Been there, Don Det...

Having arrived at sunset, and after a tiring day travelling, i pretty much settled with the first place that i found and negotiated what i thought was a good deal.  The travel guide had said that accommodation was $1 a night, but they didn’t factor in inflation and the weakening dollar and the strengthening Kip – so i had to settle for $2.50 a night.  I also wasn’t staying on the river, but i ended up staying there for 4 nights so it couldn’t have been all that bad...

I thought i was getting away for a while, but it appears that half the backpacker tourist population were doing the same thing, and the island has very quickly developed into a backpacker haven of cheap booze and ‘happy’ meals – and i am not talking the MacDonalds kind!

I thought this was another opportunity to see the Irrawady dolphins, but in this season they actually take tourists to the Cambodia border and view them from there – so as i had just seen them in Cambodia, i didn’t think that would be necessary to do again.  Apparently in the dry season you can see them from near the island just south of Don Det, so i was out of luck.

I basically spent the 4 days walking around the island just exploring island life, and noticing what a huge impact tourism has had to the local lifestyle.  I was wandering whether the river ever flooded the island, but because it can get to 14km wide in this section of the river, the water tends to spread out instead of rise up, so human life is quite well established here.  They have a school, and the guest houses and hotels are getting bigger and better.  The tourists that spend time here are usually the backpackers who want to find the cheapest accommodation and then proceed to spend loads of money on beer – go figure!  There are other activities like tubing and kayaking, but these tend to be within the drinking scene as well. 

On the one hand i can see how some locals welcome the tourists with open arms, as it means that they will earn more money and can buy the more western gadgets – some of their phones were really hi-tech!