Si Phan Don

Chilled. That was Goa down to its party-loving core. The Andamans, well they were pure bliss and probably on a par with heaven. So, if Pokhara is a place where time stands still, what the hell does that make Si Phan Don!?

Let us try and put this place into perspective for you. We're on the Laos-Cambodia border, a place where the mighty Mekong widens to 14km - the greatest width of the river in its entire 4200km course - and more than 4000 islands spring forth. The beauty must be seen to be believed, the peace and quiet like nothing else before.

An arduous six hour trip - it's those friggin "public buses" again - to the largest island, Don Khong. During a night in the capital Muang Khong (why a capital God only knows - there's about ten people living there!) we had a ring side seat for one of the most dramatic storms we'd ever seen. Then the heavens opened and we got piss-wet through!

Chartered an up-turned tree for the hour long trip to Don Deth, Laos' "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow", says RoughGuide. Within minutes we'd landed ourselves a bamboo hut (for a pound a night!), strung up hammocks and were swinging in the morning breeze. And that was about it for four whole days! When our noses weren't firmly parked in a book - a few dusty epics hoarded by local families who hire them out for about 10p a day - we'd saunter a few hundred yards to eat, or watch the sunset, or drink, or just to stretch those lazy limbs!

Given the slow-paced way of life on the lazy upper reaches of the Mekong, huge roaring waterfalls might seem out of place. Yet here, near the Cambodian border, the underlying geology changes and the river is punctuated by rapids and waterfalls. On Don Khone, linked to Don Deth by a French-built bridge, is the impressive Li Phi Falls. A short boat ride away is Khong Phapheng Falls, the largest in southeast Asia and, reputedly, widest in the world.

But bicycling around a sub-tropical island was too much like hardwork. Now a chilled Beer Lao in a hammock, that's more like it. And it was such a moment of bliss that was shattered when our ol'chum Jeremy suddenly appeared on our porch - ensuring the island's population had doubled in the space of two days!

Over the next few days the three of us ate, drank and smoked ourselves into Utopia. Well, in all honesty, that's all there is to do in Si Phan Don. Sure, you can charter your own up-turned tree and head downriver. Maybe it's a refreshing dip in the Mekong you're hankering for, or a spot of fresh-water dolphin watching (there's only 30 or so of em left so chances are slim). But when fruit falls from the trees, beer's never ending and herbs are literally thrown in with the price of a room, why bother?!