Southern Laos - Bolaven Plateau

Depuis Pakse, nous nous lançons à la découverte du plateau Bolaven, réputé pour son climat propice aux plantations de cafés et pour ses nombreuses cascades. Le long de la route, s’élevant progressivement jusqu'à 1300 mètres d’altitude, on fait sécher les grains de cafés sur de grandes bâches et on prépare les jeunes plants.

After our good experience with the Lao bus system, we decided to “fast track” the 400km from Thakek to Pakse which were once again many dried up rice fields. Pakse is located at the base of the Bolaven plateau, an area at 1300m altitude known for its cooler climate, coffee plantations and many waterfalls.

 A Paksong, nous faisons la rencontre de « Mister Coffee », un hollandais amoureux du café, installé là avec son épouse lao sienne depuis 4 ans. Il nous fait découvrir les plantations aux alentours avec son merveilleux accent hollandais verrry typique ! Il nous montre ensuite comment torréfier à la main les grains de café et nous fait déguster quelques délicieuses tasses. Ce café est, parait-il, mondialement connu pour son excellente qualité.

After a long and hot climb, we arrived at Paksong where we met “Mr. Coffee”, a Dutch guy who was in love with coffee and run a small café. (Smallest menu I have seen: coffee, tea or hot chocolate). We decided to join his daily tour through the local coffee plantation belonging to the family of his Lao wife, which he made a pleasant experience with his very strong Dutch accent and his bad jokes (he admitted that they were bad himself!) Back at his café he taught us the process of coffee roasting and let us drink as much coffee as we wanted. Best coffee we had in Laos!

Après avoir profité de splendides cascades sous le soleil, la route tout comme le temps commencent à se dégrader lorsque nous repartons plus à l’est. Avec la pluie, la piste de terre se transforme en boue qui colle aux pneus et bloque les vélos. Nous devons régulièrement l’enlever pour pouvoir continuer … sous les rires moqueurs de quelques singes perchés dans les arbres. Nous ferons cet après-midi la une vingtaine de kilomètres, bien loin des 60 prévus pour rallier la prochaine ville. Au village de Ban Meun Noua, nous demandons alors aux premiers villageois si nous pouvons rester pour la nuit. Avec leur accord, nous plantons la tente dans l’obscurité à proximité du puits. Une douche pour se décrasser sous une infinité d’étoiles, quel luxe!

Once again we had the difficult choice between a direct route on an asphalt road or a longer scenic route on dirt roads. As previously, we opted for the second option.

Drinking one cup of coffee after another at Mr. Coffee’s café, it was already in early afternoon when we left Paksong. Except for a few patches in construction, the dirt road was in a fairly good condition and we advanced well. Nevertheless, it was already dark when we arrived at our first destination, a small homestay with a lovely family, so that we only realized the following morning that we had arrived in a small paradise: a massive lush garden with several beautiful waterfalls in walking distance. After the obligatory trip to a waterfall and a swim in the river, we hit the road in the early afternoon, a couple of hours ride planned to cover 50km to the following destination. How little did we know...

The dirt road soon turned into a large construction site with large patches of sand and a lot of dust. The difficult road conditions were made even more strenuous when the weather turned against us. We were lucky though and found a shelter when the rain started to really pour down. After about two hours we got back on the road, just to realize that the rain had turned the road into a large battlefield: the ground had turned into mud which stuck to our wheels blocking the bike. We did not have much choice in the matter though, so we advanced very slowly and continuously had to stop to take off the mud. When it started to get dark we had only done about 25kms. In the first village we passed we asked the locals for permission to spend the night and so we set up our tent near a water pump. Another night of instant noodles under a clear sky full of stars!

Le lendemain, une bonne partie du village est rassemblée autour des vélos, puis de la tente lorsque nous faisons visiter son intérieur… Nous nous amusons à leur mimer l’utilisation de différents objets de camping sous leurs regards pleins de curiosité. Nous déjeunons avec un peu de riz offert par une famille puis continuons la route dans de meilleures conditions jusque Tat lo, connu pour ses cascades .Nous nous émerveillerons surtout devant le bain journalier des 3 éléphants du village.

The following morning we had a lot of visitors: now in the daylight our tent was clearly visible and the locals were very curious about all the “strange items” that we had with us. With our hands and feet and a lot of laughter we showed them the different uses. One of the families was so kind to offer us some rice which made a good breakfast with a mango and soy milk. Soon after this we were back on an asphalt road cycling to Tat Lo, a well known place for its waterfalls. In Tat Lo we particularly enjoyed watching the feeding and daily bath of some local elephants.