Blogs from Bolaven Plateau, South, Laos, Asia - page 7

For my last few days in Laos, going off cycling on my own through some semi-remote villages seemed like a nice idea, as I had been sticking so much to the tourist trail and also spending way too much time eating and lazing about! It seemed surprisingly straightforward to organise, I found an ok mountain bike to hire for $2 a day, I left my rucksack at a hotel and just strapped my day pack to my bike. It felt so great just to travel with a couple of kilos for a change, I didn't even take any shampoo with me! I had my first minor hiccup only 6km along the road when one of the pedals on the bike fell off... I had checked the bike over quite carefully and asked for a couple of ... read more

After escaping Vientiene with our Cambodian visas in hand we took a night bus down to Pakse complete with Laos Karaoke at 400 decibels until the early hours of the morning and a dodgy film about a Crocodile man that seduced all the young ladies. Arriving in Pakse at 6am we were greeted by a torrential downpour that we thought would only write off the rest of the day. A quick breakfast and checked into a hotel we grabbed a few hours sleep before waking to find that the clouds had parted and indeed the sun shone. Tracking down a bike rental place we took some dodgy motorbikes out on the road with a view to visiting the Bolaven plateau - the coffee growing region of Laos with the highly sought after Arabica coffee exported to ... read more

Pakse and Bolovens Plateau A wake-up call at the execrable time of 4.45 am, and a short drive to the domestic terminal for a 6.30 am flight to Pakse. Everything is ready to go, except there is no-one to fly the plane. The ground staff smile knowingly as if the pilot oversleeps every morning. Eventually, at about 7:00, he saunters lazily across the tarmac and off we go on the other of the two Lao Airlines planes, landing about half an hour late at 8.15. Our Pakse guide, Udon, checked us in at Champa Residence, a modestly characterful hotel in a new colonial-style house. Our stay here was to be a source of much amusement for us, mainly due to the willing staff who constantly watched us, ready to jump up and meet our every need ... read more