Coffee and waterfalls

Bolaven Platue is elevated region in southern Laos. It is famous for coffee plantations - which are very popular between Thai tourists, waterfalls and great nature. Most of the tourist finish their route in the quite big city Pakse. If you travel further, basically is difficult to hit any white face around. 

The capital of province is Attapeu, very quiet on the way to Vietnamese border. There is big market with Chinese products, few small hotels, people afraid of white face and poor restaurants. I was hoping to make a loop around area, but roads south of Attapeu are terrible, so I came back almost the same way traveling more south.

Well, let's see how the Bolaven Platue looks like. It is amazing to see the landscape it is. Just at one moment the place rise approx. 1000 m about the ground level and thanks to that you get that many waterfalls around.  

I have seen few waterfalls in Thailand, smaller or bigger ones, but they didn't have much water due to dry season

Hello !! Traveler !

The most popular waterfalls are actually "on the ground" of some hotels of resorts and in order to see then you need to pay. Some hotels are very nice placed and as well at pretty good standards, with overview on the waterfall. Still worth it, so pay few thousands kips and enjoy :)

A lot of water. That means you can get wet......

Filmik z wodospadu. Moze zadziala :)

Laotian traveler :D

There as well smaller waterfalls. Those are for free :P

Most of the waterfalls are having access from the bottom. Here standing at the top of one.
A bit higher, there was a Buddhism temple.

A paper for each day of the month. Or for something else. No one was there and I couldn't ask....

Flower :)

Coffee. The real one :)

This particular coffee plantation, makes money mainly on tourists, renting rooms, serving nice cakes. Very nice and clean place, with some artificial waterfalls, gardens visited by many important and well know people.

A waterfall on Mekong. Not that high, but pretty wide.

Some local religion monuments. There were quite a few around, like a park and alleys between them.

Even one local guy was around to take me a picture :D

Plateau from the side. Impressive. Off course all around rice paddies.

Some local government office. Small......... Please tell me that Laos is such a poor country. Poor only for normal people. If you are in the politics - that's a different story......

Red soil everywhere. Super slippery if it get;s wet......

If you don't have a place to park. Find a banana plantation, proper tree and even rain is not a problem :D

If you haven't seen. Banana flower and bananas over :D

As for most of my time in Laos. It was raining almost every day.........

Sometimes roads are not exactly as you wish them to be.........

Tad Lo. I think this is most popular waterfall, but for me I got to some which were far better and wild.

After few days on Plateau, I went further south to famous laid back destination at Mekong called Si Phan Don - Four Thousands Islands. This was a place to relax a bit more, rest before a new part of my journey into Cambodia.

At first you need to get there by ferry. Bridge is being built and any time soon you will get there directly.

I have heard many stories how great place is and almost everyone suggested to go there. In reality wasn't exactly anything special. One thing was for sure good, the hotels. You can get really nice, fairly new hotel for good value(still far more expensive then Thailand) with two buses of Thai tourists partying hard all weekend gratis. I got my self a room in smaller hotel(I was the only guest) with a view on Mekong river(damn, it is a big river.......) and bike parked in the living room of the hotel owner.

Inside of the temple somewhere on the island.

You can travel on boat between islands, even to Cambodia for some short time and make a loop around island. There few small temples and rice paddies. Paddies everywhere.

Isn't that green beautiful?

Hola !! Farang !!!

In the end I like the place for chilling out. Very nice food in restaurants, cold beer with ice, wifi was working well and simply doing nothing for some days is all what you want.

On the way back to mainland in early morning I didn't catch main big ferry. Instead 3 long tail boats connected, small engine and woala - I'm on the other side :D

Just before Cambodia border you can visit Pha Pheng Falls. Biggest waterfall in southeast Asia. They are not pretty, high or even nature around is not special as everything is surrounded by food stalls, small theme park and hotels. Very popular place, but I was there very early in the morning, so I even didn't pay the entrance. Quick picture with huge, huge, huge amount of water passing(it is fall on Mekong) - very noisy as well and I left to Cambodia :)