What to do on the Bolaven Plateau 1


Tad Lo
Laos’s Bolaven Plateau is sandwiched between Thai and Vietnamese borders. It is not a thrumming tourist destination but it’s reputation for coffee and waterfalls is growing and many choose to settle down in Pakse and explore the Plateau to break up the journey from Thakek to Si Phan Don (4000 Islands). The name means Place of (Bo) the Laven People, and hints at the historic association between the land and ethnic minorities. “We are not Laos people” said Mr. Vieng as he showed us around his home stay ‘slash’ organic plantation on the first day of our trip. There was no hint of malice or ill-feeling in his voice, but the largely Animist population up here have distinct traditions, languages and identities to their countrymen, of which they are extremely proud.

 

Coffee

Mr. Vieng’s was just one of the many planned stops on the “short loop” around the Plateau. We decided to take the two day options as opposed to the much larger 4 or 5 day ride. The decision was partly based on our schedule with getting into Cambodia and partly based on the lingering pain in our backsides from riding to and from Konglor cave just a couple of days earlier.

 

Day 1

After a quick practice with the gears – to reduce costs we’d taken the plunge and hired a “semi-automatic” bike rather than our usual “twist and go” scooter – we set off, keen to leave Pakse behind us and get out into the country. We passed a coffee factory on our way out of town and the smell was incredible – I could feel a craving coming on.

 

Soon after town we spotted the sign for our first stop: Tad Pasuam waterfall. We took the side road and parked up, paying the 12,000 Kip entrance fee. Having had a pretty disappointing experience with a waterfall on the Loop we didn’t have very high expectations, but we followed the signs and the sound of falling water (a promising sign!) until we spotted the neat and pretty waterfall nestled in the woods.

 

TadPasuam

 

The signs said no swimming and, though we weren’t sure why, we obeyed and just perched on the rocks around the pool, soaking our feet and taking a few snaps. It’s a pretty place, nothing breathtaking but we were just happy to see a waterfall that actually had falling water and no scum floating underneath it!

 

Next stop not far down the road was Mr. Vieng’s. Mr Vieng is an organic farmer, growing mainly coffee but also a whole range of fruit, veg and of course rice. We settled down first for a cup of his own coffee, with complimentary peanuts and bananas (home produce of course). We took a small tour around the plantation; learning about the many stages of growing and preparing coffee and the different varieties he grows. As we wandered through the ground we snacked on coffee berries, tamarind and even ants (well Matt ate the ants!) – isn’t nature amazing?! It was an informative, fun and mainly delicious experience.

 

Coffee

Coffee 

Coffee

 

The final stop for day one was Tad Lor, a small village next to a wide, ranging set of waterfalls. After scouting out somewhere to stay we went to explore the falls and found hundreds of locals frolicking in the waters, enjoying the Songkran break in an ideal location. We joined them, posed for a number of opportunistic pictures, and turned in for the night.

 

Tad Lo
Tad Lo
Day 2

We were up early again and on the road in no time. We stopped for a warming noodle soup and then carried on the return journey. The plan for the second day was to stop off at a few waterfalls. The first one we came across was Tad Yuang. It was absolutely brilliant. A high fall, into a wide pool of water. It was perfect for swimming. We braved the chilly waters and enjoyed a really incredible swim, being sprayed by the white water. It was amazing to get right under the falls and look up at the cascade. It was just the right height: high enough to be really exciting to swim under but not so high it was ever going to be dangerous.

 

Waterfall

 

We dried ourselves while taking a few pictures and jumped back on the bikes. We stopped for lunch (another noodle soup…) and then had to drive up and down the same 10km of road a few times looking for the turning to get to the next stop. Tad Fane is a very big waterfall. A drop of about 120m can only be seen from a viewing point on the other side of the valley. It was a completely different experience to Tad Yuang, not quite as exciting but definitely as impressive.

 

By this time, we were feeling a bit tired of the back pain and the heat so we decided to skip the final two waterfalls and head back to Pakse. We rolled back into town and spent the rest of the afternoon winding down and preparing for our bus journey from lake into Cambodia the following day.

 

The Bolaven Plateau was a really charming spot; cooler than the city and quieter than “The Loop”. The coffee is great, the waterfalls and stunning and the people, much the same as everywhere in Laos, are friendly.

 

Tad Yuan


Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

One thought on “What to do on the Bolaven Plateau

  • bomb it 7

    I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with
    the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
    Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog
    like this one today.