July is one of Laos’ wettest months, especially in the south close to the Cambodia border. If you can take the rain (heavy afternoon showers most days) the colour will have fully returned to the countryside and during this time the southern section of the Mekong fills out to a breadth of 14km to create the famous waterscape of the 4,000 islands and is the river’s widest reach along its 4350km journey from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea. Spectacular if a little wet!