The overnight bus dropped us off in the centre of Pakse. Usually you get dropped off in the most inconvenient of places, so that was sort of nice. Most people were heading to the 4000 islands immediately, but Lena, Lucio and myself were planning on spending the night so we went in search of a guesthouse. We found a decent one on the main road, and Lucio and I decided to share a room.
We met for beakfast, Lao coffee (with condensed milk, which is really quite good). Lucio was exhausted, but Lena and I were both interested in seeing the Bolaven Plateau’s coffee plantations and waterfalls. We asked in a few tourist offices, but they wanted far too much money. There was a cafe that supposedly had its own plantation and offered private tours for free. We headed there but, after our second coffee, discovered the tours were no longer offered. We asked a tuk-tuk driver what he’d charge, and bartered him down to a reasonable rate. We threw on our bathing suits and hopped on board.
Our first stop was a family-run tea and coffee plantation. We sampled some tea and looked around the grounds, but bought nothing. The first waterfall was across a valley, so we could get a nice look at it, but weren’t close enough to feel the mist or anything of that sort. At the second waterfall, our driver, Mr. Luey, joined us on the walk down to the waterfall’s base. The water was cold, but Mr. Luey stripped down to his underwear and hopped in. Eventually Lena and I relented and joined him in the cold water. It warmed up a little, but was still mighty cold, even with the air around us so hot. After the waterfall we headed for lunch and made our way back to Pakse.
In the evening I headed to the market to see if I could find some clothes, but the selection was pretty weak. We had dinner after that and spent some time on the internet before going to bed.