9th August, last of the Mekong river, 30km to Pakse
A short and pleasant ride into Pakse, where we decided to go “grand” since it was cheap (by Ozzie standards anyhow!). The Champa Grand Palace was built for a Champasak Prince back in 1969 but was left unfinished when the prince fled due to the communist revolution in 1974. Now…it’s a grand hotel although it was rather quiet, just a handful of guests to wander the grand hallways. But a lovely place to spend a night, and a fancy breakfast (which very oddly did not feature Laos coffee, despite being at the foothills of the Bolaven Plateau where most of Laos’ coffee is produced)
10th August, up to the Bolaven Plateau. 55 km and 1250 metres of elevation, enough to wear me out for the day.
In fact the incline wasn’t too terribly arduous as it was gentle most of the way…but it was also relentless and extremely damp. The drizzle settled in more and more the higher we went (yeah, go figure!)
40km in we detoured to check out the Tad Gneuang Waterfalls. A delicious and much needed lunch next to a fire of sticks helped us to dry out a bit before we did the touristy bit. (It’s a little bit cold up this high!) And a very impressive waterfall! Looks fairly innocuous from above, but it’s a different story from the low side 🙂
11th August- Paksong to Salavan
A long ride but mostly downhill!
Took a little detour to visit the Tad Lo waterfalls and have a spot of lunch at a lovely little riverside Cafe.
Salavan was a nondescript town but it did feature TWO Amazon coffee shops, and a great little restaurant where we had one of the best Laos meals so far.
12th August. A biggy…78km and 1040m of elevation
Today was toooo hard. 4km of steep “up” was about enough to do me in, and it was followed by what may on any other day have been pleasantly undulating hills…
But, the scenery was speccy as we descended to the tiny village of Ta Oy, and we entered further and further into the remoteness of Laos. Definitely not too many Westerners spotted in these parts, adults and children alike were fascinated by our presence, even though fleeting. Whole families gathered to wave us by, with the kids practising every version of “hello Falang” that they could muster.
A wander into the village found us some random buns and a dragonfruit to see us through tomorrow morning. And back to a very rustic looking eatery where we managed to get a request across for some fried rice and an egg. Google translate wasn’t helping too much until we realised that they’re actually all speaking Vietnamese here and only the odd little bit of Laos. Must be getting close to the border!
13th August, more hills and an attempt at the border…
71km and 900m elevation
Another strenuous day, and a some definite weariness as we approached the departure point at the Laos border knowing that there would still be a big climb on the other side before the Vietnam entry point.
The La Lay border crossing out of Laos is a tiny unassuming little settlement with barely any facilities. What it did feature however was three fairly officious officers who were out for a bit of entertainment.
My passport was duly stamped to exit Laos.
But Neil’s…well, here we go. Nope- only one passport allowed and as he entered Laos on the Australian passport he had to show a visa for Vietnam before they’d allow him to depart. Much arguing ensued, Neil was fairly adamant that his UK passport would be enough for a smooth entry into Vietnam. But to no avail- the head guy was also adamant, and seemed to find the situation somewhat amusing, insisting that he must trot off and secure an e-visa for his Aussie passport.
This also meant cancelling the exit stamp in my passport…more rigmarole.
So, you can just imagine the joy when we had to backtrack (yes with hills…) about 7km and find a guesthouse for another night in the wilds of Laos.
The official visa delivery time is three business days. Its Thursday afternoon. And neither of us could imagine spending five days in this town where it took four attempts to even find some rice to eat.
So, after much googling we found an effective but very expensive fastrack service to hurry the visa up and have it ready by the morning. $300 odd bucks later we cross our fingers that it will arrive as promised.
And that can wait for the next blog!
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