The Plateau
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
27
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Tadlo,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
We arrive at Pakse, about 700 kms to the south at around 7:00 a.m. We are barely awake, still rubbing the sleep from our eyes when several members of the southern chapter of the tuk-tuk mafia have boarded the bus to pick up rides. We don't even know where we are or where we have to go next. Turns out our bus to Tadlo goes from the Southern Bus Terminal which is, surprise, surprise, about 8 km's south
View From Our Bungalow at Tim
. We refuse to pay the 10,000K per person asking price and start walking (like we're going to walk 8 km, ha ha.). We're not halfway down the block when another sawngtheaw driver, apparently defying the mama queenpin, comes along and takes us both for 15,000. Ha! The scene at the terminal is nuts. Cows and chickens are running amok. Vendor carts loaded with cheap plastic shit move about, back and forth. Hawkers are yelling. Sawngthaews are coming and going, Music blares distortedly from bad speakers out front of black market cd shops. Luckily we are just in time for a 7:30 a.m. 'ordinary' bus that's marked 'Tadlo. Before we can even establish a price our packs are in the back and we are in our seats. It leaves at 8:00. More loud music blares from the speakers but it's good. Riding with the locals is always preferred. This is the milkrun but we are at the Tadlo corner about 85 kms to the east within a couple of hours. We had called ahead for a room again and got a nice little bungalow that sits on stilts over a fishpond at Tim Guesthouse which is located near a couple of waterfalls, including the Tadlo falls. It's only 30,000K a night--less than two dollars each!! Well, at that we did have to share the bathroom with other guests.
It's a great spot
Downtown Tadlo
. We are situated pretty much in the heart of the village, right around the corner from the main temple. As with most guesthouses in Laos, it's a family-run outfit and they live there. I think that's one of the things that lends itself to the Laos experience: although you are not integrating completely with the families, you do feel like you are living among them and that they are letting you into their lives as they carry on about their own business. Almost all of the guesthouses have restaurants and the food is freshly prepared with each order, to the extent that when you order fries, they cut and fry the potatoes then. That said, sometimes the food is mediocre. Other times it's fantastic. (Thai food is much better overall.) There are only a handful of guesthouses along our 'street' and maybe only a couple of dozen backpackers, tops. It's quiet and definitely off the beaten path. Many of the locals still look at you with curiouosity. Tom Restaurant across the street was consistently very good. A Brit who once visited the village helped a former elephant trainer with funds to start the place. A daily routine would be to have a late afternoon snack of fried spring rolls and cold beerlao at a place overlooking the falls and the rived and dinner later at Tom Restaurant. Tough life. On one occasion we walked the 2 km back up to the highway and had noodle soup for lunch with the locals
View of the Tadlo River
. Fantastic. As luck would also have it, the village had just completed construction of a new temple and received its first Budha. Apparently this is a really, really big freakin' deal. Three days of partying would ensue, starting the day after we arrived. We decided to add a day to our stay so we could check out the big, big party on day three (April 1), including the appearance of one of Laos' top contemporary bands who would earn 7,000,000 K (about seven thousand dollars--something the locals liked to talk about) to do the gig! Throughout the the three days, music played sporadically from a P.A. at all hours. At any given time, day or night, someone would get on the microphone and speak for what seemed like ever about who knows what. At times it sounded like prayer and sometimes like rambling random nothingness. It was funny, despite having sometimes having wakened me from a deep sleep.
We also had the opportunity to make an offering to the new Budha, placing it in a hole in his throat. It was supposed to be something small and of some personal value, not cash. I had been carrying a small Canadian flag patch and thought it would be perfect. The elder watching over the process wouldn't accept it
Villagers Washing
! He showed it to others and they all shook their heads. The big party was a riot. People from 14 villages were in attendance. There were rigged primitive gambling games. There was dancing and drinking and smoking. There must have been four or five hundred there, maybe more. The stage was massive, like a big concert stage with a pig p.a. and light riggings. The band would play a song and just about everybody would get up and dance (I no longer feel funny about my dancing style having seen how Laos people dance). As soon as the song ended they would scurry back to their tables and sit down. The front-man would talk and talk and then let out a slow ha...ha...ha...ha, as if pronouncing those words phonetically. Nobody would laugh. This sent me into hysterics. Then Andrew (Newcastle), who was sitting near me would look at me and the both of us would start laughing. The locals looked at us like we were cracked. Most of the falang left at around one. The party kept going through the night (didn't sleep much). The band played on in a similar fashion until 11 the next morning! Talk about earning your kip.
After I got up, I walked over to see what was going on. The band was playing as the stage was being dismantled around them. Dude was still doing his thing, talking away and fake-laughing
The Local Tuk-Tuk
. There was a table of about eight men still drinking beer and kids were running around the dance floor and climbing on the half-stacked chairs. The place was a mess. Bazaar. One day we rented a motorbike--a Honda Wave, 125 cc. four speed, around $18 including fuel--and drove the 150 km loop around the Bolevan Plateau. It took us about six hours including stops for lunch at Pakmong, a couple of waterfalls and a coffee plantation and a beer break not long before getting home. It was a hot day and we were chased by a thunderstorm but we managed to out maneuver it. The bike stalled four times. I've no idea why. After the second stall I had terrible visions of having to hitch a ride and pay an exorbitant sum to have the bike hauled back to Tadlo. Each time it would start right back up and we would carry on. Eventually I decided to keep it at 40 kms per hour and that seemed to help. It was a great ride and scenery was stunning.
It never ceases to amaze me how almost all of the children and many of the adult locals smile and wave and say 'sabaidii' ('hello', pronounced sabadee) as you drive or walk by. The kids are amazing. As you move about the surrounding area even more off the beaten path you realize they don't come across a lot of falang
Tadfane Falls
. Many of them stare at Vanessa like she's an alien. And I mean stare. When we stopped at the bar, two guys just sat eating and staring in a manner that westerners would consider rude. She got used to that sort of thing when she traveled in India and Sri Lanka. Otherwise, we spent most of our time chillin' at the bungalow, wandering around the village, walking along the river and swimming in the pool beneath the Tadlo falls. The water was incredibly warm. The village pace was slow and relaxing. There was the occasional thunderstorm which made it necessary to hang out on the porch of our bungalow and read. We slipped easily into vacation mode here. I guess it was much needed after some of the hectic travel in the north. It was hard not to.
A couple from California provided us with another special treat. Earlier one day they had purchased a live snake at the local market (that also sold live frogs and lizards) up by the highway and brought it back to Tom who had offered to make them snake soup. We arrived in time to watch to killing and scaling of the snake. Ritual dictates that 12 drops of the snake's blood are added to a beerlaos bottle full of laos laos whiskey and those present must have a drink. Doing so would enhance one's vitality or some such thing. When in Rome... Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to try the soup but interestingly, the snake could neither be cooked nor eaten inside the restaurant lest it's spirits haunt the place.
There is a notable difference between the north and the south. One is not better than the other but the south seems a touch friendlier whereas the northerners seem to have just a slight edge
Prepping the Snake
. It seems too that the south is a little better off. The villagers seem to have more. Everyone has a satellite dish for example. And it seems there are more cars and trucks about. I'm glad I was able to get right up into the northwest corner and then over to the north central region, down through the popular region and then into the south so I could really see and experience the many faces of Laos. After four days and four nights in Tadlo we would move to Don Det in the popular destination Si Phon Don (4,000 Islands) for a few more days of Laotian living and r & r.
