The flat area of the four thousand islands archipelago is so different from the mountainous north of Laos and so similar to the typical Cambodian landscape. Here the Mekong enlarges till a 14 km width where a lot of small and not so small islands emerge. Most of them are not reachable unless you have your own pirogue but the main two, Don Kong and Don Det (or Don Khon) are connected by a kind of public service.
Life on the island for a traveller means rest rest and still rest: swinging on the hammock in the veranda of the hut overlooking the Mekong, drinking Lao Lao whisky, tubing in the river and in the late afternoon biking or riding a moped (only in Don Kong) to see how life is there, especially in Don Det. I promise you, it's quite rural: in Don Det there's no electricity (just generators) and the water is pumped from the river. I still remember that morning I was woken up by the deafening yelling of a pig whose nuts were cutting off just outside my hut.
And what about when I managed to follow the former railway?? (read the funny story)

I think this part of Laos is so different from the north, that if you like this country and you want to know it you cannot miss!!