Temple in Pakse
Monks in Buddhist Temple
Local Soccer Game
After spending a night in Pakse, we started off around one of the main loops on the Bolaven Plateau. It was a pretty nice way to spend a day, riding on a motorbike between stops at waterfalls.
E-Tu Waterfall
One of our favorite waterfalls on the trip was the Thamchampy Waterfall (see below), which had a rounded out cave area that allowed you to walk behind the waterfall.
Thamchampy Waterfall from Above
Thamchampy Full View
Phil at Thamchampy
Behind Thamchampy
One of the biggest waterfalls in the area is Tad Fane. While there is a resort built near the waterfall, actually getting down to a good view of the waterfall is really tough. It was a muddy and steep path, during which I slipped and fell into the bushes, sliding down the mountain for a ways. However, we did get some pretty good views of the waterfall to reward us for the effort. The pictures don't show how big it really is, but apparently the falls are over 100m or over 325 feet, so they're pretty big.
Tad Fane from a Distance
Full View of Tad Fane Falls
The last major waterfall of the day was the Yuang Waterfall. It was another great waterfall to check out.
Yuang Waterfall
We stopped for lunch in a small town named Paksong, which was about the halfway point of our driving that day. In Paksong, a Dutch guy randomly has a nice coffee and tea plantation and small cafe. We stopped to chat with him for awhile, then headed on our way. The rest of the day we spent driving to Tad Lo village, where we were planning to spend the night. The drive was some of the most scenic of our trip and we had some great opportunities to see open countryside and small villages.
Cow Questioning Our Authority
Countryside on Bolaven Plateau
Open Road
We finally arrived in Tad Lo village, which has a nice river and series of waterfalls nearby. There are several guest houses in the village because it's kind of a nice stopping point for people doing the loop around the Bolaven plateau. That night, we grabbed some dinner at a small local restaurant, and then headed to one of the bigger hotels in the area, the Tad Lo Lodge, to watch the Netherlands vs. Brazil world cup game with some Dutch people. The Dutch won, which was cause for great celebration.
Our Bungalow in Tad Lo
The next morning, we took a short trek to visit four local villages and the major waterfalls in the area. The weather was perfect that day, nothing but blue skies to highlight the green countryside. Unfortunately, the biggest waterfall didn't have enough water when we visited, so it was just a drizzle. However, the trek and smaller waterfalls were still really great. After the trek, we were pretty filthy from constantly sweating in the Southeast Asian humidity and having dust stick to us from either hiking around or motorbiking on dusty roads. We took a nice dip in the river to clean up a bit, but it only lasted a short while before we got back on our bikes and got blasted with some more dust.
Filthy Wes on Trek near Tad Lo
Village near Tad Lo
Crossing Paths with the Locals
Muddy Road
Drying Leaves at Village
Blue Skies and Green Countryside
Phil Walking Down Dirt Road
Swimming In River at Smaller Waterfall
Biggest Waterfall Nearly Dried Up
Wes at Phasouam Waterfall
Finishing up our short loop around the Bolaven Plateau marked the last of our motorbiking trips. Riding around for those two days was a great trip and we enjoyed seeing all the waterfalls and the beautiful countryside. Having never before ridden a motorbike long distances, I was surprised how much I enjoyed traveling that way. Phil and I both agreed that if we did our trip through Laos again, we would probably just ride a motorbike across the whole country. We met a few people doing that and it seemed like they were really enjoying it. It lets you take in the countryside at your own pace and gives you a lot of freedom to see some things off the main path. You also don't have to worry about bus schedules, which is especially nice in a developing country where things aren't always on schedule. Riding a motorbike might even be cheaper than taking the buses, although some of the roads with sharp curves up and down steep mountains might not be that safe.
There's only one more post coming for Laos, then hopefully I can finish up the couple posts for Cambodia and Malaysia before too long, so stay tuned.
For more pictures of Pakse and the Bolaven Plateau: https://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/PakseAndBolavenPlateau#
0 comments:
Post a Comment