A nice little suprise called 'Tad Low'

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Have you ever noticed that very now and then when you really want something, sometimes all you have to do is ask for it?

Well I was heading down south from Vientiane a couple of weeks ago in Laos (towards the 4000 Islands) and I really felt like seeing a bit more of the real Laos on the way. So I quickly scanned the good old lonely planet guide (on the way to the bus station I might add!) and noticed a few towns but none of them really stood out as super special. I wanted to see a bit more of the real Laos before hitting the islands and then eventually leaving the country.

Well long story short once i arrived at the bus station there actually wasn't too many options it was either the islands or a place called Pakse which was on the way. I quickly turned to my travel buddy Carla and we both agreed we didn't want to spend 20 hours on a bus so we decided to take the 12 hour option and head to Pakse instead.

Luckily a bus was leaving within the hour so we bought our tickets and hoped aboard. It was one of those overnight buses you seem to get all around south east Asia. You leave at 8pm and magically arrive at your destination in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately the 'sleeper' buses were all full (which would have meant we actually had a real 'mini' bed etc) so instead we had to take one with normal recliner seats. As it turned out the bus wasn't full so we quickly shifted to the back seat and top and tailed the whole way there.. so it was kinda like a bed anyway and worked out for the best!

As we arrived at Pakse at 6am in the morning we quickly realised we didn't actually have a plan. Luckily as we were hoping of the bus (and scratching our heads) we quickly met this nice girl who was waiting to get back on our bus. In a surreal 60 second chat she politely suggested there wasn't much to do in Pakse and that our best option was to get back on the bus and follow her. She was heading to a little rural village/town on the Bolaven Plateau (I'm sure that’s not spelt right either!) called "Tad Low" about 2 hours away. We figured what the heck and followed her... oh and asked the bus driver if we could put our backpacks back on the bus after he just moved half the stuff to get them off.. he he.

Turns out 'Tad Low' was just what we were after. Rural, isolated, quite, beautiful and no 'TUK TUKS!'. Basically its located on a river and has three really nice waterfalls in the area and for some reason lots of pigs… just walking around the streets. From a backpackers perspective its a great little hide away for a few days. A good way to relax and recharge the batteries. To give you an idea of how isolated this place was this was the first time in south east Asia that I have hoped of a bus and not a single person asked me if I needed a lift/tuk tuk or motor bike ride! Trust me, that’s unusual. So instead we had a lovely 3km walk down to the village with our lovely 25kg backpacks on in 30 degree heat.... fun fun fun.

Overall we spent 3 wonderful days in little Tad Low. On the first night we were there we met this young couple from England who were really cool so we pretty much hung out with them for the whole time. In fact the reason we met them was that we had to share a table with them at one of the local eateries on the first night (notice I didn't call it a restaurant!) as tables were very limited. It was the kind of place that if you wanted to buy a beer and take it away with you (after dinner) they very politely asked if you could also bring the bottle back the next day otherwise it would cost them about $0.5c per bottle with the brewery as they are all recycled etc. Not only did we make a point of bringing them back the next day, we also found a few more and took them back also.. he was very happy.

So the next day we made plans to go exploring, and exploring we went. We found waterfalls, scrambled across rocks, got lost (a number of times) and generally had a ball. We never actually made it to the last waterfall (the 3rd one ) which was a shame but we still enjoyed ourselves a lot. The heat was full on and one stage we ran out of water a long way upstream (one of the reason for turning back) which isn't a smart thing to do in a country where you can't drink the river water.. but you live a learn hey.

Oh and while I think of it, it was really cheap. Accommodation, food, beer, everything! So for all those backpackers out there next time you’re heading through Laos (north or south) make sure you go and visit little sleepy Tad Low if you have the time. But don't tell too many people about it, we don't want to ruin it now do we.

Hope you enjoy the photos! xox

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