Pibliye: 04.03.2020
On my second day on Don Det, I booked a tour. At 8.30 am, we had breakfast and then set off with kayaks to a waterfall. I had never kayaked before, so I was amazed that it went relatively well. The advantage was also that two people were sitting in each kayak, so we made a bit faster progress.
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at a beach. We got out, walked for 5 minutes, and then we were at Somphamit Waterfall, also known as Li Phi Waterfall. We only looked at them from below, but the advantage was that we could go swimming. The current was immense, which was not without danger, as there were extremely many high and large rocks in the water. Because the rocks were so high, you could easily crawl or hold on to them.
Afterwards, we had lunch at a beach. Our guide had brought a mini grill and everyone got a chicken skewer with vegetables, a bun, a hard-boiled egg, and mashed potatoes. For dessert, there was watermelon.
When we got back into the kayaks, our guide tied our bags and shoes. I was surprised, but I didn't comment on it further. Later I found out the reason and was glad that everything was tied up.
So we set off for the highlight of the day: the dolphins. The Irrawaddy dolphins are endangered and currently there are 4 to be seen at the Laotian-Cambodian border. The way there seemed extremely long to me, even though it was only 30 minutes in the end. However, the current was so strong and there were sometimes real whirlpools, so some of us couldn't maintain their balance and fell out of the kayak - it was good that everything was tied up.
After we managed the current well, some of us wet ;), we waited in the water for the dolphins. Meanwhile, there were about 30 kayaks and a few small boats at the spot. To my surprise, the dolphins appeared. However, they were only briefly at the surface of the water and then disappeared for several minutes, only to reappear in a completely new location. So I couldn't take a picture, in the end it would have gotten wet and my second phone would have been broken ;) However, the dolphins looked completely different from the ones I know from my vacations in Croatia.
Afterwards, we paddled to the mainland and got into tuk-tuks, which took us to the next waterfall: Khon Papeng. Considering the amount of water flowing down per second, this waterfall is the largest in Asia. Both waterfalls together are called Mekong Falls and stretch over 10km.
At around 3 pm, tuk-tuks took us to Nakasang, from where we kayaked back to Don Det.
In the evening, I watched the sunset again, by the way, I already had my regular place.