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Published: August 6th 2007
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It was Tom’s idea to travel ‘the local way’. We’d taken advantage of the luxury VIP buses with large seats and air-con or the mini-buses which took us straight to our destination. The south of Laos, it was decided, was to be traveled via local buses and song thaw (basically a truck with 2 long seats) and motorbikes. This meant traveling not only with the Laos people, but with their livestock (dead or alive), supplies from the markets (fruits and vegetables, bags of rice, unidentifiable meats and animal skins). All of this, in such a heat there was no point in even showering before a trip.
From Vientiane we traveled south over 300km to Tha Khaek. We’d read about some of Laos largest caves in this area and were both keen to explore. We hired a motorbike from our guesthouse and with a very roughly drawn map (not at all to scale), we hit the long dusty roads into the mountains. We only just managed to find the first cave, with the help from a small Laos women. The second cave, containing a Buddha shrine, was a lot more accessible and opened up into a beautiful blue pool - the
perfect place for a swim if the water wasn’t sacred.
After Tha Khaek, we continued further south to the sleepy city of Savannakhet. The city, again with its French architecture, reminded us of Luang Prabang without the tourists. With the border crossing into Thailand’s Mukdahan, we soon realized just how close we were to the villages in which we taught and lived for 4 months. A one hour drive was all it would have taken (if it wasn’t for the borders).
The further south we traveled, the higher the heat and humidity became. In Paske Tom caved into my begging for air-conditioned transport and we took a mini-bus (such a beautiful, cool, comfortable mini-bus) to Si Phan Don or Four Thousand Islands. This is a 50km stretch along the Mekong, bordering Cambodia with literally thousands of islands and islets. It was by far one of the most beautiful areas we’d seen in Laos. We found a small bungalow on the island of Don Dhet and lazed the days away in our hammocks overlooking the river, cycling around the island and visiting some of the sights. The island had no electricity, only generators between 6-10pm, so the heat got
the better of us in the end and we decided to head further north.
Champasak’s biggest attraction is ‘Wat Phu’, an ancient Khmer complex compared with some of the Angkor sites in Cambodia’s Siam Reap. It is divided into 3 levels, the highest over-looking the surrounding plains and river. In an effort to avoid the heat of the day, we set off at 7am on motorbike, arriving only 30 minutes later. This was a place we could have explored for hours, the fallen pavilions, sanctuaries and animal-carved stones, if only it was 15 degrees cooler!
The Bolaven Plateau was one of our final stop-overs. The decision was made as soon as we read about its ‘cool climates, waterfalls and coffee plantations’. After a long wait in Paske, we bordered a local bus for the 3 hour journey to Tat Fan waterfall. We arrived late afternoon and found a small bungalow hidden in a rain-forest area, just a short walk to the falls. This was exactly what we’d been searching for, a place to just stop for 4-5 days and really explore the area. We decided the best way was to do a trek. After some discussion, we agreed
against taking a local guide and set off on our own - the only map was that in our heads, unfortunately not quite memorized in the same way. Yes, we got lost, we wandered off on tracks which disappeared into the scrub, we waded through shoulder-length water, holding our most valuable possessions above our heads in hope of keeping them dry, we passed through hill-tribes with people looking on at us, bewildered, and somehow (god knows how) we found our way home. You asked for adventure Tom!!!
After Tat Lo, the plan was to follow a circuit around the Plateau, through Laos coffee capital, Paksong and onto two more waterfalls, Tat Niang and Tat Fan. At this time of the year, if its not the heat, it’s the rain and it came in buckets. We spent the night in Paksong but unfortunately bypassed the falls and came back to Paske. It hadn’t stopped raining the whole day and our bags were already getting wet from the leaking song thaw.
Next stop Vietnam....
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