Pakse and Bolaven Plateau and Wat Pu Champasak!!!

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Sabaidee!!

Now we continued after a nice time around Tha Khaek to Pakse. The busride was not really the most comfortable one but is was definetly a busride that will stay in our minds. Normally the ride from Tha Khaek to Pakse should last around 5 hours, we took around 11!!! And that because of many reasons. First our driver had to deliver lots of tires that were packed on top of the bus to a place he could not find in Savannaket. So we drove around in a citytourlike loop in Savannaket, unloaded the tires, loaded them again on top, then again looking for the right place!! After 1 hour not finding the owner of this tires we continued to Pakse, and suddenly the engine of our bus made strange noises, one time we lost a part of the bus. That meant stopping, waiting for ckecking the engine, trying to fix it and continue again . . . . . with 10 to 20 kmh!!!! Wow !!!! Still like only 80km to go veeeeeeeeeery slow. Stopping again, trying to fix it and when we looked out of the window next to our bus, the codriver brought a cobra that was sneaking around when they tried to fix the engine problems - bad luck for the cobra snake, some hits then the women in the nearby shop chopped the head of and, of course, took it in the kitchen!! After that incident we continued, stopping again because our driver looked after some people who had a car and motorbike accident. Luckily no one seemed to be seriously injured, so we continued to Pakse. The problem arriving so late is - most of the rooms are already booked, so we took for one night the VIP room and got a late Gong Bao Style Chicken of a very friendly Chinese Imbiss named Panda Place!!

The next three nights we stayed in Pakse, longer than expected because Achim met a guy he dived with years ago in Thailand. After a while it was exchanging experiences, travel stories and a lot of laughter and fun - and some beers too ;-) !! So the next day slightly hangovered started slow but ended up pretty the same. Pakse is by the way a quite big town for Laos along the wide and mighty Mekkong and another river that joins it - so nice riverscenerys, markets, a lot of melonsellars.

Finally we were in the mood to continue to Thad Lo, at the edge of the Bolaven Plateau. In Thad Lo it is easy to find really nice accomondations of all styles, we stayed there 4 nights next to the river and surrounded by village people. It is really a good place to relax, let the time flow by, enjoying the river and waterfalls next to you in your hammock, watching people fishing, washing their clothes, kids playing and having fun in the river, children jumping from bridges in very low water. We met three nice Germans who drove arround with their dirtbikes. (Coole Socken die Drei!!)It's again the scenery and the people that made this place special. So we did little hiking to bathing pools and nearby waterfalls watching elephants...

...and for one day we rented a motorbike again. We did a very long day trip from Tad Lo to the Bolaven Plateau. The Plateau is famous for very good coffee and we saw a lot of plants, people harvesting the beans and bringing them back to their villages. Again this place is an area with lots of minorities. People look different in the way they dress and some of the villages really have strange customs and beliefs. We went into one village a little longer. A young man suddenly turned out to be our guide in that Katu village - people are kind of animists and believe in spirits. Very obvious are their coffins under their houses which they prepare before death. Smiling faces of people from their houses or under them, because the houses are build on stilts and so they provide shade. Women and men smoked tobacco bongs, our guide told us that even 4 year old children - boys and girls - smoke the bong!! After that impressing stop we continued our ride to visiy some of the really lots of waterfalls in that area. Tad Fane is the highest (ca.120m) we visited, located in a beautiful forest scenery. Next to Tad Fane around Paksong we went to two other waterfalls, both also high and very nice located with really refreshing swimming possibilities. By the way Laos gets hotter and hotter every day, incredible. So back on the bike and get some breeze. Back in Tad Lo we got some drinks and the next day we took the local bus again back to Pakse and ...

... then we took another songtheaw to Champasak. That took a while until we started in the southern bus terminal in Pakse, but the market like atmosphere in this bus terminal is better like watching TV - overloaded buses with all kind of big things on top, people selling all kinds of strange snacks, included grilled sticks with halfbreeded chicken eggs - baaaaa- the waiting ended and ... we continued to another market to pick up some other passengers and again watching the scenery here was really nice. Finally we started the way to Champasak crossing the Mekkong by the pretty new bridge and passing lush green rice fields. Champasak itsself is a really laidback city with mostly dirtroads and guesthouses along the Mekkong- really nice again and hot also!! After a reunion with our German friends from Tad Lo we went to a restaurant, enjoyed their food and the Beer Lao, the best beer by far in South East Asia!!! ...

... The next morning we went to Wat Pu Champasak 10km away with a Minisongteaw. This old temple complex is very nice located, parts of it in the plains and then it goes up a hill where is the sanctuary surrounded by trees and big rock formations. Of course this Khmer style temple complex is not Angkor, but it is definetly worth a visit. Luckily we started our tour in the morning, because around 12 o'clock it got so hot again that we went back to Champasak. Luckily our Minituktuk like the bus broke down in the middle of the way, so we had to change to another one!! Seems that we don't bring luck to our transport at the moment!!!! ...

The next morning we continued our travelling to Don Det, one of the 4000 islands in the Mekkong ... but that is the next blog!! I hope you enjoyed reading!!!! Until the next blog

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