BOLAVEN PLATEAU 3 DAY MOTOR SCOOTER LOOP.

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We have rented a 100cc Honda dream scooter from Lankham Hotel in Pakse for a sum of 7 dollars a day and today is going to be the start of our 3 day trip around the Bolaven Plateau .All kitted up with a map one bag with some clothes, cameras and some cash we hit the road around 9.30am for a 80 kilometre ride to a place called Tat Lo where there is a few waterfalls and also some nice guesthouses to stay in that look out over the waterfalls PERFECT!! So we are cursing along nicely with the wind in our hair as neither of the helmets the scooter rental place fitted our heads and with Barbs being in need of a toilet at a moment’s notice we had safety as our main concern, after as some of you know Barbs is not to keen on the old scooter thing after a minor, but no broken bones incident in Thailand a few years back she still has never forgiving me! WHOOSSSH goes our one and only map out of the front basket of the bike. So we slow down turn around drive back a bit and Barbs jumps off to get our map which was sort of just down this bank on the side of the road and with that we had our first and last loss of skin and blood as after being a bit rough with the sore guts and shits for the last couple of days her balance was not as good as usual and she went for a tumble down the bank .Now falling down a bank in the middle of nowhere is not a the best thing to happen, But falling down a bank in a country like Laos which just happens to be the most bombed country in the world and which still has unexploded bombs killing people monthly is not a good thing!!! All was ok and with a bit of first aid from the magic box we were off again.
We found the turn off for Tat Lo after an hour or so and made our way down our first dirt road to the village. Arriving at the village the first thing you come to is this rickety old looking bridge which looks like it could come crashing down at any second so we gun it across as the place we want to stay in was on the over side. PHEW!! Settled in at Siphaseth Guesthouse and Restaurant for the massive total of a whole $6 for a room with all the trimmings right on the river front looking smack bang at the waterfall SWEET!!! We decided to go for the general lookey about and a bite to eat and after finding the Tad lo lodge we had lunch overlooking a beautiful waterfall. During lunch we found that the lodge has Elephant rides on offer that take you on a hour long tour through the surrounding jungle with great views of the waterfalls and passing through some of the minority villages so we booked up and the only spot they had left was at 8am tomorrow so we had a lazy afternoon just watching the local kids running amuck and the villagers going about their day to day routines. Having a nice meal at our Guesthouse and after the days arse crunching trip on the scooter we slept like babies.
Up and ready to go on our Elephant ride we made our way up to where the Elephants hang out and have to wait while she had her breakfast of about 30 bunches of green bananas washed down with sugar cane. Our Manhout (Elephant driver) gets her all saddled up with the basket for us to sit in. Then he beats all the dust off her with this stick which was kind of rough but she loved it. So we are off and for a start the elephant was a bit restless and both Barbs and I were a bit worried but soon after it was plan sailing through some very rough terrain with a couple of river crossings and when we come to the villages it was real interesting to see how these people going about their day with a very interesting sight of a few villagers all sitting outside one of the huts praying for something, asking our driver what was going on he gestured that they are praying for someone that is either sick or is about to give birth which I hope was the latter. Then our elephant just wanders right through the middle of a group of children playing football with all the older kids making up the teams and two little boys in each goal now if any football mangers are reading this I would get your arse over here and sign these wee fellas up because the skills they showed with a ball that was half the size of them they were very good indeed!! Coming to the end of the ride our driver jumps off and points if I want to have go at driving the elephant FOR SURE!!!! So I’m sitting on the elephants neck with Barbs on the back and my feet under each of her ears and with a little rub she’s off and you just rub on her ear and she turns in that direction EASY!!Until she spots some sugar cane left over from the pile she ate with her breakfast earlier and with that she just pisses off on her own with Barbs and I on board. The driver started going off his head and she made her way back to the tower where we boarded earlier and with a bit of rubbing under the ears I park her up and we get off. VERY COOL TRIP INDEED!! We head back to our guesthouse after saying goodbye to the elephant and Manhout loaded up the scooter and set off on the 70 kilometre ride to Sekong.
Half of the trip to Sekong was on the dusty road which left us covered in this fine red dust. During the ride it was madness with every time you passed through a village all the people would be waving and yelling SABAAI-DII!! SABAAI-DII!!! Which is hello is Laos so I’ve got one hand on the handle bars and waving and yelling SABAAI-DII with the other .During the journey we had to stop for the get your blood flowing back into our ass cheeks stop! So we stopped at this village on the side of the road and a few locals came to have a look at the two dust covered Foreigners rubbing their ass cheeks then we had a couple of more locals show up then with that the half of the next village showed so we have about 40 odd kids and adults all standing there laughing and pointing at us. Without a word of English to be spoken we had a few laughs and waved goodbye and carried onto Sekong. Booking into the Sekong Hotel which we latter read is meant to be haunted by a couple of Asian guys that drowned in the river a few years back GREAT!!. We went and had a look at the local market that was full of everything that we didn’t need. Then we decided to check out the work that the Laos UXO was doing in the area. Now I’m going to be a bit cheeky and copy some information from their website just to let you know what this group is all about
THE UXO PROBLEM: BACKGROUND
Lao PDR has the distinction of being, per capita, the most heavily bombed nation in the world. During the second IndoChina conflict, Lao PDR was the scene of extensive ground battles and intense aerial bombardment.

