Throughout the night I just sat there in my chair waiting for the bus to arrive in Pakse. It did just that soon after sunrise and as I piled off the bus I found Patrick and Samantha and asked what they fancied doing here. They wanted to go to a nearby waterfall to stay the night at a plush resort. I wasn't overly keen on the idea but Arjen (my over-sized co-passenger) suggested that if the place was really night it might be worth it to stretch the budget. If not we could go to another waterfall with more accommodation to choose from.
Patrick, Samantha, me and Arjen had formed a little committee group at the side of the road with our lonely planet guide books on our laps as we figured out what to do next. This process is always made more difficult by touts asking "where you go to?" and peering over your shoulder at the books. Sometimes I wish you could yell "**** off and leave us alone just this once please!". Two new faces were in our group - Bas and Karen (also Dutch) and they both seemed keen on the waterfalls too.
We started negotiating with a nearby tout who hadn't given up on us yet. He had a tuk-tuk van and would take us anywhere we wanted for the right fee. Arjen did well in getting the price pretty low for the hour ride to Tad Fane waterfall - if that was not so good we could always continue on to Tad Lo with the same driver. Soon we were on our way and I didn't mind the conversations in Dutch along the way since I'd had no sleep and wasn't really up for chit chat. The roads were dusty and I put my head in my hands to avoid getting it in my eyes - the tuk-tuk vans have roofs but only bars as side walls.
The resort at Tad Fane was really expensive - $32 a night for fairly ordinary bungalows. It's high price wasn't really justified by being the only hotel at this particular spot. Since we had already been to the waterfall's viewing point and taken photos there seemed even less reason to stay. It's an impressive double waterfall - 120 metres high - but that means you can't get close or swim at the bottom. We trekked back to our driver and got him to take us another hour and a half to Tad Lo. Tad Lo is a smaller set of falls but there are restaurants and guesthouses and it was a much better spot to stay a night or two. I checked into a $5 room with just a fan, a bed and a mosquito net! The shared bathroom was funny - a cold water pipe for a shower and the toilet had no lid on the cistern. That meant a jet of water shot up to the ceiling each time you flush. I had a technique for flushing the loo then rushing out through the door to avoid the water. Enough water would eventually fall back into the cistern and stop the flow! Swimming at Tad Lo was a bit disappointing since the current is harsh and the pool at the bottom is lined with jagged rocks to cut your feet on. I liked walking around the falls though and you could climb right into them and behind the water. In the evening the group started discussing renting motorbikes the following day to explore the area with. I haven't ridden on a motorbike before and fancy learning soon so that I can hit the roads on the Thai islands (away from the crazy mainland traffic of course!).
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Pakse Hotels
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