January 7, 2007 Pakse, Laos

January 7, 2007
Pakse, Laos

I woke up this morning at 6:30 and stayed in bed for another half our. At 7:00 I got up and showered. Just as I was leaving to use the internet (8:00ish) Spizz jumped out of bed and joined me.

As we were finishing up on the internet B came downstairs and joined us. The three of us then headed next door for some breakfast. Sadly, there were only 4 items on the breakfast menu. Even worse, it took at least 40 minutes for our food to come once we ordered.

After eating we returned to our room and got our things together for the day. Next, we hired a song tao for the day ($30). We had him take us up onto the Bolaven Plateau and to three of the better-known waterfalls. A young local accompanied us in the back of the vehicle. As we left town he sniffed some cocaine and asked if we would like some too. We all declined this strange offer…

Our first stop was the Tad Fan waterfall. We were dropped off at the gate and walked into the park area (5,000 Kipp fee). From a resort at the edge of a ravine we looked across the canyon at the waterfall. It was an incredibly large waterfall. We were all quite impressed by the falls. The water was coming falling so far that it made a spectacular noise as it hit the rocks below.

We wandered around the area and found a small path. Wanting to get closer to the waterfall we started hiking down. After about 20 minutes the trail dead-ended at the edge of a cliff. Still, we were treated to some awesome views along the way.

When we were finished admiring the waterfall we headed back to our vehicle and continued on our way. We then stopped at Tad Yueang waterfall. After a short hike we reached the dazzling falls. After taking numerous photos we made our way to the waters edge. As usual I felt the need to jump in the water.

Though it was initially cold, B and I swam around for quite a while. After climbing on some of the rocks we made our way to the edge of the pool and saw an awesome snake! He was bright orange and about three feet long. However, no part of its body was more than an inch thick. When we were done watching the snake cruise around we climbed some more rocks and then returned to Spizz.

We hiked back up out of the waterfall and then explored a few of the upper pools. Then, we sat down at a local restaurant for a quick bite to eat. Though the fried rice was much different than the stuff we have had before, it filled us up and allowed us to finish the day.

Our last stop of the day was Tad Paxuam waterfall. Once again our driver dropped us off outside the gate and we hiked in (with another 5,000 baht entrance fee). For some reason Spizz decided to complain for the entire walk to the falls. Even when we got there and found that it was amazingly beautiful he continued whining. After taking a bunch of photos we sat down at a restaurant overlooking the waterfall and the other boys ordered some fruit shakes (I just sipped my water).

A short while later we made our way back to the song tao and headed for Pakse. We got back into town at around 16:30. I made my way to a local travel agent and booked organized my return to Thailand. Then, the three of us used the internet for a few minutes.

When we were done B and I grabbed some dinner while Spizz played around on my computer. After eating we headed to a local massage parlor and relaxed for an hour. Upon returning to the room we sorted through some photos and chilled out.

Though it is already 21:00, we plan on watching and episode of BoB before falling asleep…