Waterfalls and coffee on the Bolaven Plateau

In the morning in Pakse, we tracked down some nice "foe" for breakfast, which is very similar to the Vietnamese "pho" (although not quite as good). We hired a moped and headed off to the Bolaven Plateau. I was a little bit worried about the distance as I'd never driver that far before on a bike. It turned out to be no problem getting there and the first waterfall, Tat Fan was certainly quite a drop, although there wasn't all that much water in it and we didn't fancy the long hike down the side to the bottom where we'd presumably have got a full view of it. The second waterfall, Tat Yuang, was actually much nicer, although to as high. People were swimming above and below the falls, and there was a lovely picnic area at the top.

Tat Fan (waterfall)

Moonflower in front of coffee

After the waterfalls we wanted to go to a tea or coffee plantation, but we didn't really know what to look for. In the end we just kept on driving until we got to the town of Paksong, hoping we'd be able to get a decent cup of coffee. The town seemed to be tiny, but we'd spotted a "fresh coffee" sign on the way in, so we stopped off. It was a very nice little coffee shop run by a dutch guy called Kofee. His coffee wasn't actually much use, but he apologised for it being weak and explained he couldn't grind any more becuase the electricity was down now, so he gave us it for free.

Moonflowers

He also ran tours of coffee plantations from there, but we didn't really have the time for a full tour now, because we had to get back in time for the night bus leaving, so he showed me what a coffee plant looks like so that we could look out for them on the way back. It turned out that almost all the plants we'd been pasing on the way were coffee or tea, the one exception being moonflowers, which seem usually to be planted next to the road infront of the coffee. I wondered if it was for the same reason as the roses planted at the end of grape vines i.e. to give early warning if the plants are in need of attention, but I've not yet found out. We made it back in plenty of time for the night bus to Vientiane.

Waterfalls and coffee on the Bolaven Plateau

Ban Pakthon, Laos