Blogs from Bolaven Plateau, South, Laos, Asia

Two of my friends from London joined me in Laos for 2.5 weeks. As time was limited we travelled the length of Laos from North to South in a short time ending our trip at 4000 Islands. My friends flew back to London and I was left with 8 days before I could travel into Vietnam. I decided to travel back up north again and booked a bus form Dong Det to Champasak. I had been warned that Champasak is a one street affair and that there isn't much happening. When we got there it was only me and another guy getting off at Champasak. I didn't even know that you had to cross the river but luckily he had a guide book for Laos. I only have the Lonely Planet for the Mekong region and ... read more

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 ... read more

Terug in Laos, eindelijk, ik keek er naar uit. En zodra ik de bus uitstap weet ik weer waarom. Omdat mijn gekregen Kip (Laotiaanse valuta) die in de Pitcher aan de muur hing in mijn gestolen moneybelt zat, had ik geen Kip om een taxi te betalen. Het centrum was maar twee kilometer verderop dus dacht ik maar te gaan lopen in de hoop ergens een geldautomaat te vinden zodat ik wat geld kon pinnen en een taxi kon nemen. Na tweehonderd meter werd ik gestopt door een Laotiaans meisje wat bij me in de bus vanuit Vietnam zat, met de vraag waar ik naar toe ging. Ik legde de situatie uit en ze stond er op mijn taxi te betalen, welkom in Loas! Dag 2 mocht ik Rob ophalen van het busstation, die na een ... read more

As we were starting to feel the pressure of the ticking clock signaling the end of our trip we decided to make Pakse a single night stop on the way to the 4,000 islands. We arrived early in the morning, and as we had grown accustomed to, we secured accommodation and promptly went to sleep for a few hours in an attempt to make up for the restless sleep that is inherent in overnight bus travel. Upon waking we set about figuring out what we could do with our brief stop. We had heard good things about the Bolaven Plateau, but did not have enough time or money to do an organized tour. So...we rented another trusty Honda Wave and set about exploring on our own. The Bolaven Plateau is located in the crater of a ... read more

Das Bolaven-Plateau ist ein Hochland in Suedlaos. Auf ueber 1000m Hoehe ist das Klima hier deutlich angenehmer als in der Tiefebene des Mekongs. Die Landschaft ist ueberwiegend eine Hochebene, an den Raendern befinden sich aber auch einige Berge, die ersten seit Zentralvietnam, die diese Bezeichnung verdienen. (Zentralvietnam ist uebrigens gleich auf der anderen Seite). Die Gegend gehoert zu den im Vietnamkrieg am staerksten bombardierten Gebieten ueberhaupt. Das Plateau wird vom Tourismus noch recht wenig tangiert. Die wenigsten Leute sprechen dort englisch und die meisten auslaendischen Besucher sind Individualtouristen, die das Plateau auf einer mehrtaegigen Motorradtour von Pakse aus durchfahren. Ich hingegen entschied mich, die Region mit oeffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln zu besuchen, was sich im Nachhinein als wenig sinnvoll erwiesen hat, weniger weil man die dortigen Staedte nicht ... read more

So from Kratie we had a nice easy bus journey across the border in to Laos - parting with a few mysterious dollars at the border on request of the border guard! We arrived in Pakse which didn't really seem much different to Kratie and after a bit of wandering around, turning down a few hotels, we settled in to the pretty cheap and standard Lankham Hotel. Then we were at a bit of a loss! Didn't seem to be anyone hassling us for things to do (or for tuk tuks etc.), we found the office for Green Explorer but there treks were really pricey, and the local tourist office was closed. We had a drink on the top floor of a swanky hotel and then a curry (very nice!) and chatted about what we could ... read more