The Bolaven Plateau and an Ill Tony

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Our next stop in Laos was Pakse, founded by the French in 1905 as an administrative outpost, it sits on the Mekong River and the Se Don River. It is a very small town with not much to do at all. We had the unfortunate pleasure in staying there for 2 nights because Tony got ill with a very high fever. We did not do much here, just pottered and lounged around in our hotel room, at Sabaidy 2 Guesthouse (68,000 kip a night).

From here we headed in land to Tad Lo. Our journey was interesting to say the least, our bus looked like it was ready for the scrap heap, with holes in the floor covered with planks of wood, dents in the front and side, the front of the bus had a massive dint in it with some liquid dripping out. We were surprised it got along the sandy bumpy road full of people and packed to the rafters with food, eggs, water etc.

Tad Lo is nestled on the northern edge of the Bolaven Plateau. The Bolaven Plateau being the most bombed place throughout the American War, ironically they weren’t even in the war but along the border of Vietnam was the Ho Chi Min trail that went in and out of Laos to get from North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Americans were instructed to drop all unused bombs here on their way back from their missions. This has consequently left a massive amount of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) within the area which is slowly and painstakingly being removed.

The Bolaven Plateau is now famous for its Coffee Plantations, and what the brochures don’t tell you, what we saw were more ganja plantations than coffee. Aside from this there are many waterfalls and gorgeous scenery and elephants. We weren’t lucky enough to explore a great deal because Tony was still recovering from his mysterious illness but what we did see was gorgeous. While we were in Tad Lo watching the waterfall we got to see elephants walking along the top, unfortunately we weren’t quick enough to get the camera out so no photo of this.

We stayed at a lovely guesthouse right on the river in Tad Lo called Siphaseth Guesthouse and Restaurant, for 70,000 Kip a night we had a double room, en-suite with apparently hot water, it felt very cold to us!!! We’ve noticed that the more north we go the more expensive accommodation is getting, but at the moment we’re having to opt for hot water en-suite rooms while Tony is getting better.

For those who ride motorbikes, Tad Lo is a great base for exploring, we met a couple with a great bike who had seen so much, really worth it, in Pakse they hire bikes out for 55,ooo kip a day. That’s less than 5 quid.

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