Bolevan Plateau Motorbike trip report

Bolevan Plateau Motorbike Trip Report:

Doing the Bolevan Plateau by motorbike was a must on my list of things to do in Laos as I had heard many rave reviews from fellow travelers. As a motorbike enthusiast it didn’t take much to twist my rubber arm. Reaching Pakse from Tha Khaek I found that there was not a lot to see or do there other than it serving as a base for touring the Bolevan Plateau. Originally I had wanted to hire a Honda XR250 but the only place that had them, Lankham Hotel, also had carte blanche on the offered price of 275,000 Kip ($35)! As that was even more expensive than renting a CBR250 in Thailand and hearing that the off road section between Attapeu to Champasak was impassable, I decided to go for the cheap 4 gear semi-automatic 110cc for 70,000Kip/day. I packed a small bag for my trip and stored my large bag with Lankham Hotel and hit the road. 

As the clock on my odometer increased, so did my smile. Driving on a bike has always given me a sense of freedom while feeling the wind and juicy bugs hit my face. The road was asphalt and made for easy driving so it didn’t take me long to reach my first destination: Phaxouam Waterfall. I’ve been disappointed so many times while in Asia as any river with an elevation drop of more than one meter is classed as a waterfall. Therefore the ‘waterfall’ with a 2m drop didn’t impress me nor did the ‘ethnic village’ which was all set up for tourists with people posing in traditional garb in a human zoo. I was eager to move on to spend time at a recommended homestay in Tad Lo. The scenery along the way was lush and green broken by little villages where animals roam free and kids ran around naked. Friendly waving locals sat underneath their stilted wooden houses listening to music which had a constant “toonk-toonk” beat in the background. Spotting a “Fresh Coffee and Homestay” sign I decided to have a rest.

The coffee served there was home grown, roasted and ground in the same place. The owner was extremely friendly and had a wealth of information regarding coffee. It was a worthwhile stop and also nice to see village life. My next stop was Tad Lo and as I arrived early I decided to go and see the waterfalls. There were various falls in the area and I made my way to the one furthest upstream. Getting off my motorbike I heard the sound of kid’s laughter. Hiking upstream I saw the source of all the commotion: a bunch of kids were swimming just above the waterfall, sometimes also jumping over the falls into the water down below. Their laughter was contagious and I couldn’t help but smile at them having fun. 

Feeling hot and dehydrated I decided to find my recommended homestay. “Mama” was just as friendly and welcoming as my friend said and she made me feel welcome right from the start. Quick to smile and serving “big food small price” I knew my intended one night was going to extend to more. Later that afternoon I went for a drive taking in the beautiful landscape and seeing village life. At one of the resorts they were bathing elephants, drawing a large crowd of snap happy tourists with me being one of them. Driving further along, I also happened upon another large waterfall which only had a small trickle of water due to it being dry season. It covered a large area with a high drop and I could only imagine that it must look pretty impressive during wet season.  

Mama’s friendliness drew a big crowd of foreigners and there were around 20 travelers there every night, mostly for eating but there were around 12 of us sleeping in her homestay. While having dinner we heard rumors of a local party which became reality when a local stopped by with his Laos tractor and trailer inviting us to come along. It was difficult moving at all after Mama’s large dinner portions but we made an effort and sardined ourselves onto the back of the trailer. The party was interesting to say the least. Being a foreigner in a small remote Laos village is a little like being the freak in a circus show. People openly stared open-mouthed at us while sneakily taking photos and I was expecting to get prodded by a stick at any moment. 

There was a stage with large speakers and a DJ talking between songs ending each sentence by a “ha, ha, ha!”. Every time a song started the locals would swarm to the dance floor and when the music stopped they rushed back to their seats as if running away from an angry water buffalo. There were many groups of people shouting around small groups while gambling. I was surprised to see kids as young as 10 drunk and gambling or dancing with sunglasses and plastic toy guns – a little disturbing though…The kids dragged us onto the dance floor and I kept seeing locals sneaking shots of us with their cameras. It is not every day they see white people and many times I was treated like a movie star. It does have its drawbacks though as all the locals demand a toast of lao lao whisky leaving one with round feet in no time.  

