Qualla: Don Kho

Don Kho: Introduction

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Some months, no tourists come to Don Kho at all. The island sits in the main channel of the Mekong River, a few kilometers upstream from Pakse, and the crossing requires hiring a local boat operator — a small act of commitment that filters out all but the most curious travelers. What waits on the other side is not a curated experience: no guesthouses fitted for foreigners, no English menus, no organized tours. About 450 people live here, fishing the Mekong and growing rice in paddies that cover much of the island's interior. A small silk-weaving industry produces cloth regarded highly for its quality and patterns. A French-built temple rises with surprising drama for an island this size. And life proceeds largely on its own terms.

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Don Kho: The Island and Its Livelihood

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Don Kho's roughly 450 residents depend on the Mekong in the way Mekong communities have for generations: fishing forms the primary livelihood, with much of the catch sold for cash income that buys the goods the island cannot produce itself. Rice paddies cover a significant portio...

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Don Kho: Silk on a Small Island

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The silk-weaving tradition on Don Kho is the island's most widely noted distinction. The quality of the cloth and the specificity of the patterns have given the island a reputation disproportionate to its size and its visitor numbers. Women do the weaving on traditional hand loom...

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Don Kho: The Temple the French Left Behind

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Don Kho has a temple that surprises people who stumble across it: unusually dramatic for an island of this scale, originally built by the French during the colonial period and now used by the Buddhist monks who live on the island. The compound includes a large bell tower, which t...

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Don Kho: An Island That Asks Little and Offers Much

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Don Kho is the kind of place that rewards visitors who arrive without an agenda. There is a school on the island where children attend classes as they do anywhere in rural Laos. The rice paddies, when the crop is high, give the island a lush, enclosed quality — green walls of gra...

Read more: Don Kho on Qualla