You know, I really thought I had gotten used to the heat by now. But Don Det is simply ridiculous! This is way too hot! And if it really will get even hotter in the next month then - Auweia! The day Jacqui and me arrived on Don Det - which is a small island pretty close to the Cambodian border and part of "Si Phan Don", the 4,000 islands - I think I actually got a mild heatstroke.

I had been drinking a lot of water etc., but all of a sudden I felt sick, tired and dizzy. Well, I lay down in our bungalow and when the sun went down I started to feel a bit better. Unfortunately it didn't get much cooler - I reckon it was still more than 30 degrees Celsius in the night - but it was better then the sweltering heat of the day.

If you like stereotypical tropical islands, then I suppose you'll love Don Det. It's not very big, has tons of palm trees, heaps of small bungalows (1 USD/night) with hammocks on the porch and there is absolutely nothing to do. I found it incredibly boring.

The only things you can do are daytrips, e.g. to see the river dolphins (4,5 USD). We did that on our second day on Don Det but to be honest I didn't find it very exciting. And we even got to see four of the Dolphins of which - according to my Rough Guide - only ten are left. The waterfall was nice, though.

I still do prefer Van Viang as a place to hang out, though: There are simply more things to do if you want to and, well, the place is simply more alive. Don Det is pretty dead in the night. But it's a cool place to stop for a day or two on the way to Cambodia. If it just wasn't so frigging HOT!