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The last third of our second stay in Laos continued the thematic trend set by the first two; that of water and stupor. The only differences being that the water, rather than flowing lazy and muddy past our bungalow as the Mekong, now came predominantly from above, in the form of rain, and several impressive waterfalls. The soporific stupor engendered by dwindling funds did not change however. The location for all this soggy laziness was the Bolivan Plateau, a large raised area of land over 1000 meters high, east of Pakse in the predominately flat south. It was the topography (as well as the time of year) that caused all the precipitation to be so impressive; the monsoon clouds were drawn upwards to the Plateau where they dumped their volumous bounty regularly upon our heads which, consequently, engorged the rivers and enhanced the falls that drop from the edge of the plateau.
Our first stop on our little eight day tour of this area was called Tad Lo, this was both the name of the small village and also the nearby waterfall (Tad meaning waterfall in Laos). This place, in hindsight, was definitely our favourite. This was not because of
the three falls to be seen here, though they were pretty enough, but rather due to the atmosphere of the village itself and more, as is so often the case, because we stayed in an amazing guest house in a perfect location with, and here is the clincher, the most friendly, generous, funny and just plain mad Landlady, cook and surrogate mother, Mamma Pap. Nothing was ever too much trouble for this amazing lady who, when besieged by six Falang and a snake (more on this later) was so welcoming it was beautiful. Me and Anny have lost count of how many hugs we received from Mamma Pap, how many little "extra's" we were given (no, not that kind Guy - only you could associate Mum and Extra's in that way!), we are both still wearing the bracelet that she tearfully gave us when we finally found the strength to leave. So beautiful.
The village of Tad Lo is situated on a bend in the river and is a scattered conglomeration of wooden houses, a few shops, a couple of guest houses and the ubiquitous temple that was in the middle of the village right on the bank of
the river. It was a pleasure to walk through Tad Lo, especially at dawn or dusk, when the light would often be quite mesmeric and when most of the village would go down to the river to bathe. The sight of thirty odd villagers bathing and singing in the water in front of the temple in the golden glow of evening will, I'm sure, stay with me for a very long time. Sometimes it is the seemingly mundane (to the villagers at least), rather than the obviously spectacular, that imposes itself with pullulating subtlety upon ones memory; Tad Lo is certainly the former.
One evening Myself, Anny, Sebastian and Eva walked the two Kilometres from Tad Lo to the market: our mission to pick up some supplies for Mamma pap. One item was a little unusual - we were instructed to purchase a snake and were given very strict instructions not to pay over 60,000 Kip! We found the snake lady pretty quickly, her writhing mesh bag and collection of live Monitor Lizards gave her away somewhat! She was pretty surprised to be approached by four Falang wanting to buy a snake but that did not stop her from
driving a very tough bargain. In the end we paid 70,000 Kip for the two meter long snake which she extracted from a large bag of these creatures with absolute nonchalance, placed it in another and gave it to us to carry home. The lady was very careful to always hold the snake by its head so we were a little worried that it was poisoness, and more worried that the thin, frayed bag would be insufficient to suitably contain the continuously writhing beast.
Back at "Mamma Pap's" (who thought the price decent due to the snake's size) the job of removing said snake from said bag fell to one of Mamma Pap's daughters. This pretty young girl must only have been about twelve but she seemed to know exactly what to do. We all looked on in amazement as she blindly reached into the bag and, casual as you like, removed the snake, coiled it up and bound it! The snake was then handed to an older lady who went inside to prepare it. We all felt a little bad about actively helping to proliferate the trade in wild animals and this feeling was only compounded when we
saw how the snake was prepared. It was placed live, section by section, over a burning charcoal stove, so as to be able to singe the skin and remove the scales. None of us knew why this could not have been done once the snake was dead and none of us felt brave enough, or not guilty enough, to ask. This done and the snake was boiled, then chopped, and finally turned into snake Laap; a typical Lao spicy meat salad that just happens to be one of my favourites. Anny does not like Laap so she had hers in a noodle soup. We all loved it I'm sorry to say.
After the lovely Tad Lo we travelled off the plateau to a place called Attapeu. This is fairly close to the Vietnamese border and stacked full of character. It was a small town and as with most of these the centre of the town was the temple. The one at Attapeu was particularly beautiful and I spent many happy hours there chatting to the monks. Very illuminating. I also, one baking afternoon, got myself involved in a game of Takraw that was being played in the dusty courtyard
of a local house. I caused much hilarity by attempting some of the acrobatic manoeuvres that the Laos guys were pulling off with ease. I may not have been up to their standard but I think I acquitted myself with courage, dignity and no shortage of skill! An hour later I arrived back at the hotel bloodied, blistered, mucky and absolutely knackered.
Our last stop was back up on the plateau in a town called Paxong. Ths place was nothing at all to look at, though it had a very interesting market, but the reason we were here was its location close to two of the most impressive falls in the region. We hired a bike, dodged the storms and had a lovely day viewing the falls. One of these could be seen from close up and was suitably thunderous as it plunged thirty meters over the edge. The other one, Tad Faan, could only be seen from a distance but the twin, 120 meter drop falls, were impressive none the less. Our Visa was to run out the next day so in the morning we went to pay for our room. As I have mentioned our funds were
running very short but I had budgeted just enough to get us out of Laos and to Bangkok where, after the weekend, we could draw some cash out (our last) on the credit card. Anny had selected the room and she believed it to be 20,000 Kip but when we went to pay it seems Anny must have misheard as the price was actually 70,000 Kip! This ruined all my hard won budgeting and I was now seriously worried that we would not have enough money for our ticket out of Laos. This would have meant that we would have overstayed our visa by two days as it was the weekend and all the banks were shut. . As it was we were 1,500 Kip (about 5 pence) short of the ticket cost. Thankfully the guy accepted a couple of Baht and we were able to get to Bangkok.
So that is where we are now, spending the last of our little remaining money on gifts and clothes (knock off Diesel jeans for 4 pounds anyone, t-shirts for 50 pence!) and enjoying the last genuine Thai food that we are going to eat for, very sadly, a no doubt
very long time. It has been an amazing trip, full of thousands of precious memories and although if I had the choice we would be staying away mach longer, I have reconciled myself to the fact that reality beckons and am looking forward to seeing friends and family and to nesting down with Anny for a couple of years - just long enough to save up for our trip to Japan (Anny's dream) via Russia, Mongolia and China! I'll write you again then. Goodbye for now.
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matt
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I invented the seagull, glue and pop tarts. you're welcome!
Guten abend und wie gehts? want to be there with you but unfortunately am still trying to reach my quest of ultimate freedom so that I can spend all my time travelling the furthest reaches of this crazy world!! so nearly over, i'm sad for you, reality sucks, ah well at least you can set your goals when you get back, means to an end. don't forget to get in touch when you get back my friend. have something of interest for you. look forward to having a few beers with you!! hugs and love and stuff! matt