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Bean Sorting
Coffee bean factory machineI sucked it up and flew from Luang Prabang to Pakse in order to save several days'' travel time and be able to make time in southern Laos. This meant skipping Vang Vieng and Vientiane, neither one of which I lamented much.
Spent one day touring the Bolaven Plateau with Green Discovery (GD). Originally, I wanted to strike out on my own but the cost of renting a motorbike and/or a guide was more than I planned for. After dropping by the GD office and realizing I was the only person interested, I went about my afternoon generating interest and creating that more people were going to pop in over the course of the day so we could get a group together and share the costs. It worked!
Five of us set out to visit coffee and tea plantations as well as a few villages and waterfalls. Part of the day would be a trek out to a waterfall and the rest would involve a mini bus to take us on a loop of the plateau.
We started out at a blacksmith's shack where he was making specialized tools for cutting grain. Each village has its own specialty
Bean Conveyor
Coffee bean factory machine and trains consecutive generations on the art of making that tool. The village then engage in trade and sales in order to acquire all the necessary tools. Kitchen knives are sometimes purchased from markets and are mostly made in China and considered of very low quality. However, because of the relative light use (compared to a tool used to cut wood) it is sometimes considered a better use of resources to just buy a cheapie and replace when necessary.
The coffee factory and plantation were interesting. There are both arabica and robusta beans growing on the plateau, which is the main (only?) coffee growing region in Laos. The factory and major plantation is vietnamese owned and operated. The workers we met at the factory were also all vietnamese and were excited about our visit, wanting to talk and letting us roam around and take pictures. Aside from the major plantation, many families also grow their own beans and in most cases sell it to the coffee factory which then handles the roasting and sorting of the beans before sending to Vientiane for packaging and export.
The tea plantation was a family-run plot that had been cultivated for nearly
Best Buddies
This vietnamese fellow would not let me leave without a picture 100 years. They specialized in smoked green tea which we sampled and enjoyed. The tender young leaves are picked first thing in the day from 4am until 7am before being sorted, dried (smoked) and sifted.
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