[ラオス女一人旅] ラオスの南部にある秘境シーパンドンで自転車島巡りとカヤック滝巡り〜A Solo Female Traveler’s adventure in 4000 islands, Laos
This is Nakasan Bus Station. It seems like I’m the only one who goes to Don Det. We’re all on the same bus, but we’re going to different destinations. I’m going to ride this to the boat dock now. From there, take a ferry to Don Det Island. hot. It took two and a half hours from Pakse to here. This is the boat dock. Everyone seems to be buying tickets here. Mine is included, so I’ll wait here. This is Nakasan village. You can go to Si Phan Don from this boat pier. Si Phan Don means 4000 islands in English. It seems that tourists will go to Don Det Island and Khon Island. It’s really hot. We arrived at the boat dock. That’s the boat pier, and it’s very close to the hotel I’m staying at, so I walked there. Here it is. Hello hello, this is the room in Don Det and beautiful. First, the bathroom. It’s nice and spacious. I just left my luggage there. There is a bed and a large refrigerator. It’s nice and spacious. And look at the good part here. amazing. There are hammocks and you can see the Mekong River right in front of you. amazing. He said I could see the sunset. Please take a look! beautiful! happy. Now, I would like to walk around the town of Don Det. Suddenly, the case of Lao Beer. It’s a lot! I’m staying on Don Det in 4000 islands. There is Khon Island next to it and I heard you can go around it all by cycling. Si Phan Don means 4,000 islands, and there are nearly 4,000 islands. It is said that about 400 people live on Don Det. I’m walking along the river now, and there are guesthouses, cafes, and restaurants all along the river. It’s relaxing and beautiful here. Apparently this was once a French port where a railway was built. It’s stopped there. It’s an elementary school over there, and students have been wearing uniforms since elementary school. After walking for about 15 minutes, I had a coffee break. I found another almond croissant. I am addicted to it and ordered it again. This is small one. This island also has a lot of chickens. Especially family ones. There seem to be more cats than dogs on this island. I’ve been seeing a lot of cats here. When you arrive at the boat dock on Don Det, there is only one road, and is the main road. There are cafes, restaurants, tour companies, and mini-marts here. There are no convenience stores or supermarkets. Today, instead of papaya salad, I ordered something called lao salad. Is it a normal salad? This dressing is a sweeter version of Southern Island. It’s 7 o’clock now, and there’s a billiards hall over there, and I ate there, but I was the only customer. This place is near the boat dock, so you could say it’s the brightest and busy. If you go this way, you will see my hotel. good morning. Today I’m going on a kayak tour. Since breakfast was included, I was taken to a restaurant. I ordered pineapple pancakes. This is Lao coffee. When I said, “Please don’t add sugar,” they brought extra sugar. It’s very dark. I said pineapple, but I got banana one. Well, no. I’m about to go on a kayak tour. Bring it yourself, from here. I’m going on a kayak tour today, but first I went to a restaurant at 8:30am, had breakfast, and then came to the boat pier. I was told that I could see two waterfalls. This is a one-day kayak tour that ends around 4pm. Will I be rowing a canoe all the time? 4 tourists. Here I got off. I’m going to see the waterfall. I came to a small village. There are a lot of dogs. The rice fields are spreading. nice. Beautiful color. Next, it’s a cow. Wow! I’m going to cross that little wild bridge! Look! This way is closer to the waterfall. Upstream, it’s like this. It’s lunchtime now, and the guide is cooking chicken over a fire. And others are bathing in the Mekong River here. I also went in for a bit. It’s not cold. This is real camping! Over there is Cambodia. This is the end of the canoe. A while ago, one of the kayaks fell over. Terrible! We all got swept away in the middle of the river, but we did our best to come back again. It was a little scary. We rode a songthaew and came to see the second waterfall. The waterfall seems to be quite large. The guide told me to spend about an hour exploring this park on my own. After an hour, we will return to the songthaew. The depth of the waterfall is said to be about 260m. Now let’s take a look at the waterfall. It was about 10,800m wide and 21m high. It is wider than Iguazu Falls. But it doesn’t look that big because it’s not tall. This is a waterfall on the Mekong River. Previously, we took a boat from here and went to Don Det, but this time we were able to do that and take a canoe from here to Don Det. We had one more kayaking trip to go back. I wanted to eat salad again today, so I found a restaurant that had papaya salad. This is very spicy, but delicious. Cabbage is good, cabbage. good morning. Please take a look. The Mekong River is very beautiful. In the morning too. Today I am going to cycle around two islands. I will go around Don Det and Khon Island. Let’s go! I walked here the other day, had coffee, and an almond croissant, but from here the road splits into two, one to