We almost missed our overnight bus from Vientiane to Pakse. We were supposed to be picked at our hotel but we waited and waited and soon got worried. While traveling we found that there was a blurred line of being pushy and “nervous Americans” vs. going with the flow and completely depending on things to work out. Well it got to be time to push and they told us very sedately, they had forgotten to pick us up and we had missed the bus and that we would have to go the following day. I was enraged. I told them that someone better come and pick us up and that we still had a little bit of time so they better hold that bus. Our tuk tuk came and we drove so fast that I had to grip the back with both hands but we arrived and got on our bus. Of course then, what do you know, we found out our bus was broken and then we had to switch buses. This new sleeper bus was much worse than the last bus and though it still had flat beds, for us to share, but the compartments were teeny tiny and there would be no bathroom. Our ride would be about 12-13 hours.

Our bed for the night: yes, the both of us! (to Aaron’s Left)

We arrived in Pakse early in the morning and took a tuk tuk to the main street. There we found a hotel to put our stuff down and start talking plans. Yeah, we still needed to figure out what we wanted to do. I wanted to motorbike. However, I would not be driving so now I needed to convince and pump up Aaron that that was the way to go.

Aaron continued to throw out ideas of tours or renting a car but that was not how you were supposed to do the plateau. (He was very nervous as it is 3-4 days on the road, often empty, with very few English speakers, and yeah, there was that fall we had in Goa in India). But I believed in us and I tried to ease Aaron’s mind by talking to guy our age from DC I met in the lobby who had just done the ride with his girlfriend. We picked up a map and asked him a bunch of questions. He also pointed us to a friendly and knowledgeable rental shop a few doors down, Miss Noy’s where really is the best and only place to rent your bike. For those of you who plan on doing this Miss Noy is a 4-foot something lady with a 6’5 German boyfriend. They are quite the tag team when it comes to questions and help.

Finally, Aaron was convinced and so we left our big bags at Miss Noy’s, packed up Aaron’s daypack with our clothes for the next 4 days (each), our overnight stuff and any emergency first aid we thought was relevant, picked our helmets and our bike about $8/day. At around 11am we were ready to go!

Our map

DAY 1: Pakse -> Tad Lo

Pakse city roads are pretty scary so our easy crusin didn’t happen immediately. When getting out on the road, other motorbikers, big trucks, tuk tuks, were coming  at us in all directions. The roads were pretty spotty and our map was not the best. We started off a bit slow and terrified and took a big breath after just a few kilometers we stopped off for gas. We knew the worst of it was almost behind us but we were still nervous. After a 10 or so kilometers however we were on the long stretch that is the Bolavan Plateau. I was surprised at the quality of the road. It was actually quite descent with fairly nice paved roads and little road traffic despite the cows, dogs, goats and the occasional random chicken family that decided to be dare devils and cross the road. Driving along it was neat feeling the wind against me and hearing kids shout out, “SABAIDEEEEEE” (Hello) as we road passed them and shouted back the same.  They were so cute waving to us excitedly on the side of the road. The one thing I didn’t anticipate was how much my butt and back would hurt after only I few hours riding on the bike. Wow, it sucks to have a boney ass. 6-8 hours everyday on that bike with the backpack on, we had to take breaks, lucky for me they were usually coffee breaks, since the plateau is mostly filled with coffee plantations.

A calm Pakse Road

Kids on the side of the road, trying to get their chickens to fight.

The various roads along our way: gravel, paved and dirt and a dose of road traffic

You see the Bolavan Plateau is a combination of jungle and plantation packed with coffee plantations and waterfalls and homestays at on each along the way.

About an hour in we stopped on the side road for food. We ate soup at a side stand where a woman, who didn’t speak English, invited us under her bamboo hut. It was just her, her two kids and a baby that was swinging from a basket within a hung mosquito net. Chickens and pigs were at our feet as we ate up our $0.50 bowl of soup and followed it up by big donuts holes, a Lao specialty.

Off we went and to our next stop the Katu Textile Village, an ethnic village and coffee plantation, where the tight knit village work the plantation of coffee and peanuts, as well as create beautiful textiles. It also has a homestay for guests. The owner Mr. Vieng and his wife were amazing. They roasted us fresh beans and made us some FRESH GROUND COFFEE. I took it iced.

The arabica trees

Yum!

After drinking our coffee, eating some peanuts and bananas, meeting a couple locals: twin two-year old girls, Mr. Vieng gave us a tour of the plantation. Taught us about the varieties of different coffee trees: Arabica vs. Rustica, organic vs conventional, etc. We also got a tour of the village. We were extremely lucky, as the following day a wedding, in which the whole village is invited and contributes to, was to happen. We met the men, women and children in total prep cooking, chopping vegetables, and prepping the “live food.” This was going to be some party. What was interesting was that we learned that the bride to be was 14 and the groom to be was 20.

Teaching us about coffee. It is a hard job.

And now up in a tree.

The beans

Walking through the village, a woman with her baby playing in the peanuts

A Katu woman weaving

A village house, beans drying in the sun

The wedding food prep

Chicken meat inside the bamboo over the fire

A Katu woman, “enjoying herself”

More beans drying

And Chilis

Animals in the village

Girls looking on as we walk through the village

We got back on our bike and headed to our final stop before sun sets: Tad Lo. We biked right passed it and had to do a Uturn, the signs were an issue along the route, but eventually we found it, just as the sun was starting to fade – phew! We didn’t know what to expect, but at arrival we were impressed with the single street with a half a dozen guesthouses and homestays. We settled on Fandee, with it’s wood and bamboo bungalows in a row and it’s bocce pit a popular hot spot with the local kids. It was also a whopping $6.50 bucks a night, since we opted for the shared bathroom.