Joining us also for the party were two wide eyed water buffaloes tied to trees. They didn’t share our festivity and obviously didn’t like the party, glancing with large white eyes. Somehow they must have sensed that their end was nigh…One of the locals told us that they would get slaughtered the next day by first being hamstringed and then stabbed with a spear bleeding out and dying slowly. I thought it cruel but then again it is tradition for them. I wanted to see the ceremony the next day which meant getting up at 4am to see it happening at 5am. Due to my lao lao alcohol induced slumber, my alarm didn’t wake me the next day and when I finally did make it to the place around 10:00am I was told that after the buffaloes were killed, they were slaughtered and the meat distributed to the villagers.

Feeling a little under the weather from partying the previous night, I spent most of the day reading my book whilst swaying in a hammock. I finally managed to drag myself away to go and take slow shutter photography of the waterfall using the low light to my advantage. While walking back a local guy standing next to a mini-van approached me asking if I wanted to join him for dinner with a few of his friends. I thought what the hell and said yes after which we drove to the same village as the night before. His friends ended up being the same locals I partied with the night before and it didn’t take long before I had the hair of the dog which bit me the night before. The only new face to our group was a ladyboy who was getting a little too friendly for my liking. When Mr. Minivan asked if I wanted to join him for another party in another village I made my escape from the not too subtle advances from Ms/Mr Ladyboy – freedom (or so I thought…)!

The cause of all the local festivities was that the Asian New Year was drawing closer. Even though it was another 2 weeks away, the locals used any excuse to have a good party. Yet again there was a big stage set up with performers, food and drink stalls and kids and adults alike gambling around a make-shift painted cloth. I was seated with Mr. Minivan and some of his friends around a table when Ms/Mr Ladyboy strolled in. She shared another table with, to my surprise, more ladyboys. I really didn’t think that there would be so many in such a small village in the middle of nowhere. I found it interesting that prostitution, being gay or a ladyboy, in a conservative Buddhist country (especially as one of the ladyboys was wearing a mini-skirt that barely covered well), appears widely accepted. I had a good time that night partying with the locals even though I was posing for numerous pictures with them. At that time both Ms Ladyboy and Ms Short Miniskirt were trying their luck with me. With the evening advancing and intoxication levels increasing so did the persistence of the two ladyboys. It came to a point where I asked Mr. Minivan to take me home. All in all though it was a fun evening out seeing how the locals have a party.

Not wanting to chance another party for the 3^rd night in a row I decided to make a move. A friendly Australian guy called Aaron and Marianna, a Dutch girl joined me for a stretch of the way. From Tad Lo we drove east and turned right towards Sekong where we said good bye to Marianna. After that Aaron and I did a quick stop at Tad Feak Waterfall and from there continued south where we turned right on the dirt road towards Paksong, to see the Tad Katamtok Waterfall. The road was in bad shape and with road works along the way we bumped and slid over bumps, potholes and loose dirt. It took us longer to reach the falls than we intended and we were happy to finally reach it. We decided to brave the steep hike down the hill to see the waterfall more clearly. It didn’t take us long to get lost after which we bush wacked our way through the dense foliage with UXO’s and snakes haunting our thoughts. Luckily we didn’t get blown up or bitten by a snake and were rewarded with an amazing view of the falls.

Also enjoying the falls were a group of locals, who were there having a picnic. They left just as we arrived, leaving behind their rubbish of beer cans, plastic bags and polystyrene containers. I will never get used to the way that Asians simply throw rubbish on the road, out windows, in water, everywhere! Even so, we enjoyed the view of the waterfall but as it was getting dark it was time to move on. We took a visible path back to the top which was much easier than going down, although going down was more fun (of course). Reaching the top we saw the picnic party who invited us to have a beer. We were very grateful as it was a long steep climb to the top leaving us drenched and dehydrated - it was just what we needed! We posed for photos with cameras appearing out of nowhere after which we said our goodbyes trying to reach Attapeu before dark. When we reached the main asphalt road again it was already dark. We stopped at another random village fair and ordered noodle soup (foe) which came with a broth, rice noodles, fresh herbs, raw veggies and an unknown meat. The meat had a wild taste to it, so I fed what I thought was dog to another dog that was begging with large doe eyes underneath our table. 

