Bolaven Platuea and the 4000 islands

We took another bike trip.... just a short one... We headed off in am attempt to see some waterfalls and sleep in a remote village where you can hear tigers at night. On the first day we were making such good progress that we decided to push on towards the tiger village, otherwise known as Ta(h)oy. It was meant to be another 3-4 hours away. The drive started off well, but then we had to take a detour though a river, ie pushing the bike through knee high water and driving through a village before meeting up with the road again. the cause of the detour was that the road was being upgraded and a bridge was being constructed, I think. We found the construction actually continued for quite a while. There was much dust, sand and mud. We didnt really have a map so had to keep asking locals, they generally just pointed in the direction we were traveling. We reached a village and asked (in Lao) for some water, they thought we wanted petrol, we tried to communicate water but it didnt work. The village was kinda scary (read very very scary) so we left very quickly before they killed us. In the next village a group of (semi drunk) men told us Ta(h)oy was 80 km away. We decided this wasnt the case as it was only supposed to be 84km in total. However, another 10 km down the road when we finally got some water - the first place with water in an hour or so, a guy there spoke a little English and with our basic Lao managed to work out that we were not yet half way to the village. We had 2 hours of sun left and Choco asked what difference the direction we drove in mattered if we were still going to be driving in the dark and suggested we continue on to the village. I suggested driving in the dark towards civilizations was very different to driving in the dark in tiger country. We turned back and spent the night in Salavan.

Waterfall on the first day

River crossing- no bridge Choco losing and finding his thongs

The following day we rode through the Bolaven Plateau, stopping at Tad Fane waterfall. This was an incredible site, the water falls for 80 m. We wanted to climb down the mountain to the bottom, however our guide book noted a trekking guide saying – The flip flop is not possible. We headed to another waterfall which was very pretty though not as high but we were able to swim in the pool at the bottom. We met three young inquisitive girls who wanted all our belongings. I gave one a hairband. We left the second waterfall and rode to a third, again very pretty. Before finally riding back to Pakse for the night.

Tad Fane waterfall Second waterfall for the dayRainbow at the bottomThird waterfall for the dayDifferent shot at the third waterfall

From Pakse we decided we would travel south to an area call the Four Thousand Islands. The day we were to leave we realised that we would require more money for the length of stay we envisaged, unfortunately the network with all the banks were down and it was not sure when it would be fixed, in an hour, in 6, tomorrow, next week…. With all this uncertainty and our visas rapidly expiring we decided to go with the limited fund we had. We had missed the minivan heading south so had to take local transport. There was meant to be a bus which left, however the local tuktuk cartel stopped buses leaving when there were tuktuks around, so in effect there were no buses. So we had to board a large tuktuk. This didn’t leave until it was full and then continued to pick up more passengers. Along the way we also made a number of stops and at each stop every inch of space in the tuktuk was invaded by arms thrust in trying to sell all sorts of wares, generally vegetables and drinks. The first time it happened was crazy, bunches of white radish like vegetables invaded the tuktuk along with women screaming the price. Crazy. After 4 hours in a squashed tuktuk with 28 other people in 35 degree heat we finally made it to Don Khong. Don Khong is the largest of the Islands and is the birth place of the current President therefore it has electricity and very good roads. The President apparently spends more time in the area than in Vientiane and there is a chance we saw his car in Pakse – we were approaching traffic lights which were green but everyone has stopped. We then noticed a few police controlling the traffic. We waited a few minutes before a motorbike with lights flashing went by followed by an armoured car, then more motorbikes and a number of cars and van. Or it could have just been some other VIP, but there isn’t an airport in the Four Thousand Islands so I imagine everyone must leave by boat or car. And the procession was arriving from that direction. Anyway we were at Don Khong, but there isn’t a lot to do there, we walked around the island in the evening but decided to head to Don Det and Don Kone in the morning and they had more things to do and see. Don Det and Don Kone were meant to be amazing, backpacker havens and while they were cheap and quite pretty we found them overcrowded and that you got what you paid for. And $3 a night doesn’t get you very much! We hired bikes and road around the islands. Saw the waterfall – which would have been impressive in the wet season, rode along the only railroad that was every finished in Laos, but lay in ruins since the second world war. We didn’t get a boat to try to see the dolphins, we were told there were only 5 or 6 left and that you might see a dorsel fin if you were lucky and at 500m so you were never sure anyway. We were told if you went on a kayak trip you had more chance to see them, but a kayak trip was very expensive and unfortunately our money would stretch far enough for us both to go.

Some of the 4000 Islands

Sunset on Don Khong

Don Det

So after two nights on Don Det we decided to head back to Pakse. This unfortunately involved another tuktuk trip, this time the driver managed to squeeze 30 people in his tuktuk and three on top…. The ride was not pleasant as it was a very hot day – 35-40 degrees. As we neared Pakse the driver borrowed a mobile phone to make a call, we then drove on for another 10 min before stopping in the middle of nowhere and all the tourists were asked to get off and board the awaiting smaller tuktuks. They were less crowded and we were tempted but I remembered reading that this additional tuktuk required additional payment for no reason (it was just another way to fleece tourists), so we stayed on. We did try to warn those getting off but they assured us they wouldn’t be paying another kip… the awful thing was that the guy who's phone they had used boarded the other tuktuk to be ripped off with the rest of the tourist…. We made it to town, found out when the buses were leaving for Thailand and grabbed a bite to eat before catching the bus.

At the boarder Choco became a little concerned when all the official were scrutinising his passport, he had been into Thailand twice before and the rules say you can only enter three times, but they finally realises that he had entered on 2 month visas the previous times so they would let him in without a worry. He was a little concerned for a few minutes. We arrived in Ubon (amazed by how civilised Thailand was – traffic lights, supermarkets…. oh it was incredible) and found accommodation for the night while we decided where to head next.