More than half a million bombing missions were carried out between the years 1964 to 1973, during which more than two million tons of explosive ordnance was dropped. This includes approximately 270 million anti-personnel submunition bomblets or “bombies” released from cluster bombs, becoming in effect, de facto anti-personnel land mines. In addition to bombs, the US also dropped massive quantities of defoliants and herbicides, including Agent Orange.

Apart from direct military activities, Lao PDR also suffered from being used as a free drop zone where military planes were free to unload over Lao territory any unused ordnance that remained from air strikes over Vietnam or northern Lao PDR.

Significant land battles during the war for independence during the French colonial era, the Second World War, and between the Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao forces in addition to the US and North Vietnamese conflict, also contributed vast quantities of unexploded heavy bombs, rockets, grenades, artillery munitions, mortars, anti-personnel landmines, and improvised explosive devices. It is estimated that up to 30% of all ordnance did not explode, leaving a lethal legacy that continues to kill, maim, and impoverish over 30 years later.

Such unexploded ordnance (UXO) has left more than 87,200 square kilometres of land, out of a countrywide 236,800 square kilometres, as being at risk from UXO. More than twelve thousand square kilometres are considered high risk while 74,786 km2 are moderate risk.

In 1996 and 1997, some twenty years after the hostilities ended, a countrywide survey on the socio-economic impact of UXO in Lao PDR found that 25% of all communities in 15 of the 18 provinces/special zones are affected (in 2006, the Saysomboune Special District, ranking 7th, was integrated into Xieng Khouang and Vientiane provinces, reducing the number of provinces/special zones.) Villagers living in such areas often find that they are confronted with enforced risk taking: either they continue to live in acute poverty, and in many cases chronic malnutrition; or risk injury and death by working on UXO contaminated land.
We will say that if you are travelling through Sekong be sure to call in and see what they are up to as they are so happy to show you around and it is very interesting. Sekong is a very poor area and there is not a lot to see and as for getting something to eat GOODLUCK!!We had a very quite night in Sekong and got some good sleep for the ride tomorrow over the top of the Plateau. Up early and saddled up we hit the road which on the map is going to be a nice sealed road all the way over to Paskong wrong again!!!As the road turned form smooth sealed road to a smooth dusty road to a goat track. Then to top it all off we stuck a stretch of road about 15 kilometres long which was completely covered in pot holes some big enough that if the front tyre was to go in we would of been thrown off the bike onto the road and on a couple of occasions I honestly thought that this is going to hurt!!! But we made it in the end and after all the roads and near crashes it was all made worthwhile cause the views of the valleys and laughs we had with the locals at the petrol stop on the top of the Plateau all made up for the roads. Five hours later we arrive at Tad Fane and settle into the resort for a nice hot shower to wash the inch thick dirt and dust that had glued itself to us for the journey over the Plateau.
Tad Fane is two massive waterfalls that you can’t get to close to but the view from the resort was fantastic and having a nice meal and a few Beer Laos with two waterfalls gushing out from the side of the valley as a backdrop sure was the perfect ending to a hard days travelling. And with that we had our last night of our Southern Laos scooter trip at the Tad fane resort which we would highly recommend to anyone. With a relaxing sleep we awoke to the sound of the waterfall and had breakfast and then we travelled the last 48 kilometres back to Pakse. Arriving in Pakse around lunchtime we took the scooter back and made a it back to our hotel for hot shower and a bit of feet up time!!!
If anyone is considering doing the loop we would like to say that we were lucky with no flat tyres and no serious accidents. It’s very hard at times but if you take your time and don’t mind getting a bit dirty it is one hell of a good trip with the locals being so friendly and the remoteness of the area you will feel very rewarded when you’re finished....we sure did!!!
Next blog soon....

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