Day 70

After breakfast Arjen took the initiative and started negotiating for the bikes. Apparently there are only three to rent and there were six of us so that meant doubling up on the bikes. I didn't fancy my first motorbike driving experience to involve a giant Dutchman on the back so I told Arjen I'd be happy just to sit on the back today.

1 The fuel stop

The ride was ok but after an hour or so we hadn't seen much apart from a dam at the foot of the nearby Bolaven Plateau. During one stop Patrick showed me the basics on the bike and I had a go on my own. It seemed straightforward enough and I wanted to do more, but I still didn't want to have a passenger so Arjen carried on the driving with me on the back.

2 Tad Lo falls (the proper ones)

We got back to our guesthouse/restaurant for lunch and Arjen enquired about a bus back to Pakse. He needs the second of three rabies jabs after being bitten by a wild monkey in Vang Vieng! The trouble was he'd missed the last bus and had to hope that a tour party would be in the area and heading back. He got lucky and left for Pakse - as he left he threw me the motorbike keys and I realised I'd get my chance after all.

During the afternoon we went in a different direction along the main road. After about 20km we found a huge market and Bas and Karen bought local style fishing nets for Bas's brother (a Dutch fisherman). I bought a pepsi from a stall where the locals seemed pleased to have some foreign visitors - between giggles they spoke their English well and it was nice to drop by and give them some custom.

I had to put some fuel in the motorbike and that involved visiting a wooden hut with two big oil drums. One was diesel and one was gasoline. Each had a hand pump which got the fuel from the drum into a five litre glass container at head height above each drum. The glass container was calibrated and gravity allows the fuel to be dispensed though a tube into the bike's fuel tank. I paid $1 for one litre and was on my way.

We'd heard that the waterfall we swam in the day before was not the real Tad Lo falls but some a further downstream. We took the bikes up to visit the elusive Tad Lo falls and had a look around - on the way I over took an elephant which was being led up the road by its owner.