Tad Lo to Da Nang

Waking up in Tad Lo, the plan was to head back to Pakse to complete the loop and from then down to the 4000 Islands.

But sometimes things don't go according to plan and something came up so I had to drive back to Da Nang.

I decided to take the road via Salavan to the La Lay border crossing as it was the nearest and I figured will be very scenic.

I was certainly not disappointed, it is a stunning drive along the mountains with lots of spectacular views, nice corners, steep inclines and equally long ways just rolling down enjoying the views.

Despite the actual distance not being all that far, due to the mountain roads it will take you a lot longer to get all the way to the border.

The road seems very new and is in pretty good shape aside from the occasional stretch with some potholes.

Getting to the La Lay border is a very nice experience and it doesn't take long to get through. Although on the Vietnamese side they don't get many foreigners through so everyone wanted to say something. This meant they asked all kind of questions and for a first asked about my blue card for my motorbike, although nobody actually looked at it very much.
The area between the two border checkpoints is quite far though and you even drive past a Lao village after passing through the Lao immigration so it's a bit weird.

Once I was back in Vietnam, I tried to get to A Luoi as fast as I could to make up some time, although it started to get late.

After a short coffee break in A Luoi, I headed towards Hue but unfortunately rain made my progress slower and less pleasant. This meant I only got back to Da Nang in the evening.

Pakse to Tad Lo

After taking it easy yesterday, there was a bit more driving to be done today.

The plan was to do the Bolaven Plateau loop and see how far we would make it in the loop. The first stop after leaving Pakse was the Tad Fane waterfall. It's a pretty cool waterfall and definitely worth a stop.

After tad Fane, it's just a short drive to the Tad Gneaung waterfall, where you can also get nice food and enjoy a chat with the very nice owner.

Once you are past these waterfalls, the next stop is Paksong where you should stop at Jhai Coffee for a really nice cup of local coffee and a chat with the owner who knows a lot about the local coffee and can give you a tour.

We arrived right when he was being interviewed by a crew for a documentary about Laos and the local coffee.

After enjoying the coffee, a quick bite and sheltering from a small shower it was time to head onwards.

The next part is on a road that you don't have on Google maps (even 3 years later after they finished the road) so just use Maps.Me or follow the signs towards Attapeu and Sekong.

The road will lead you through the mountains down from the plateau past some really amazing views. Since they completed the road it's a lot easier to drive than it was 3 years ago but you should still watch out not to end like the car in the photo above.

Once you are on road 11, it's an easy ride to Attapeu or Sekong, since we wanted to do the loop, we were heading towards Sekong and from there to Thateng.

After a quick stop for some Huda beer (yes, I know) we started to head on to make it to Tad Lo before it got too late.

Tad Lo is still a very sleepy town hidden away, the tad Lo waterfall is it's main attraction but it's more the peace and quiet that gets people here filling up the many guesthouses.
Staying in Tad Lo, you'll definitely go to bed early as even 8pm feels like midnight with most places closed and all the locals being in their homes.