Driving in the dark to Attapeu was dangerous as we passed many motorbikes with no lights or vehicles passed us at neck breaking speed. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we finally checked into a hotel. While we were chilling out trying to make sense of the television shows, I saw one of the weirdest commercials ever. It was a thrush commercial which showed a ‘real’ Lao girl wriggling uncomfortably on her office chair after which she disappears into the toilets. From her handbag she pulled out a box of tablets and swallowed one. Suddenly funny cartoons found themselves in a dull pink tunnel attacking and killing sneering black bacteria cartoons. After that, the tunnel/vulva takes on a bright shiny sheen resulting in cheering and smiles from the cartoon heroes and also to the (back to the original girl) office worker. We both stared at each other dumbfounded before bursting out laughing! It was so random!

The next day we found a restaurant for breakfast and said our goodbyes. Aaron wanted to ride via the dirt road to see more waterfalls where I wanted to brave the section labeled “impassable” by all the motorbike rental companies. I had heard rumors from another traveler that it was indeed possible to do so I decided yet again to ignore “good advice” from tour companies. The first stretch of road was good and I covered a lot of ground quickly, stopping every now and then to ask stunned looking locals which way to Champasak. I filled up with fuel and bought some food when I reached Sanamxay and took off from there. While asking directions all the locals pointed me in the right direction although not quite believing they were seeing a lone Westerner on a motorbike heading into the middle of nowhere. After a while I was suddenly confronted by a big river which was both too deep and wide to cross. The locals pointed upstream so I followed another road, not knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to see a small ferry consisting of one local on top of a platform on top of 3 wooden canoes. For 5000Kip ($0.63) I found myself on the other side and also with a travel companion: a local indicating he was heading to Champasak. 

The road we took from there was a single track that ranged from bad to worse. We bumped our way over rocks and splashed our way through puddles and ravines while dodging chickens, dogs, kids, ducks and water buffaloes. I was glad I had a dust mask as playing follow the leader with my travel companion proved very dusty on the dry dirt roads. After not too long we found ourselves at another river crossing. The only thing wide about the river was the smiles portrayed on the faces of a group of locals grinning knowingly at us. The river was too deep to cross although the friendly locals were there to help out – for a fee of course. Knowing that I was getting ripped off but with no other option I paid 40 000Kip ($5) which prompted the locals to get busy. From out of nowhere came bamboo poles which they inserted through the spokes of the wheels and two on a side, carried my motorbike across the river – ingenious! I could only smile at the group of happy entrepreneurs who smiled at me knowing they made a quick buck (or more).

After that we passed through a bamboo forest, dodging bamboo poles waiting to impale any driver not paying attention. Then, suddenly, a good double road appeared where we could pull open the throttles of our bikes feeling at least like we were covering ground. We reached Ban Khiet Ngong around 4pm where I treated my motorbike companion to a meal and beer. From there I drove as fast as I could, trying to reach the Wat Phou Temple in Champasak before it got dark. At one point I saw a sign for Wat Phou where I turned left only to be confronted with a very wide river- it was time to board another small local ferry. Reaching the other side I yet again followed signs for the temple, riding along a dusty dirt road and reaching the temple just before dark. With no over-full tour buses around there was also no security and I was free to walk in by myself – just the way I like it! It was nice to take photos while soaking up the serene atmosphere of Champasak. 

Leaving Wat Phou temple I drove back to Pakse in the dark and in doing so completed my 4-day Bolevan Plateau motorbike trip. I loved every minute of it and can highly recommend it to anyone who loves motorbiking or with a sense of adventure. There was nothing not to like as the locals were extremely friendly and hospitable while the country offered beautiful views with lush green surroundings and loads of waterfalls.  I will fondly remember “Mama” from Mama Paps homestay as well as partying with the locals and enthusiastically toasting pretty much every sip of my beer. Dancing with the energetic kids was also fun while witnessing all the crazy local traditions of the villagers also left a mark in my memory.  

The end………………………….