2 days on the scooter on the Pakse Loop

After Vang Vieng, we took the bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. But only for one night, as there was not much to see or experience here for me.

So, we continued by bus to Pakse. The city itself is nothing special, but from here you can do a multi-day scooter tour to the Bolaven Plateau and experience Laotian countryside life. At Miss Noy's, we got a brief introduction to the scooter loop the evening before. Due to some recent attacks on the long tour, I quickly decided for the shorter route. The next morning, together with Steph and Freddy from England, we set off. Surprisingly, the roads were relatively good and the Laotians very friendly, with children waving at us happily. We passed fields, simple houses, and coffee plantations, always on the lookout for free-roaming cows, pigs, and chickens. At Mr. Vieng's coffee plantation, we made a stop and enjoyed the delicious coffee and the tour of the plantation. We learned interesting facts about coffee cultivation and the life of the indigenous Laotian population in rural areas. We were amazed when the children picked and ate loud cicadas from the trees with a stick covered in something sticky at one end. The ants also seemed to be a tasty snack.

We continued to the small village of Tad Lo. Here we found simple, and I mean really simple, guesthouses and ended the day with a swim in the nearby waterfall. The next morning, we visited Mr. Hook in his village. The villagers belong to the Katu ethnic group, who live in the mountains along the river. Many of the villagers don't like white tourists because they consider them all to be Americans and they are not happy about all the bombs (Laos is one of the most bombed countries in the world, with thousands of unexploded ordnances lying around). Mr. Hook told us in good English (he preferred to learn English for the tourists because he was too lazy for field work) about life in the village and the customs. The residents are animists and believe that everything in the world has a spirit and that evil spirits are driven away through animal sacrifices. Children get married at the age of 8, have children at 13, and polygamy is allowed. A completely different world.

After this interesting detour, we still got to admire the highest waterfall in Laos (Tad Fane) and cool off with a swim in the Tad Yuang waterfall.

After 2 long but great days on the scooter, I was also looking forward to returning to the hostel in Pakse and washing off all the dust...