4000 islands (don det)

after ariving at the tip of the island first impresions werent that great, It felt like a mixture between vang vieng and a shopping area at a music festival.the accomodation was cheap, but fairly rough. I paid 40,000 kip for a room with a shower and toilet, but I had stayed In a much nicer place for 30,000 in luang prabang.The room in vang vieng was basicaly a shed with a few holes in the walls. You could get an OK looking room for about 80,000 but at this point I couldnt afford that. The currency of laos is effectivley worthless outside of laos, so no country will exchange your spare kip for another currency (You can change your money with travel agents near the boarder for a fairly bad rate though)because of this I was trying to guage my money to last just enough time to give me food in laos untill i left for cambodia. The night of drinking a couple of days before threw me off a little though, after paying for my accomodation on the small island, paying for my trip into cambodia and paying for a boat trip to seethe 4000 Islands I only had 20,000 kip spare. I had some US dollars, but at this point I wasnt sure of the exact visa cost so was scared to spend them. Money for food was tight, but I managed to get vegiterian curry and some rice for 16,000 kip, I spent the rest on water at 2000 a bottle.
There were more trips avalible from this island for a cheaper price such as seeing the waterfalls and the meakong dolphins, but I couldnt afford to pay for another day on the island. I went on an evening trip to see the 4000 islands as that Is how the place is known on the map, though It was the wet season. The 4000 Islands was In reality only about 10 islands and the top of a few bushes, the river was a few feet higher than in the dry season and the river was flowing much faster. The river was flowing so fast that the boats could barely travel up the river, It took about one hour to travel 4 kilometers.It was still a good trip though as you got to see the sunset from an interesting perspective though the waterfall/dolphins would probably be more fun.