Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) on the Mekong in Laos is to creeking what the Victoria Nile is to playboating. Easy living, spectacular surroundings and amazing water. Our trip last week was not quite all (condensed) milk and honey, but more on that later. Here’s an image of the channel we called Dead Cow, on account of the dead cow in the eddy.

Mmm, dead cow, my favourite. I spotted a rather fresh one was trapped between boulders on Pen Llyn. Forget extreme ironing - dead cow spotting is what all the cool kids are digging these days.