Pakse 25th-27th April

Pakse is the capital of the Champasak region and starting point for visits to the Bolavan Plateau.
Another Mekong river side town which, as with a lot of southern Laos, is very close to Thailand and Vietnam, and because of this Vietnamese style noodle soups and Thai food are abundant. In fact our guesthouse had the most popular noodle shop in town on its ground floor and after a beef noodle soup for breakfast amongst dozens of locals it was obvious to see why people gathered here.
Giant pots on charcoal burners with boiling soups, piles of noodles, containers on each table full of green beans and the line of people getting noodle soups to take away.

After breakfast we joined a 1 day tour of the Plateau, maybe an hour’s drive from Pakse. The small villages were teeming with small children, tea and coffee plantations and of course waterfalls. We stopped off for an espresso at a fair trade coffee farm which was actually very good. We took in the sights of three different waterfalls, including a giant one 120 metres high from memory.
We stopped and had lunch and took a dip with the local teenagers who offered us some of their beer lao drunk from cups made of cut in half soda bottles.

We took a small walk around a village that had been created to show of the different types of housing that different tribes used, and before we knew it we were back in the van. I think more time and maybe an independent approach would suit the plateau area but the tour showed us the main points with the knowledge of a guide.

We found a flancy (flash and fancy) hotel that had a roof top bar and enjoyed a beer lao or 3 while watching the sunset.