Si Phan Don
Close to the Cambodian border the Mekong descends from a mountain ridge, and its immense volume of water drops through a waterfall of more than fifteen metres. The resulting body of water below stretches for fourteen kilometres of different waterstreams, resulting in the formation of thousands of river islands. The people living on these islands have lived off agriculture and fishing since ancient times. The area is now very popular with tourists seeking closer contact with nature, or some relaxation after their sightseeing.
Most of the tourists make for one of the bigger islands – but others prefer the smaller islands, where accommodation is limited to just a few small chalets.
The best way of getting around the larger islands is to rent a bike. You can ride along paths that follow the embankment – or there are bike-paths that run through the paddy-fields. Here you can see agricultural labourers at work, and water-bison resting. If you have long distances to cover, it might be better to rent a moped.
Towards the end of the C19th the French colonisers tried to establish transport connections between their Indo-Chinese colonies. There were several unsuccessful attempts to set up a riverboat network along the Mekong, which failed due to the rapids, they built a seven-kilo metre rail route, which bypassed the rapids and provided a way of transporting goods.
Fencing around the old railway lines.
On a few of the parallel branches of the Mekong River there are enormous rapids and falls. One of the largest are the Lippi, or Lee Phee falls – a name which comes from a local name for the water-spirits which are said to live there.
Khone Papheng Falls are the largest waterfalls in the area. The strength of the falls varies considerably with the seasons
There are fish in the Mekong, although fishermen grumble that the number has declined. You can’t rely on catching anything.
On the islands, a great deal of the tourism is connected with water. There are places for sunbathing, but you may not be too keen about going for a swim in the Mekong.
The area around the Mekong waterfalls, near the Laotian border with Cambodia, is home to freshwater dolphins. They are known as Irawaddy Dolphins, and they inhabit the rivers of a number of Asian countries. For this reason, netting fish here is prohibited.
Dolphin-watching is a don’t-miss activity for tourists who come here. You can try to get a glimpse of them from the shore, using a high concrete observation platform – or with various different kinds of boats, or even by setting off on your own in a kayak. People say that there around twenty dolphins living here.
