Bolaven Plateau

We booked a day excision to the Bolaven Plateau which is Leo’s principle coffee-growing region, the Bolaven Plateau is home to dense jungles and has a handful of refreshing waterfalls and a cooler climate. Reaching 1,500 metres above the Mekong river it is home to several Mon-Khomer ethnic groups, with the main aim for this trip is to go for an elephant ride. We set out at 8am, as we had a lot to pack in, the first stop was a tea plantation, local woman picking tea leaves and a small local boy, who must have been four years old was handing each of us a small prickly fruit as a present. This small boy was most entertaining. The tea fields were very picturesque and photos of the two ladies working and picking the leaves was very special. The as we walked back towards the bus the guide showed us a bomb crater and then went on to say the fields are littered with unexplored bombs and mines, yes the fields we had just been walking over. Next stop the tallest waterfalls in South Asia, very pretty, but only a short stop over as the next stop was to the coffee planting and trees directly followed by more waterfalls at Tat Lo. These waterfalls you could bath in, Bryan went for a dip and it was very refreshing. Next a small local village, for a good insight to how the local actually live. Mainly children about, a number of them smoking a home made bubble pipe filled with tobacco, these thirteen something girls where hooked on smoking. The poverty in the village was very apparent, animals running around, pigs, chickens. See the older people who were in need of medication. After an hour drive we reached a stopping point, beautiful waterfalls, small rickety bridge that the bus crossed. We had two hours here, and this is where the elephants were. We walked, well Jody was almost running to the elephants. Read more about the elephant ride on a separate diary entry. We left the waterfalls and started to head back to Pakse, just stopping at a local weaving village. At the village as soon as you made out that you wanted to buy some material all the local ladies came out of nowhere to sell you what they had made. So both Jody and Bryan bought some local material. Just a jammed packed day, and a day both of us will remember for the rest of our lives.