Asia Step 9 - Laos 2 days loop through the Bolaven Plateau (from Pakse)
- Tobias (Text) & Mallaury (Pictures)
- 7 juil. 2016
- 3 min de lecture
After our relaxed time at the 4000 islands, we decided to continue our travel up north to a town called Pakse. We arrive in Pakse after a surprisingly long bus ride (4 hours for 120 km). Our stomachs getting satisfied with a big and good lunch and we find us a reasonable cheap guesthouse in a quiet central street.
The town itself has nothing big to offer. It looks relatively rundown and people are not especially nice. As we walk a little bit around the main street, we are slightly disappointed. Actually, the real reason to go here is, that the city acts as the starting point for "The Loop". An agency tells us, that the Loop is a 250 km long, 2 day motorbike tour through the nearby Bolaven Plateau and its ethnic villages. That sounds great. So the next day, without really knowing much about the route or what to expect, we leave our backpacks in town, rent us a motorbike (50000 Kip\day) and start our journey early in the morning.
First Day Loop
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Tad Pasuam
The first spot marked on our map is called Tad Pasuam and is about 35 km away from Pakse. The entrance fee is 10000 Kip each and 5000 for parking our motorbike, which is comparatively high. The scenery is beautiful though, with 2 big waterfalls.
Walking from one waterfall to the other, we really feel being in the midst of the jungle.
The nature is pure green, the insects are blaring and as it's lightly raining, it gives us an authentic rain-forest feeling.
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Tad Lo
We continue our trip up north, heading to a village called Tad Lo. The way there takes us higher in the plateau, through untouched forest and endlessly tea plantations.
As we arrive in the small village situated next to Tad Hang waterfall, we make our way straight to the river.
Our agency told us that around 5 pm a local Lodge is bathing elephants nearby.
Soon after we sit down on stones next to the river, stunned by the beautiful setting of the waterfall and the elephant being washed by his trainer.
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Fandee Guesthouse
Touched by what we saw, we walk back to a guesthouse in the village center where we settle down in a comfortable bungalow.
Fandee Guesthouse is a cute place where we find everything to treat ourselves well. A remarkable Camembert or bleu for diner with cocottes eggs, red wine, Beerlao. We enjoy the night sitting on the terrace with other travelers passing on stories about Laos.
Second Day Loop
Well slept and fed the next morning, we are back on the road again to reach several waterfalls. For about 2 hours we are riding a mountainous trail through ethnic villages, tea and coffee plantations and unexplored forests.
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Tad Yuang
We reach Tad Yuang when its raining, which makes the sight of this waterfall in the jungle even more dramatic.
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On the way out we pass a family run coffee sale. The coffee tastes definitely better right next to where it's grown. To support the family we buy some coffee to bring home before retaking the loop.
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Tad Fan
It's already late when we get to the last spot on our map. Tad Fan can just be seen from a viewpoint on the opposite side of the mountain.
The view which opens up from here is amazing. Out of the wild jungle the water falls 120m deep into the valley. Even though it's kind of dark, we have an unforgettable view of nature at its best.
Before I knew these images just from documentaries in the TV, but seeing this in real is something beyond words.
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The Loop was to good to be true. So for sure at the end there had to be a challenge. Leaving Tad Fan it's already dark and the light of our motorbike doesn't help much. It's still like 70 km to Pakse when the heavy rainfall starts and it gets scary foggy. With a visibility of about 1 meter and strong downpour, we fight our way singing and screaming through pitch black darkness.
Draining wet, bloody cold and disturbed we arrive in Pakse after an undefinable time. Food and sleep is all we seek. Exhausted we fall in our bed into a long recovering sleep.
I think as we survived that, there's not much shocking anymore and we absolutely deserve an episode in Bear Grylls Survival Race.
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