the left and one to the right, and if you go to the right, you’re right in the middle of the island Cut through the middle and cross the bridge to the next island. amazing! beautiful! It’s a rice field road. When I drove in Okinawa, it was sugar cane, so it was called a sugar road, but this is a rice field, so I guess it’s called a rice road. Ah, beautiful, beautiful. We have just arrived at the southernmost part of the island. It’s 30 minutes by bicycle. This bridge is the one that takes you to the next island. This is the Mekong River. Suddenly there is a spa here. This is Don Det, the Mekong River, and the other side is Khon Island. This place is marked as a railway monument. I came to Somphamit Waterfall. I’ll buy a ticket there. It was 30,000K. The bathroom was in that back building. I’ve been looking at the waterfall since yesterday, and it’s quite impressive. It’s not very high, but the current is strong. Look. Wow! Please take a look! Below, here. The flow is intense! Is it a restaurant with a beautiful view of the waterfall? It says it’s a view restaurant, but you can’t really see it. After all, you can’t see it unless you get close to the waterfall. The waterfall here. I ordered a latte, but it was a big mistake. It’s so sweet. yes. I forgot to say “no sugar”. Coffee in Laos is very sweet. I forgot to say that. my bad. It had sugar in it, so I returned it without drinking it much, but they took my money though. It’s a water buffalo. Look, it’s cute. Leave the waterfall and biking to the south. This is not a pastoral landscape. Forest landscape. This is the southernmost tip of the island. The road to get here is well paved. there is a sign on the street telling you how many kilometers it is until you reach your destination. I was thinking of going to another beach earlier, so I took the gravel road, but it turned out to be a bit too gravelly, so I decided not to do it. I also saw waterfalls. It felt quite like a jungle here, it was something. I also managed to see the second waterfall. There are cows everywhere. The right side of this area is along the river, but it looks like a village. I’m back near the bridge again, and I started to see a lot of guesthouses and restaurants along the way. I ordered mango sticky rice for the first time in a while. Passion fruit shake is refreshing and delicious. It says that this mango sticky rice is homemade. the rice is sweet and delicious. It’s a little different from what I had in Thailand. It’s really delicious here. Recommended! I am glad I ordered it. There are chickens again! Oh! Dangerous, dangerous. I’m now back towards Det Island, and this time I’m biking along the river on the east side. Over there is Kohn Island, which I went to earlier. This is the hotel I’m currently staying at. This is a slightly cheaper room with a little river view. There’s something over there too. This is the Mekong River. My room is this building. Please take a look. The Mekong River is behind. I’m tired from cycling, so I’m going to take a break in the hammock. What a luxury~ There’s a power outage right now. So it’s hot even inside. This is the best place. It’s cool. The sun went down, but the power has been out since I got back from cycling. After all, the town, or rather the village, is dark. This is vegetarian food with eggplant, some kind of curry, and masala, and this is naan. good morning. I’ll take it easy today. It’s been about three weeks since I came to Laos. I just ordered an iced latte, but…. Also, I forgot to say it’s sugar-free, so it’s sweet. Apparently this pumpkin burger is famous on Det Island. I thought I’d give it a try, so I ordered it. However, since this is not a Lao dish, it is the most expensive dish I have ever eaten here. 100,000K. It’s about 5 dollars. I wonder if it’s delicious? The bread is baked and cannot be cut. I have to use my hands to eat. That’s hard, look! Now, let’s just eat it with a big bite! This is how pumpkin is fried. This pumpkin is kind of salty. This is what vegetables look like. Also, this is pumpkin. It’s a vegan burger. And there are French fries here. I use ketchup for the first time in Laos. The scenery is nice. I came here again where I ate sticky mango the other day. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find anywhere that had noodle soups in the morning. It’s refreshing and delicious. There were small bean sprouts hiding at the bottom. There were lots of vegetables, and since it was before lunch, I was the only customer. The soup had a lot of black pepper and garlic, but it was very bland and delicious. Almost everywhere you go to restaurants on this island, you’ll find these napkins. Toilet paper in this. Papaya salad looks amazing, beautifully white. The spicier the papaya salad, the tastier it is. For some reason, I haven’t said anything, but this isn’t spicy. It seems like a papaya salad made for tourists. disappointing. good morning. Today is the last day on Det Island. I’m going to take a boat to the main island, then take a minivan to Pakse. When I arrive there around 2:30, I have time until 8 o’clock in the evening, so I walk around the city and catch the 8 o’clock