The Bolaven Plateau in Laos is well-known for its coffee, tea plantations and numerous beautiful waterfalls, so we rented a motorbike in Pakse to discover this area.
We spent two days driving around the plateau: the road itself was really nice, we were constantly surrounded by coffee plants. Every house on the side of the road seemed to have its own little private plantation and in front of each house, coffee grains were laid out to dry in the sun…
The region is rather big with a lot to see but we stopped only in a few places we’d selected before hand.
On our way to Paksong, we stopped at the incredible Tad Fan waterfall. The view-point on the forest surrounding and the 120 meter high waterfall was spectacular! Sitting on one side of the gorge we could see all the way cross the other side. It was just when we saw the long cable that met both ends that we realised it was indeed the perfect place for the ultimate zipline experience!
It was not long before one of the guides came over to talk us into doing it. We had done zipline before, but this one was impressive!
Since I am afraid of heights, I didn’t find the courage in me to jump, but Adrien was quickly seduced, and in need for some adrenaline it was not long before he was all geared up and ready to slide! I was happy with my decision when I saw him standing on the high platform ready to jump and watched from far how he slide all the way to the other side of the gorge!
After he came back (in one piece), we headed to Tad Yuang waterfall. Different but all so beautiful, and although it wasn’t that warm now that we were in the plateau, it was great to go for a swim under the waterfall!
We spent the night in Paksong, a small town with not much to do. The local market wasn’t very busy and we struggled to find a place to eat that didn’t also play super loud karaoke music. We had to hop on the bike again and drive down the main road to eventually find a more quiet local street food restaurant open. No English was spoken so we had to smell every dish available before we made our choice based on what seemed to be in the pots… and it turned out to be very good!
You know when you are in the place that is not usually busy with tourist when local people stare at you and laugh when they see you are not sure what you are eating…
The next day, after stopping for coffee delicious coffee in a shop owned by a Dutch man, very nice and friendly, we drove all the way to Tad Tayicseua falls. It took a long 2 hours drive through beautiful landscapes, a walk through a bamboo jungle infested by snakes (apparently), a few more steps through a muddy banana plantation to reach the most wonderful waterfall we’d seen! It really felt like we had landed right into the land of fairies and unicorns: the waterfall, the green vegetation, the flowers, the perfect full rainbow… It was almost unbelievable and worth the long way!
TheLittleVoyage 
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