Lao Don Sao Island, Chiang Rai

Visiting the Lao island of Don Sao (also Don Xao) is probably the most interesting thing to do in the center of the Golden Triangle. Although in fact it is not an island at all, but just a fenced-off part of the territory Laos with a special visa regime, or rather without it, this place is still persistently called an island. We will keep this tradition too :-).

You can get to the island by boat on the Mekong River, while you will also get a small cruise along the river with a tour of the coastal beauties (although do not expect too much from these beauties). Access to the island is carried out without obtaining a visa for all tourists without exception, for a nominal fee of 20 baht.

There is not much to do on the island: there is a market of many shops where you can buy inexpensive goods and souvenirs from Laos (there are a lot of leather bags on sale, traditional tourist souvenirs, bottles with a snake on alcohol, Lao banknotes, etc.); from the post office on the island you can send a postcard home from the territory Laos (60 baht per stamp + 10 baht postcard, goes to Russia for more than a month); you can buy Lao beer. There's not even much to photograph here. Usually tourists walk a little around the market, buy souvenirs and go home, especially since a standard boat trip limits their stay on the island to 60 minutes. Although, of course, you can always negotiate with the boatman for a longer time for an additional fee.

Boats to the island depart from the piers near the Opium Museum (House of Opium) and the big Buddha by boat. The cost of an hour and a half walk is 400 baht per boat (the price is not fixed, you can bargain). Please note that the cost is charged per boat, not per person. If you come here as part of an organized tour group, your guide can offer you this pleasure for 400 baht per person. If you do not want to overpay the guide for his brilliant organizational skills, you can safely refuse and take the boat yourself for 4-5 people for the same 400 baht.

The boat routes are also quite standard: you will be shown a casino on the shore, a hotel, you will sail past "Buddhas in a boat", and then a walk around the island. But even despite such a modest program, a boat trip should not be missed. It's not for nothing that you've come so far.

Photos of Don Sao Island