The village of Ban Khone is located on Don Khon island (not to be confused with Don Khong the big island also called Khong Island). This well known fishermen’s village of Ban Khone is also famous for its cultivation of coconut, bamboo and kapok (cotton). Villagers make their own incense from local aromatic woods for worship days. Several French colonial villas are still standing in this village. The French even built a short railway to link Ban Khone to another island called Don Det to convey goods and even whole boats with their cargoes beyond the rapids where they could then go up the Mekong River to as far north as Vientiane. The trains stopped running in 1945 when the Japanese demolished the railway line. However, the bridge and piers are still impressive. A Lao style temple called Wat Khon Tai is built over a Chenla Khmer site whose lingam on a pedestal still stands erect next to the temple. At the western end of Ban Khone village is a cluster of raging rapids called Tat Somphamit (or Liphi Falls). Irrawaddy river dolphins can be spotted south of the village in the early morning or late afternoon from December to May.
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