Our companion: The Honda Wave 210cc

Fandee Guesthouse

The bocce court

The place was owned by an expat French couple and every night they served up a family style feast, shared by the rest of the guests. At 25,000 KIP, roughly $3 we were served Laos salad, unlimited bowls of sticky rice, a wonderful chicken curry, veggies and fruits for dessert. Our table mates also happened to be all French and were into their 5 or 6^th bottle of wine, before we even got to the table. Apparently, some of them had arrived a few days before thinking they were to stay the night and they hadn’t been able to leave. After playing with the neighborhood kids and the house cat, we went to bed. The night was freezing!

One note: the plateau elevation is at 1200m and can be 10-20 degrees cooler than Pakse. Even with the sun shining I often had a jacket on and we had to layer up at night and pray our place of stay had some nice blankets.

DAY 2: Tad Lo -> Tad Faek

In the morning, I woke up early and crossed the street to get some fresh roasted coffee. We had decided to take the morning easy, so we laid around in the sunshine to thaw our – Aaron got in a hammock, I laid on the deck. Then we had some breakfast: banana pancakes with fresh honey, straight from a honey cone, and walked around the village and checked out the awesome waterfall.

Just across the street

Aaron taking in the sun (check out his friend below)

More coffee and breakfast

The path through the village

Tad Lo

Back on our bike we drove right through the village of locals and vibrant culture on our way out of Tad Lo. Our first stop, a ways away, was Sinouk Garden Resort.  Randomly, we had already tasted Sinouk coffee in Vientiane in their coffee shop across the street from our hotel. The plantation/resort was really chic.

An actual menu

Understanding their process

We got back on the bike and stopped at Sekong, on what is labeled as a “big city/village” to give our butts a rest. We had some coconut water and met a friend. We got back on knowing that we needed to find our final stop, Tad Faek or come back, as there was nothing for miles thereafter and it was going to get dark soon.

She really did like us

Again, a little hard to find, with a long stretch of questionable road to get to the guesthouse we were there. We dropped off our stuff and headed down to the bottom of the waterfall. We chilled, had a Beer Lao and watched the sunset. The guesthouse bungalows sat right over the waterfalls. The guesthouses cost us about $5 and were nothing fancy but it was amazing falling asleep to the rushing falls. The next day was going to be rough.

Looking out to OUR waterfalls

Hanging out by the falls

Our view from our room

DAY 3: Tad Faek -> Tad E-Tu

The big day of craziness. This was the stretch, around 175kms of  road work and construction. And so it went…the mud roads, the loose gravel roads and the mud pits. At times we were walking the bike. I often got off so that Aaron could have better balance. Big boulders and construction vehicles were road blocks, but we did catch another waterfall, Tad Katamtok, along the way in the midst of the construction.

Ready for Day 3

Oh mud puddles, you sucked

I’m walking this one

Getting muddy

Even locals are having problems

Some dirt biking

Tad Katamtok at a distance

The stops were really special. The next stop was Tad Alang where we ordered some coffee and eggs for breakfast. There was some confusion as I ordered and it came out the food was placed on a communal table where a bunch of guys started eating it. I looked at Aaron and said, “eat up,” cause they are going to eat all our food. Half way through we figured out WE we eating THEIR food. And by eating it, I mean totally stealing it. The guys were working on the land and took off before we could share OUR food when it came out. Embarrassing! Well we headed down to the waterfall, which was one of my favorites. The surrounding environment was bright green. As we hiked down to the bottom, we had to get soaked to get a good view.  It was so fun. Also fun, was the double rainbow.

Out of the mud, ready to cruise

Eating their food, sorry!

Check out the double rainbow

Can you spot me?

Getting soaked

Back on the bike

Open roads

We also stopped at a few more waterfalls…

Our last stop was the was at the brand new Jhai Coffee House. Jhai coffee house is the world’s first philanthropic coffee roaster & cafe located at the source. The coffee house and various projects are currently run by an American couple, Tyson and Janelle. Tyson the ever lover of coffee creation, is coinsidently from Seattle. The profits of the coffee sales, which through their help is being sold overseas in fancy coffee shops on the west coast, goes to building clean water wells and sanitary education of villages, where many are get sick and even die from bacterial diseases in food and water prep for cooking, etc. We had a lot of time hanging out and talking coffee and all things Pacific North West.

Please check them out: https://www.facebook.com/JhaiCoffeeHouse

Hanging out, taking a break

We splurged that night and stayed at a really nice place, E-Tu Waterfall Resort. Way more than our $6-8 per night but it was worth it when I got into that hot shower.

Our room, a nice change from the bamboo bungalows

DAY 4: Tad E-Tou -> Pakse

We woke up and visited the waterfall we slept above. We got on our bike and back tracked a couple kilometers to visit our last two waterfalls: Tad Yuang and Tad Fane.

E-tu falls

Tad Yuang was a bit more commercial than we were used to. We had a real wooden staircase to walk down and view points along the way. While it was commercial it was fairly and we had all the view points all to ourselves.

On top

Tad Yuang – Jami

Tad Yuang – Aaron

And from above

And walking back up

At Tad Fane, we looked down from above into what seemed to be a hole in the earth and where two streams took deep falls. It was like standing above the rim of a crater. We couldn’t even see the bottom. It was an amazing finale to our trip.

A hole to what looks like the bottom of the earth

We got back on our bike. Had our final coffee cup at a nearby coffee plantation shop and headed back to Pakse.

Cheers

Time to go back to the “city”

The Bolaven Plateau was one of my favorite things we did in Laos and the trip itself. Aaron and I, the road, and endless nature and adventures, the people and the villages, the bungalows, the plantations and the waterfalls. At the end, even Aaron agreed, it was a great idea.