A Wet End of Year

TG-4, f2.9, 1/40, ISO 1600, RAW, 43mm

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.

Suoi Parle

A hot and sunny day so I went with some of my staff to cool down at a waterfall near A Luoi.

With it being Sunday and the summer holidays on, it was as expected packed and busy on the way there. While stopping for a coffee, I almost ended up being invited to a wedding party, which would have been the end of the trip.

The waterfall was nice and  it was fun to go for a swim.

After cooling off we continued on to A Luoi where we had a late lunch before heading back to Hue.

Merry Xmas and the Way Back to Hue

Merry Xmas to everyone and I hope you're enjoying your holidays!

Mine are coming to an end and it's time to head back to Hue.

After a stopover in Saigon, I arrived in Da Nang at around 19:00 and set off on my bike for the drive back to Hue.

Day 190 - Day 1 of the Bolaven Plateau Loop

After renting a new and red Honda Wave, I set off to start the big Bolaven Plateau loop and go to the first stage in Paksong.

On the way to Paksong I stopped off at two waterfalls. First at Tad Champi, where people were enjoying a swim and the raft there, the second on the road was Tad Yuang, where I arrived just when everbody was leaving o had the view all for myself.

After having lunch at Tad Yuang and chatting with the Lao/French owner, I arrived in Paksong where I had a (slight watery) coffee before checking into a guest house there.

Since it was still early, I decided to backtrack a bit and go to see the Tad Fane waterfall, this one is quite impressive although you don't get  great view over the height of it, they could to with a overlooking platform or so.

Above is my new ride for my time here in Laos, I really like the Honda Waves and miss my old bike, despite this being new.

The evening was spent driving around Paksong and having some beers with a few friends I met at my coffee stop earlier.

Tomorrow, I'll take the 'difficult and dangerous' road to Attapeu or Sekong but don't expect it to be anywhere near the 'shortcut' I took while on my way to Sapa.