Pakse

16.01.2008 to 22.01.2008

This time the bus ride was a looonggg one... ten hours. Public transport this time was much more comfortable than the last time. Janet slept for most of the trip as she felt sick. We got to Pakse in late afternoon, finding accommodation took a while, eventually we had to settle for an expensive accommodation, as we were too tired to go for guest house hunting.

The following morning we found a cheaper guesthouse, and surfed the internet to make plans on how we were going to travel round Pakse and most importantly the Bolaven Plateau. We found some good information on the Travelfish website, and designed our own tailor-made Bolaven Plateau Loop :) We hired a motorbike for the trip and hoped that everything would turn out for the best.

Champasak (18.01.2008)

The following day we decided to take it easy and go to Wat Phou Champasak, to see the Angkorian temple. We made our way there with the bike without a map and managed to get there at a good time. We took a 'ferry' across Pakse to Champasak. This ferry was made up of a big piece of wood resting on three boats....strange but definitely serving the purpose fopr which it was built . The way to the Wat Pu was fairly easy. As soon as we got there we were quite struck by what we found....we expected a much larger temple... but when we started our visit we soon realised that it was worth the while.

Wat Phou (Vat Phu) is a ruined Khmer temple complex. It is located at the base of mount Phu Kao, some 6 km from the Mekong river in Champasak province. There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries. The temple has a unique structure, in which the elements lead to a shrine where a linga was bathed in water from a mountain spring. The site later became a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today. The temple was naturally dedicated to Shiva, while the water from the spring which emerges directly behind the temple was considered sacred.

The way up to the temple was a tough but rewarding one as we could see all of Champasak beneath us.

On our way out we stopped at the museum where various monuments of the different gods were in exhibition, including Shiva. We made our way back to the ferry boat where we saw a hilarious scene. A truck full of vegetables was coming down from the ferry and up the road. Given that the way is a little bit steep and sandy, and given that the truck was overloaded, whilst the driver was not a good driver... the truck got stuck in the sand. Both the people on the boat and on the truck spent the next ten minutes trying to move the van, with all the other vehicles waiting to get down. After some pushing, pulling and maneuvering they managed. Some other vehicles shared the same faith but to a lesser extent.

We had an early night that night as we had to wake up early the following morning for our very own loop...

The Bolevan Plateau loop (19.01.2008 to 22.01.2008)

What you can see above is the map we used, coupled with another one, for our tailor-made loop : Pakse - Tad Lo - Ban Beng - Tha Teng - Sekong - Pak Song - Pakse. In all it took us four days but it was so worth it....

Situated on the north east of Champassak province, the plateau covers parts of Salavan, Attapeu and Sekong provinces. The plateau is fertile farmland specialising in coffee, tea, cardamom and fruit. The plateau houses a dozen mainly animist ethnic minorities, including Laven, Alak, Katou, Ta-Oy, Houne, Ngai and Suk communities.

We started off targeting to sleep in Tad Lo for our first night (85 km). On our way to Tad Lo we stopped in Tad Paxuam which had one of the most beautiful waterfalls we ever saw. We stopped there for around an hour, taking in the beauty of the place, and made our way to Tad Lo. We arrived there at around 15:00 and had a very hard time finding accommodation. The reason behind this was a wedding, which was being held the day after, so most rooms had already been taken. We were lucky to find a small, basic hut for 30,000 kip. As soon as we were settled we went to check out two of the three waterfalls in Tad Lo. One of them was very nice and Yakof made a dip into it while Janet laid relaxed on some of the nearby rocks. We closed the evening with a delicious meal at Tad Lo Lodge. Janet's fish with coconut sauce was simple delicious!

The next day we set off early in order to make a good time to Sekong (95 km). The only bad road we found was a 30km dirt road. We arrived in Sekong at around noon and went hunting for an accommodation, which we found pretty soon. We asked around to find out where the waterfalls were and decided to go to one of them : Tad Feak. These waterfalls, due to the season, were not so impressive. We saw some monks getting on the other side and swimming. We did not have a lot of choice for dinner as there was only one place open (again due to another wedding celebration) !!

