a shitty bike with only one barely working break and two holes in the basket- from our hostel. Suzy felt this was a rip off and walked down the road and got herself a newer bike. Eh, mine rides so I felt it was all part of an experience. Breakfasted at a place that looked busy, only to find everyone was there as part of a kayak tour and cleared out shortly leaving us alone. The food was not good, greasy. And my Pad Thai had no peanuts! Shocking. 

  I’m struggling with my feeling about the islands here. Sure, there’s a lot of beauty to be found even amidst the squalor particularly on the nice side with Don Kon but in the end, it falls short when thinking I could at real islands with crystal blue waters and that keeps praying on my mind. Why aren’t there palms on our side of the island? Makes Don Kon look all that more exotic and upscale. Everything is generally more expensive there with older tourists staying. We managed to cross the bridge without being tolled, the guy was off his post and I just heard at the last moment someone yelling and waving from the side as we rode by. Well, I didn’t know what he said. 

  We arrived at the dolphin boat beach and mistakenly took their offer thinking it combined both a waterfall and dolphin watching. We haggled it down a bit and thought rather proud of ourselves. Until we ended up on a small rock in the river straining to see any dolphins. Ok, so we saw some small lumps in the distance, and one fin (the highlight!)- well, let’s just say Suzy enjoyed it more than I did. The trees in the river were much more interested. The waterfall never factored in it. Not worth it. 

Had my first raw coconut- only took two months in SE Asia. And oddly super cheap, despite in a very touristy spot. 

The Somphamit waterfalls park was worth the 35k. More than just the falls, they were building a really nice place here. But a lot still in construction. While the falls were nice I’m sure they would be more impressive in the wet season. Being rather far from them took away a little of the impact. A bridge closer would help. They are a powerful torrent of water, as it’s the full force of the Mekong coming down.