From Pakse, we went by bus 2 hours down to the 4,000 islands. Here the Mekong River reached its greatest extent. At a length of 50 km and a width of up to 14 km, the river branches out into many smaller and larger channels and you can see hundreds of small islands. It is a huge, unique wetland and habitats for many animals and plant species. We even saw the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins, but only from afar!
This unique landscape belongs to us to the most beautiful of Southern Laos.
We stayed on the largest of the 3 islands in the Mekong River, on Don Khong. It is 18 km long and 8 km wide, the best way to go around here is by motorbike. Here they plant mainly rice. It seems almost incredible that here everything goes much more slowly than in the rest of Laos. An indescribable peace and calmness is everywhere, and transferred immediately to the visitors.

We spent 4 days in this paradise. Of course, we went by boat 15 km down to the other two islands, Don Det and Don Khon. The boat trip was unique, everywhere we could watch the life on and at the river. Further to the south the landscape became more tropical, palm trees and bamboo hats were typical for these two islands. It is a kind of paradise for many young backpackers. Therefore here exists a small tourist infrastructure. But nevertheless it is still very very quiet on these two islands.

Besides the great scenery and the relaxed atmosphere, there is only a rusty old steam locomotive from the last century.
 

The main attraction and popular destination is the "Niagara Fall" of the East, the Khon Phapheng waterfall. It is the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia. Here, the Mekong plunges over several hundred meters wide, over rocks and boulders nearly 15 m in depth.

An impressive spectacle that you can watch from the viewing platform, or much dangerous from the very close rocks.