19 April 2008 - our stay on don kone

12th April

I was rudely awoken at 5.30am by a man singing!! The locals get up early in order to get things done before the heat gets too much.

I spent a few hrs reading before heading off to breakfast with Abby and yasu leaving Dan sleeping.

Abby and yasu hired bikes to go and explore don det the neighboring island whilst Dan and i read in the hammocks. Dan wasn't feeling great so we decided to have a quite day.

The bungalow is right on the river so when it gets hot its great just walking down the small bank and submerging in the cool water!! Unfortunately its quite rocky and shallow so you cant swim much but its great for cooling off.

The locals use the river everyday for washing themselves and their clothes. The children also spend a lot of their time playing in the water. The children here are a lot freer than the kids at home, they are left to play by themselves without any worry. How ever their schooling is poor and some times non existent.

We had dinner with Abby and yasu, they were leaving the following morning so this was our last night together. Seemed strange that they were leaving as we had gotten used to their company.