late-night bus to Vientiane. This hotel was right in front of the Mekong River, so I was able to see a beautiful sunset every day, which was really nice. It’s time to say goodbye to this hammock. Thank you, Hotel! You can rent bicycles for 20,000K a day, and you can also reserve buses and tours here. One of the characteristics of Laos is that you can book all tours/transportations at the guesthouse. You can make a reservation with ease as you won’t usually get ripped off much. Also, there are many restaurants and cafes like this on Det Island. It looks like Japan. This is how you sit on the floor. My room was the third from the front. There are also people returning from the boat dock over there. We will be going from a private boat dock here. This is a privilege reserved here. This hotel has its own boat. I arrived in about 10 minutes. I’m going to the bus stop now. It seems that the bus will leave at 11:40. The lady of the couple in front of me was from Laos. The guest house told me, “she knows everything, so please follow her to Pakse.” I wasn’t sure because I came by tuk tuk the other day, but I think this is the bus stop. Apparently it wasn’t here. I think that’s where I got off after all. We have to walk a little. It’s 3 o’clock now, and I’ve finally arrived at Pakse in a minivan from Nakathong. good. It was a bus stop here, in the center of town, near the Mekong River. So, I’ll be back here at 7:30 pm, and the late-night bus will leave at 8:00 pm, so I’ll go grab a bite to eat. There are many buses here. Oh! Which bus is mine? This bus. 6669. The number of the car was the number of this bus. good. I don’t understand Lao. I took off my shoes and entered. I got a bag for it. Wow! My first time on a bus like this! interesting! There’s water, blankets, and pillows. This is actually for two people, but I didn’t want to sleep with someone else, so I bought one for two people. The power outlet is also properly connected. wonderful! That’s the bus next to us. It’s 8:03 pm now. Departed on time. It’s now 5 o’clock in the morning. I thought the bus stopped, but there were quite a few people getting off here. Where is this? I arrived in Vientiane. 5 o’clock in the morning. And it’s the southern bus terminal, which seems quite far from the city. Good thing I was able to sleep on the bus. I just had a songthaew drop me off. First I was told to be taken to the morning market, but they were heading to the airport and came into town, and they just passed by my hotel, so I had them drop me off there. 100,000K. Probably expensive because the driver was very happy when I gave money to him. But it’s half the price of a rideshare, so it’s okay. I just bought this at a food stall. Try eating a donut. It’s not sweet. It’s a donut, but it’s salty. Interesting texture next. The person next to me bought a lot of these, so I bought one too. This is a Chinese dish that looks similar to… sesame dumplings sweet. Hmm. It looks like this inside. Yeah. This is sweet. delicious. I bought another one for a total of 3. This one has custard in it. delicious. Look. It’s delicious when it’s freshly made. Warm. This is the room I will be staying in for 2 nights and 3 days. This is an apartment. First, here. It’s the bathroom. There is a kitchen here. There is also a microwave. And the room is nice and bright. You can see the Mekong River. It was my last stay in Laos and I was glad to see the Mekong River. The sunset looks beautiful here. Yay!
ラオスの南部、メコン川に浮かぶ4000の島々「シーパンドン」での癒されひとり旅。パクセからバスとフェリーでデット島へ向かい滞在し、コーン島も巡り、美しい自然を満喫しました。のどかなメコン川のほとりをサイクリングし、カヤックで川を探検し、壮大な滝たちを訪れました。美しい夕陽を毎日ホテルのバルコニーから見、現地名物やラオス料理も堪能。そして、帰りはフェリーとバスでパクセに行き、深夜バスでビエンチャンへと向かいました。
合計30日間（30日旅行ビザ）ラオスを旅行したのですが、これがラオス最後の動画です。一人旅、冒険好き、またはラオス旅行を計画している方にぴったりの旅ガイドになれば嬉しい限りです。
A solo travel to 4,000 islands on the Mekong River in southern Laos. From Pakse, I took a bus and ferry to Don Det, stayed there, and traveled around Khong Island as well, enjoying the beautiful nature. I cycled along the tranquil Mekong River, explored the islands by kayak, and visited magnificent waterfalls. I watched beautiful sunsets every day from the hotel balcony, and of course, enjoyed local specialties and Lao cuisine. Then I went from Don Det to Pakse and Vientiane. I traveled to Laos for a total of 30 days (30-day travel visa), and this is my last video in Laos. I hope this will be a perfect travel guide for solo travelers, adventure lovers, or those planning a trip to Laos.
🌷撮影日：2024年11月初旬 Recorded in early-November, 2024
🌷お役立ち情報 Helpful Information
・ホテル予約：ブッキングドットコム Hotel Reservations https://www.booking.com/
🌷Instagram: @imaisenseidive
🌷プロフィール
20代前半に渡米しアラスカで25年間日本語教師として働いた後アーリーリタイヤをし、小さい頃からの夢である世界一周を体に負担がかからない程度に実践しているアラカン女子です。今回の動画は東南アジア等を2024年秋〜2025年春（約七ヶ月）まで一人で旅した時のものです。
I’m a Japanese female traveler in my late 50s who retired early after moving to the United States in my early 20s and working as a Japanese teacher in Alaska for 25 years. I’ve been now living my childhood dream of traveling around the world without putting too much strain on my body. This is one of the videos from my solo trip to South Eat Asia from Fall 2024 to Spring 2025 (about seven months).