Our third day was the big travelling day : 150 km from Sekong to Pakxong (90 km of which was a quite challenging dirt road). We managed to find the turning to the dirt road quite easily as there was a huge sign signalling to Pakxong. The reason why we decided to undertake this road instead of backtracking was to see Katamtok Waterfall....a waterfall springing out of the forest. The 90 km dirt road turned out not to be that difficult if done carefully.....and the surrounding forest was amazing. After driving for a while we thought we had missed the waterfall....until at a certain point we saw it......as beautiful as we expected it to be....just out of nowhere this beautiful cascade jumped out of the lush forest to feast on our eyes....at that point we realised that the difficult road was so really worth it!

We happily set off for the rest of our journey. We were aware that the last part of the road was "tarmacked" and we had to be careful as there were a lot of potholes to be found; but nothing prepared us for what we were going to see. It was not that there were a lot of potholes in the road... it was a matter of having a lot potholes with some road in between. And we are not kidding... when the americans said they landed on the moon they must have landed in this road in Laos :) Yakof zig zaged his way through the little road there was available (and please do consider the fact that at times we had vehicles coming head on towards us!).

We arrived in Pakxong safely, and eventually to Tad Fane Resort exhausted from this long ride. It was 330 km since the start of our journey. We were glad we had 'granted' ourselves an overnight stay in this beautiful resort... which was right next to Tad Fane waterfalls....another set of waterfalls which were impressive. We had lunch and rested for a little while, went round the market and got ready for dinner. The food was very good. We made our way back to our bungalow, only to find that some toiletries that Janet had put in the bag where out of the bag, like the deodorants, and she could not understand why. Eventually she realised that some of the clothes lying next to the toiletries bag were stained with some kind of liquid...which she found out to be deodorant liquid. But how the hell could this have happened given the deodorant was a roll on. The answer soon arrived as she picked up the container and saw two distinctive holes next to each other....clearly indicating a bite. At that point the two of us were looking at each other and Yakof went to call the manager.

When he saw the deodorant bottle and the destroyed talc powder bottle (which Yakof discovered underneath the bed), the manager laughed. We could not understand what was so funny and he told us that a rat came into the room and there were many running around...and he laughed again. Still we were not seeing anything amusing in this. We asked him to change the room, which he promptly did. But that was not the end of the story. Yakof was pissed of about what happened as we would have to spend money in replacing the stuff we lost. So we decided to go and speak to the manager to get at least refunded of the things we lost.

The manager promised us to speak to his boss the day after, which he did. We got refunded for the full night's accommodation !!! So, all is well that ends well.

In the morning we set off to our last stop in this loop : Tad Huak Khon Waterfall. Again, these waterfalls were amazing. We spent there most of the morning and headed back to Pakse.

This loop was an unforgettable one....the Bolaven Plateau is something no one should miss as it offers amazing waterfalls, beautiful sunsets and a rewarding experience.

'Nice' welcome in Pakse

We did not expect the welcome we received once we were back at the guesthouse. Janet went upstairs while Yakof went to get back the backpacks from the locker room. But we had a problem. Someone, very smart, had attached his old squarish red luggage to Yakof's backpack with a bike chain. As if this was not already irritating on its own, the guys at the guest house were not letting us cutting the chain!! Yakof refused to removed his strap since it was made not to be removed and he was not sure whether he would be able to get it back in, and, at the end of the day, why should he suffer any damages for someone else wrong doings??!!

So, the guesthouse's owner was called and he asked us many questions to make sure that the back pack was ours, then he asked us to give him our phone number which we did, then he wanted to take a photo, which we refused. Things were getting more frustrating by the minute and we asked for the police to come....at least they would solve the matter. Some people came, amongst them a translator, and some other guys. They all went inside discussing the matter, leaving us waiting....and time went by until finally the 'real' police came, he wanted to remove Yakof's strap, which Yakof refused. End of the story : Yakof was taken to the police station where he had to sign a police report in Laos saying what happened and that Laos police did everything to solve the case !!! Then they tried to remove Yakof' strap which they did not managed, until eventually Yakof gave up and did it himself. He got back to the guesthouse, and the other person's luggage and strap were left undamaged.

After this experience we just wanted to get out of Pakse and so we booked our tickets to Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) straight away. Lesson to remember: The police will only make matters worse.

For pictures click here: