After Vang Vieng, we realized that it was time for us to plan a little bit farther than 2 days ahead. We had to choose whether to continue from the south of Laos into Cambodia, or somehow get to Vietnam. We now have a plan to fly out of Laos to Hanoi (as opposed to taking a take a 20+ hour bus ride there), and work our way south through Vietnam and Cambodia, then finally back into Thailand. This decision was of course motivated by my desire to see my host family and friends in Bangkok at least one more time before leaving Asia. With this in mind, we completely skipped over Vientiane and headed straight to Pakse in the south of Laos, keeping in mind that we would eventually be returning to the capital city to get a flight to Hanoi.
The first great thing about Pakse was the transportation there. We first rode an uneventful bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. From there we were able to book an overnight “sleeping bus” to Pakse leaving at 8:30pm. This gave us enough time to enjoy a tasty dinner, complete with Greek salad, flat bread pizza, and white wine by “Nam Phu” the pretty fountain in the center of Laos’ capital city (sample of things to come in Vientiane . . . ). Based on our bus experiences to date in this country, I was a little apprehensive about the “sleeping” bus, but it turned out to be fantastic. They gave us snacks, water, and candies, when we boarded and I woke up to nice moist towels to freshen up in the morning. I slept the entire way there. Perry slept too, but managed to fit in a lot more ipod time than me as usual.
On arrival, after a sweet and thick Lao coffee, we set about finding a place to stay (Sabaidee 2 guesthouse . . . not bad) and renting a motorbike (sorry Grandma!). We drove to a village about 15km or so out of town called Ban Saphai where we could take a small and very tippy boat to an island village called Don Kho. It was a lovely place! Everyone was so friendly and smiley there. We were defenseless against the sweet ladies there and bought some of their hand woven silk. (It is beautiful, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it.) We wandered around, and had some mango with our guide and a couple of village ladies. It was a relaxing afternoon.
Next day we headed out to the Bolevan Plateau, a fertile plateau 1500m above the Mekong valley. After the motorbike ride the day before, I decided I’d had enough and convinced Perry to take the one day trip on offer at our guesthouse to see the waterfalls, rivers, and tea and coffee plantations for which the plateau is famous. We enjoyed the trip because the waterfalls were truly gorgeous. The tea and coffee plantation visits were also interesting, and gave us the extra mid-day caffeine kick we are getting a little too used to.
One thing we did NOT enjoy about the Bolevan Plateau tour were the village visits, which seem to be incorporated into just about every activity here in Laos. We have had some great experiences visiting rural villages throughout the country thus far with Green Discovery. Well, this was our opportunity to observe how it really should NOT be done. I felt completely intrusive. Our guide did not speak to anyone in the villages we visited, let alone give proper instructions to his van full of tourists regarding how to behave with sufficient cultural respect. He also arrived at one of the villages by driving up to, I swear almost into, the school house with Thai pop music blaring. It was more than a little disruptive to the lessons. As a result of what I’m sure has been a multitude of similar visits, some of the children were aggressive beggars and a few of the people in our group unwittingly gave them entirely inappropriate “gifts”. I found the whole experience unsettling, and felt guilty for not asking enough questions before booking and supporting this activity. I guess we just got so used the professionalism and cultural sensitivity at Green Discovery, we assumed other groups would operate similarly. Not so . . . lesson learned.
One strange fact about Laos is that nearly every town seems to have an Indian restaurant called Nazim’s. I’ve no idea why Indian food, or why they must all have the same name. That evening we had Indian food at Nazim’s with a really nice German fellow we had met on the way to Luang Prabang, and luckily ran into again in Pakse. Fabian is planning to travel through Canada beginning this summer. (Ladies, you may just want to check him out in my facebook friends and offer up your couch. Just saying . . . ) Anyhow, after dinner we decided to check out Pakse nightlife, which is pretty much nonexistent save a brand spanking new bowling alley. So, the three of us went bowling! It was pretty fun; definitely a change. Perry was a big hit because he seemed to manage a strike 95% of the time. (Show off!)
All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Pakse. The town itself felt a bit less touristy than some of the other places we’ve been in Laos. Possibly because many people skip Pakse to head directly to Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), which is our next destination as well. I’ll let Perry fill you in . . . .
For more photos http://gallery.me.com/adamschen
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