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Chances are if you are looking for off the beaten track in Laos, the Pakse (Bolaven) loop has appeared in your search results. Well, us too! This is how it went for us.
Day 1 we had our free breakfast at Pakse Backpackers go on our semi automatic bike and set off late morning. We decided to do the loop clockwise, so our first stop was a waterfall and an abandoned resort. The road down to it was seriously bumpy and once we were down there it was pretty creepy. Not a jaw dropping stop, we would have happily skipped it.
The next stop was Mr Vieng’s coffee shop. We didnt do there tour, to be honest we aren’t all too interested in coffee beans. We did however get ourselves a drink, and looked through the handmade items they were selling (and the snakes in bottles…).
Next stop, the golden Buddha. Again, the road to get this did not resemble a road. This was just a quick stop, with some pretty impressive trees.
We then drove past the waterfall, before stopping in Tad Lo, our final stop for the day. We parked up at our home stay and headed to the waterfalls which were pretty impressive
We then headed back to Mama Paps for a nice meal, cold Beerlao and a few card games.
Day 2 we were woken up around 8:00- what even is a lie in? We decided to get up and get ready to set off to make it to our first destination by 9:30. This was going great, until it wasn’t. One of mamas large pancakes, a cup of coffee, bags packed, on the bike. Only for Mama to point out that out back tire was flat… she showed us where we could take it down the street to get some air in it. Apart from it didn’t just need air, it needed a new inner tube and then a new tire. Half an hour later, 450,000 Kip lighter and late for our morning plans we set off- and let me tell ya, we had a face on. ‘Ow much?!
We decided to do the extra loop before heading to Captain Hooks for the 13:30 tour. We drove past many villages, filled with waving children, rolling hills and a lot of cows on the road. It was all fun and games until we were faced with an incredibly steep incline where our bike decided to cut out and the breaks were not good enough to hold us on the hill. Off we went skidding down, feet dragging on the floor in an attempt to stop the bike. It ended with me pushing the bike while Will started it and drove up the hill leaving me to walk.
We arrived at Captain Hooks coffee plantation and homestay at 13:20 ready for the 13:30 tour. The tours last as long as you make them; if you ask a lot of questions, then the tour will be longer. “You never try, you never know” – Hook was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about different customs and herbalism.
We finished at captain hooks at around 16:00 and set off to Paksong. We were literally chasing the sun, as we realised that the headlight on our bike did not work and there are no streetlights. We arrived in Paksong, eyes peeled looking for a guesthouse to spend the night. We came across Savanna’s and checked out the room, there were a few too many spiders and the yellow walls seemed to reflect the dirt. We were both hangry, tired and cold. We left here and headed to a nearby restaurant to try rectify one of those issues. After a difficult conversation, with a lot of language barriers, we ordered our food.
Next, time to find an alternate guesthouse – we were still homeless. We found Xokbounmy Guesthouse, only issue, the road was closed and under construction. As we sat stumped on the side of the road, a local made the decision to show us how it was done and start driving down the said closed road. With a lot of skidding, and what seemed like a slipping clutch, we arrived at the guesthouse, checked the room and deemed it acceptable. The rest of the evening consisted of a long hot shower and some screen rot – we couldn’t quite believe the day we had had.
Day 3 started with a lie in, until we realised it was a 10 am checkout. Then we rushed to pack and were out of the door. We spent some time revving the bike to get it warmed up. It was not cooperative and was cutting out. We had a lacklustre breakfast at CC1971Cafe and then set off to find some waterfalls.
We visited Tad Yeung Waterfall first. This cost us 80k LAK, not enough the break the bank but we prefer free nature. You have to pay for each of the waterfalls in this section of the loop, so we felt like we had to take our time. You know, get our monies worth. We laid out on the grass people watching and admiring the nature. That is, until we saw the size of the spiders hanging from the tree above. We swiftly packed up and decided to find somewhere for lunch.
Over lunch, we discussed how much we really wanted to pay to visit waterfalls. Yes, every one is slightly different, but they are all just water cascading down rocks. We visited Tad Champee next: 65k LAK went for a cold dip and then watched the local children playing.
By the time we got back to the bike, we realised that we didn’t want to have to chase the sun again. We set off back, admiring the views once again. And before we knew it arrived back at our hostel. We got a quick partial refund for the puncture, went straight out for tea at Hassan Curry House as a treat after a long 3 days. Spent time decompressing in the shower and then headed onto our slab of wood bunks to try and get some much needed kip.
Was it worth it ? Probably not. If we were to do it again (which is very unlikely), we would probably head straight to Tad Lo to visit the free waterfalls there and grab some lunch. We would consider a night at Captain Hooks homestay as that was probably the highlight of the tour and is very budget friendly before heading back, stopping at a few waterfalls on the way.
Tight Travellers 