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Published: August 8th 2006
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After a fairly smooth overnighter from Vientiane I arrived in Pakse and headed for the southern bus station to catch a ride to the Bolaven Plateau. In hind sight I really wished I had just rented a motorbike because relying on the public buses to get around in there isn't the greatest. I got dropped on the road with no waterfalls in sight or no idea where to go, but you can always rely on the friendly Lao to offer help before you even have an opportunity to ask. A pickup took me to the falls and I found a nice guesthouse with a nice view of the thundering falls. Again, aside from the rain (which hasn't been too bad - knock on wood), it's nice to be here in rainy season for many reasons, and the waterfalls are definitely one. They are really powerful right now it's great.
So aside from just gazing at the falls I also went on an elephant ride. I have been pretty anti elephant rides all trip and was pretty reluctant to do it, but then thought well maybe the elephants ARE happy and maybe this'll change my mind. Nope. It was neat for the
first minute, but then realized the boys who guide them are so mean. The other elephants ear looked raw from where the boy had his foot jammed in and constantly kicking it. I'm sure not all elephant treks are like that though.
The next day I went for a walk to find the 3 waterfalls. Number 1 was easy because it is right there by the bridge crossing the river. Number 2 was the actual "Tad Lo" waterfall and not too far away and easy to find. Number 3???Walking on from Tad Lo I passed through a little village where everyone is all smiles and super friendly. I still can't get over the little kids, they really couldn't be cuter. Past the village I was supposed to walk through a field and then follow a path to the falls... Hmmmm, I walked through the field and then found myself in rice paddies and walking through mud. Flip flops off... another kilometer or so and some man I ran into directs me over another way and tells me (or mimes to me rather) to walk straight through the rice paddies. He is pretty adament that I walk straight through the field,
not back and on a different path so I do what he says and walk for what seems like ages through ankle deep mud trying not to step on any rice seedlings. I walked around for about an hour and never found that third waterfall, but it was a beautiful walk nonetheless!
I'd love to go back to that area, it's really beautiful. Apparently there are more waterfalls and it's supposed to be a fantastic motorbike ride. Again, I keep accumulating all these things I want to do still. Looks like I have no choice but to return to Asia!
Nearly forgot a funny story... So while taking some pictures my last evening there, I meet 3 lao who end up eating dinner with me. We cannot communicate AT ALL... which is frustrating but they're very nice people. We somehow get across that we are both heading to Pakse in the morning, and with the help of the owner of my guesthouse I find out they are offering to give me a ride. Sweet. The next morning they pick me up in they're airconditioned nice new truck and we head for Pakse... and then we drive through Pakse (???!!!). Hmmm, maybe that wasn't Pakse... it couldn't have been. One hour later I'm thinking it definitely was. But since I can't really communicate with them aside from saying "Pakse???, Pakse???" and them nodding, I just sit there hoping we'll stop at a tourist site and then turn around. About half an hour later we pass a sign saying Cambodia 1km. Holy shit. Then we park and I'm beginning to panic a little... if it were three men I'd really have panicked, but it was 2 men (one a doctor) and his girlfriend who was a sweetheart. So when they told me we were going for a walk for 10 minutes (or something like that) part of me wanted to run the other way, but instead I figured they wouldn't get very far if they were trying to kidnap me since we were at Cambodian customs after all, and they were nice people for god's sake - don't be so mistrusting. Good thing I didn't run, because it turns out the girlfriend just wanted to purchase some Cambodian goods and 10 minutes later we were back in the truck. Phew. I'd love to say I was super cool about it all, but really it was one of those moments where I questioned if I was really that naive. Next we stopped at Laos' biggest waterfall. It's funny because they would just take a few pictures and then we'd leave. And it was also funny because when we were driving he film for like 5 minutes us driving - not even out the window or anything, just straight ahead of him through the front windshield at nothing in particular. Very strange day to say the least. Did I mention that we also hit a bird (not killing it entirely) and the doctor went out and picked it up and then gave it to his girlfriend who just sat it in her lap and pet it. Then once bored they stopped the car and she perched it in a tree and we took off. Ha! Good news is we were now right at the little town where I was supposed to catch a boat to the 4000 islands, so I didn't have to go all the way back to Pakse and then bus back there in the morning. Funny how things work out.
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