But remaining are two piers, a bridge between the two islands, slivers of sleepers and gravel on the track and a rusting steam locomotive lying near remnants of a repair yard on Khon Island. The island, dubbed the ''Tahiti of Laos,'' is still an idyll of Southeast Asian rural life. Children play in coconut groves, fishermen ply the waters in little skiffs, women in sarongs gather at sunset to bathe in the river. A few French colonial buildings survive, including a hospital converted to a charming hostelry, the Auberge Sala Done Khone. Baird, who arrived in Laos 10 years ago, has helped organize fishermen to take tourists out to view the dolphins and compensate them for nets they must slash to free any which are entangled.
Legends abound about the endearing dolphins, their rounded faces set in what seems like a smile.
Cambodians relate how a beautiful maiden, forced by her parents to marry a slimy python, leaped into the Mekong to commit suicide but was instead transformed into a dolphin. The St. Augustine Record and Morris Digital Works . Please read our Privacy Policy. Advertise with us in print or online.