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Published: February 18th 2007
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Tat Fan
Beautiful waterfall complete with rainbow. I was lucky enough to leave half my gear with the kind folks at the hotel in Pakse. I figured I'd be doing a fair amount of walking along roadsides so I made sure that my pack was as light as possible. Much easier to hitch rides with people when you're not carrying much with you. So we left Pakse and headed toward Tat Fan, an enormous waterfall surrounded by hundreds of acres of forest in one of Laos's several NPA's (Nationally Protected Area). Although I never saw or heard one, this particular NPA is still home to a healthy tiger population and on the occassion you can hear them making loud tiger sounds during the night.
Above Tat Fan, looking down at the falls and surrounding jungle, is the Tat Fan Eco-Resort. It didn't seem all that "eco" to me but it was still a nice bungalow setup with rooms overlooking the waterall. I stayed the night there and in the morning set out on a half-day hike around the falls and neighboring forest. We hiked through numerous coffee plantations and learned about the various varieties and different ways each variety is attended to and grown. Most of the
Tat Fan Waterfall
View from the top of the trail leading down to the base of the falls. plantations are owned by local farmers who only cultivate a few small acres. Most of them leave the beans out in their front yards to dry, that's where I snapped that picture. I ate a few beans off the ground thinking they might give me a quick caffeine jolt, but it didn't work. However, any place selling coffee on the Bolaven Plateau serves amazing quality brew. Most of the time a single cup costs less than $0.30 so all my coffee never managed to dent my budget.
After the hike the two of us left Tat Fan and hiked several kilometers back to the main road. After a few short minutes of sticking or thumbs out and waving our arms a few local Laos guys picked us up in their truck. Free transport! From Tat Fan we made it to Paksong, thinking that might be a good place to stay the night. Not so. The town was completely demolished by US bombs during the Vietnam and the secret bombings carried out at the same time. All over the landscape are huge craters where bombs dropped 30 years ago still leave their mark. Regarding the bombing of Laos I think
Jungle Valley
Looking down the vast jungle-covered canyons around the Bolaven Plateau. I should give ya'll the brief history.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail runs along the Vietnamese-Laos boarder, through southern Laos and directly towards Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). During the war years this was the main supply line from Vietcong forces in the north to their forces in the south. This supply chain was instrumental in keeping the Vietcong well armed and eventually helped them topple Saigon. Acting in direct contravention of the Geneva Accord of 1962, which recognized Laos as a neutral country and forbade any military presence there, the US placed CIA operatives in foreign-aid outposts throughout the country. The secret US forces were stationed all over Laos, with small airstrips and bases to be used for strategic bombing and other military campaigns. By 1970 there were over 400 of these "secret" airstrips and bases in the country. Of the Americans who volunteered to serve in Laos as pilots, intelligence officers, and recon troops, an estimated 400 died in combat while over 400 others have been classified as 'missing in action' (MIA). Because Laos was 'supposed' to be a neutral country, rules of engagement governing military and civilian targets were ignored. The US bombers were free
Tat Fan II
A slightly wider-angled view of Tat Fan. to choose any target they liked, often including temples, schools, hospitals, and local villages.
In this campaign to destroy the Ho Chi Minh supply line and rid Laos of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), US pilots flew 1.5x more bombing missions over Laos than over all of Vietnam. Totalling 580,944 bombing missions by 1973, the secreat US air force dropped an average of 1 planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 straight years! 9 years!!!!!! This campaign costs US taxpayers $2 million per day, for 9 consecutive years. If you're thinking holy shit, you're right...that's totally nuts.
After President Lyndon Johnson halted all bombings on North Vietnam in 1968, the bombing of Laos increased as more fire power and bombers became available. With the newly available B-52's, Nixon, on the advice of Henry Kissinger, authorized a larger and more massive bombing campaign in Laos. Between 1964 and 1969 about 500,000 tons of explosive ordnance were dropped on Laos, and every year until 1972 that number increased. By the war's end the bombing of Laos amounted to approximately 2.5 million tons in all, or over a half-ton for every man, woman and child living
Along the Hiking Trail
The view as you begin to descend towards the base of the falls. in the country. This startling statistics make Laos the most heavily bombed nation, on a per capita basis, in the history of warfare. More bombs were dropped on Laos during this 'secret' war than were dropped on Great Britain during all of World War II. That just totally blows my mind. But anyways, enough with the history and back to the story.
After stepping around bomb craters in Paksong, we managed to hitch another ride with some tourists to Thatueng. From there we caught the last bus to Sekong Province. The province is almost 100% ethnic villagers, most of them living in small villages without a trace of the modern world. Really interesting to visit some of the villages but after a while we sensed that it was time to go. So after spending the night in Sekong we started hiking on the road leading out of the city. About an hour into our trek we found a ride. An air-conditioned truck with nice friendly Loas folks headed toward Thatueng. We jumped off there thinking it would be easy to get another ride toward Ban Beng, near the Tat Lo waterfally where we were headed. Not the case. The
More Rainbows
Another image of Tat Fan. road to Ban Beng is unpaved, full of pot holes and loaded with red dust. Not to mention that nobody seemed to be headed that way. I was finally able to convince a local guy to drive us there for a few bucks.
Completely coverd in red dust we arrived in Ban Beng. After wandering around for a few minutes a comfortably chubby Laos man appeared. Apparently he owned a truck. To get a ride to Tat Lo he demanded that we pay him 50,000 kip (US$ 5) immediately. He looked a wee bit drunk and I was sure hoping that he wasn't the one driving. After taking the money he turned straight around, walked about 20 feet, and used the money to buy a fresh case of Beer Laos. He must have been really thirsty. So instead of the fat drunk man driving us, his son, the 12 year old boy did. With Mom sitting shotgun we cruised on down the highway. I guess it was like driving school for the young lad. He could barely see over the steering wheel, no joke. Luckily we made to Tat Lo in one piece. Found a guesthouse overlooking the waterfalls
Restaurant
This is the restaurant at the "eco-resort" I stayed at over-looking Tat Fan. and called it a day. We woke up and hiked for several hours. Then it was off on the road again.
We managed to get a ride on a local bus and after a few short hours we were back in Pakse. Same hotel and even the same room. All my belongings that I left there were all still in one piece. Gotta love these trustworthy communist folk. Yes Laos PDR is a communist country but from the looks of it, you couldn't tell for a second. Except maybe for the "hammer and sickle" flag that flies next to the Laos national flag. Other than that Laos has been the most peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful country I have been to yet. I just got a visa extension so I can stay up to 2 1/2 months. The northern part of the country is mostly all mountains, numerous national parks, rivers, jungle, and incredible scenery. In the next week I'm headed up that way to see what I can find. Hence the title of this blog, "Adventures in Laos PDR: Part I", cause with any luck, I'll have more adventures coming soon. Stay tuned...
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