From 4000 islands down to 1

Si Phan Don, in Southern Laos, is a collection of islands in the Mekong river. The name directly translates as "the four thousand islands" but it is unlikely anyone counted and if they did they probably rounded up. We chose to stop on an island called Don Det ("Don" meaning "Island"), a fairly backpacker heavy place that is currently suffering from a brilliant plague of kittens.

To get there involved a boat and soon after leaving the mainland shore the engine stalled and we drifted helplessly in the current. Two other boats sprung to action at a leisurely pace, splashing everyone on board with terrifyingly liberal swings of the propellor shafts, and guided the weary vessel up to the island coast.

That propellor shaft, some litter kittens and a bit of a bridge

After this excitement we landed and for the next few days we mainly mooched about the bustling villages watching the odd boat race, talked to expats who had opted for the easy life and generally had a good old relax in a sun soaked hammock. Some of this downtime was somewhat enforced by a winter cold which I picked up - completely unexpected and unwelcome in the tropical climate!

Don Det has a railway bridge over to neighboring island Don Khon. This bridge is a relic of French colonists who tried desperately to get boats up the Mekong river and link the territories of French-Indochina - but failed due to the sheer scale of the waterfalls and rapids here. Their loss was our gain, though, as the waterfalls are spectacular. We cycled over to Don Khon on rusty rented single-speeds and some places really made us feel like David Attenborough may be narrating above us somewhere.

Si Phan Don

Then Christmas day made its daybreak with brilliant sunshine and a sense of being very far from home. Thankfully, a Scouser run restaurant called King Kong had arranged a proper British Christmas turkey roast, complete with gravy and roast potatoes, and a trifle for dessert (which confused a lot of people who had never heard of such a wondrous thing)!

Christmas Toblerone!!

Boxing day was a day of treats as we decided to transit to Cambodia. Everything was fine until the border crossing, which involved a "health check", or an introduction to scambodia (a clever combination of "scam" and "Cambodia"), where someone hovers a plastic beeping box over your face and charges you $2 for the privilege of being healthy enough to enter the country. Our connecting bus arrived 2 hours late, crammed as many people in as the suspension could hold and then crawled down the sandy crevise (supposedly a road) to Phnom Penh. A bus journey like that makes you type bitterly.

Always room for one more.

We arrived 4 hours late, at midnight, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city, at the mercy of the tuk tuk drivers to take us to guesthouses at least 4km away. Our tuk tuk ride was shared by a homesick Spaniard and we watched the scene change from gold crazed opulence to child beggars and saw piles of roadside litter with a feral cat chasing 2 giant rats.

Arriving at almost 1am was strange as we were used to midnight curfews in Laos. Even that late we could get amazing gnocchi from an inexpensive Italian restaurant, and the city was still very alive as we hit the hay.

We were just passing through Phnom Penh and unfortunately mainly saw dirt and sleaze while we there. This was somewhat accented when we accidently left an ereader in a guesthouse as we checked out. The device had magically disappeared by the time we returned - which felt pretty raw.

The next quick stop was in the Southern coast town of Sihanoukville which was way over touristy and in-your-face so we dived for refuge into Top Cat Cinema's comforting armchairs and caught up with Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit 2. However the coast is nice for a bike ride to a quieter beach called "Otres" which while still busy is much less intense.  Here you can sit by the sea and enjoy Khmer dishes like the excellently named Amok Fish Curry (coconut milk based brothy curry) and Beef Lok Lak (tender strips of beef sautéed with mild spices with rice and just maybe a fried egg).

Sihanoukville - where a Praying Mantis landed on my arm

Off the coast of Sihanoukville is a small island called Ko Ta Kiev which, apart from a small Cambodian naval base, has "Crusoe Island" which rents tents to pitch by the beach. We got a boat there and pitched a tent on our very own section of white sand, just a short treacherous climb away from the communal eating area. We stayed a few nights and this area helped build a community feel between the dispersed beach campers. There was a lack of wifi to enforce conversation.

There was a great sense of freedom on the island and swimming in our own bit of sea every morning felt great. We only shared the beach with scurrying crabs (some of which were hermit crabs with hilariously bad fitting shells) and the odd lizard who mainly went about their own business. During the day, apart from a little tentative sunbathing we had to fortify our tent against the high tide (which only happened at night) as from inside the tent we could hear the rising water as if it were about to whisk us away to the ocean.

The best thing to do there is snorkeling. It was our first time and apart from initially hyperventilating from the shock of breathing with your mouth underwater, we got the hang of it. There are vast thriving coral reefs here supporting schools of cute little fish and viscious spiky sea urchins. It's a bizarre multicoloured sight which can't be captured without a waterproof camera. At points the sea floor drops to 4 meters or so and you can see strange shimmering life forms of a very imaginative design.

Ko Ta Kiev

Showers on the island are the traditional Khmer "bucket of well water" which is bracing if a little futile as you will immediately be covered in sand again. We heard that one of the Khmer staff was once driven to a city and when faced with his first hot shower was surprised, unsure and turned the heater off. Apparently not everyone enjoys the supposed luxury.

For New Years Eve around 65 people came to the island for a hog roast and a party. This was some great marshmallow roasting, mock sports fun and a brilliant way to meet people and avoid feeling homesick at a festive time. We found out here about a local phenomenon of bioluminescent plankton on the surface of some parts of sea at night.

The next evening, which without light pollution was full of surprisingly vivid stars, a small group of us headed out for an midnight swim (at 11pm) to see the bioluminescence. The sea with the plankton looks completely normal, but as you splash about brilliant blue spark-like flashes shoot around you. The effect increases further out to sea until you can make sea angels (like snow angels but with bioluminescent plankton) and you are surrounded by a blue glow. It was really a very surreal experience which will not be easy to forget.

- Jon