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Published: March 11th 2008
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Waterfalls on Boloven
Fantastic falls in a horseshoe so cool!!! Nice early start to get the plane at 4:30, following all sorts of stories over dinner regarding Laos Airlines. Must say this did nothing for keeping Ang calm prior to the flight. But as usual all the war stories were unfounded and in fact the flight was good and on time getting us into Pakse at 8:15am, a short journey from the airport to central Pakse, typical airport cars situation 6$ for 3 kilometres on a tuctuc did not seem the best value for money of the week.
Managed to get into alovely hotel for the night and got it all sorted by 9:30 and the trusty stead (suzuki 110cc) was now firmley under our control.
Our Suzi was to be our freedom onto the Boloven Plateau, rising some 2000 metres and holding some spectactular waterfalls. We rode through some lovely scenery including coffee plantations, which seemed pretty quiet and saw lots of local people going about their daily work. We passed lots of lorries carrying loads which slowed them down almost to a stop going up the slow incline, which went on for some 40 kms. Whilst we were slowly getting higher and higher we felt the temperature
Beer Buffalo on bank of mekong
Relaxing with a beer by the river in pakse after our close call with the local constabulary. slowly getting cooler and cooler (which was actually very pleasant). We visited two waterfalls, both of which were spectacular, but the one which held it for us was viewed from Tad Fane Resort and fell out of a dense jungle from across an enormous gorge, dropping 120metres. Well worth the bike ride (and numb bottom) to see.
As we made our return journey towards Pakse downhill, we felt the temperature rise dramatically as though we were being blasted with a hair drier! Needless to say, Dave (Duncan) was stopped by the Police when entering the city limits as neither of us were wearing helmets. Not in defiance, but were never offered in the first place. We managed to find a Policeman that spoke brilliant English and as it was our first day in Pakse, he let us off with a warning.
We then started our journey to 4000 Islands with some anticipation as everything we've heard and read just encouraged a visit of some days. 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Nakasang on the Mekong looking for our ferry to transport us past Don Dhet (the Ibiza equivalent, strictly for the youngsters) and onto Don
Our house in the middle of the stream
The bungalow to the far right of the picture was ours on Don Kon - perfect! Kon.
As we sailed towards the islands we could see what was in store for us and I didn't think we were going to be disappointed, they looked idealic. We dropped all passengers except us at Don Dhet and then continued onto our island. We landed and headed straight for a bar for a cool drink. We then found a wonderful guesthouse, called Sengahloune Guesthouse and Restaurant. We had an individual wooden bungalow with bathroom and verandah looking out onto the water with two hammocks strung up - heaven. All this for $10 per night!! Only one problem, Dave was now feeling unwell with a dodgy stomach, so went straight to bed. I used the time to relax in a hammock and catch my breath. After a couple of meals alone in the restaurant and Dennis from Ghana for company, Dave felt much better and able to continue. We explored the two islands on pushbikes and decided we had made the right choice as Don Dhet was definately too full on party for the likes of us.
We had an interesting trip around our island, including negotiating a makeshift bride made from an old railway line and at
Sunset from our hammocks
Sheer opulence, enjoying sunset whilst hanging in hammocks. the same time dodging water buffalo (Nikki, you'd have ---- yourself!), and trying to disentangle myself from a bush and at the same time losing my necklace. Luckily we found my necklace, but am left with scratches to my arm and leg. We then headed for the south of the island to see dolphins, which were hiding from us, so we took solace in the water ourselves. Then, we had more bad luck, I had a puncture. A local very kindly tried to mend it for us, twice, but to no avail. I ended up riding Daves bike back and he pushed mine for 4kms over very rough and rocky track imaginable in flip flops and in 29 degrees! Really needed those hammocks after that!
Planning to leave the islands Monday morning, heading for the Cambodian border and who knows what else.
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