Off On Our Next Adventure

A Flight to Pakse

Having done a lot of research on how to make our way south to Pakse from Vientiane, we finally reached the conclusion that it was going to be much more straightforward to fly instead of doing a 13 hour bus journey on rather average roads. Shaun and I had seriously considered the idea of renting a ute to do the Thakek Loop (most backpackers do it on motorbikes or scooters) but decided that it was going to be too much driving for the kids in a short space of time. Besides, there are some parts that you can only do off-road, on a motorbike. We’ve shelved that idea for a potential return trip one day!

We booked on Laos Airlines for the first time, and after an early check-in, we were eventually called to board our flight to Pakse. Out on the tarmac, a small propeller plane was waiting for us…we hadn’t encountered one of these for a very long time!

The flight was very comfortable, and we were even given free refreshments of a tasty little chicken roll, and a cup of tea, which was a pleasant surprise after so many budget flights.

From the plane, you could see the rainy season evidence in the countryside below, as we were coming in to land.

We arrived to a beautiful sunset before collecting our bags and getting a taxi to our hotel.

Soubandith Hotel

The entrance to our cheap hotel was deceptively grand, with an enormous chandelier, beautiful carved, wooden furniture, and a sweeping staircase to the first floor.

Oddly, the interior of this grand lobby also provided secure motorcycle parking! The disused restaurant area also hinted at the fact that this hotel had seen better days.

The rooms were very comfortable and spacious and did the trick for a couple of nights. We had the usual stinky drains in the bathroom, but we’re all kind’ve used to that now.

Health and Safety

While on our travels through SEA, we have a game that we play in memory of Steve, Shaun’s dad, who was a health and safety risk advisor to businesses. It involves spotting the most high-risk activity with the least safety precautions. In the photos below, you can see two workers balanced on a bamboo/plank platform in bare feet, making repairs to a roof on the fifth floor of a building.

No helmets, no high vis, no harnesses, and no boots. It was terrifying watching them work, especially seeing the bend in the platform on which they were balanced.

Alleyways and Markets

We were staying next door to Pakse’s main market, so we walked through it the following morning on our way out. They sold everything there, from rice to gold to household goods. It was full of the usual market food, including fish, meat, fruit and veges. The familiar smells of durian, mixed with dried fish, and BBQ woodsmoke from grilled meat, permeated the air.

We had already become acquainted with the alleyway where the market was located the night before, as it was the quickest route to our dinner restaurant. While walking down the unlit street in the dark, several dogs came running towards us, barking loudly and giving the kids a huge fright. Fortunately, a nearby worker chased them off, so we were free to continue on our way. Needless to say, we took the long way home after dinner!

The Friendship Mall

Like Vientiane, Pakse doesn’t have a lot to offer travellers, however the kids had spotted on Google maps that there was a mall there, so the next day, we took them to the Friendship Mall for a look around. It was a pretty modest mall by Southeast Asian standards, especially compared to the fancy malls in Thailand, however a series of excited exclamations erupted from Leo and Anna as we entered: “Look it has Dairy Queen! A Pizza Place! Fried Chicken! Korean Corn Dogs! Waffle Hugs! Sushi! A cinema! AND IT HAS AN ARCADE!!” Anyone would think that they’d never seen a mall before. In comparison to the dusty roadside stalls and shops in most towns and cities throughout Laos, this was much more like home.

I can’t wait to see them in action at Queensgate when we return to NZ…if appreciation of what they have at home has been one of the key objectives in making this trip, then we have 100% succeeded. Now that we’re more than halfway through our trip, homesickness is setting in, and almost every family mealtime involves a conversation about things they want to do when they get home, people they’re looking forward to seeing, and food they can’t wait to eat (pies, all kinds of cheese, fresh milk, NZ chocolate bars, NZ ice cream…the list goes on). They have also both redecorated their rooms inside their heads and are looking forward to realising their visions in person!

We ended up spending a couple of hours at the mall, browsing the shops and playing some of the arcade games. As the only Westerners there, we attracted a bit of attention. Shaun looked like Andre the giant in comparison to the locals, and teenage girls kept walking past secretly taking photos of him and the kids. Leo was popular with the older ladies, who stopped to squeeze his arms, and one asked him to be in a photo with her, and when Shaun and Anna were playing a game of air hockey, they attracted an audience of about 20 people. It was a bit of an insight into the lives of celebrities with all this attention!

Anna enjoyed partaking in a craft activity, painting a little carry bag with some of the local kids, painstakingly coloring within the lines. She was very pleased with the result. Meanwhile, Leo took some of his money off to play a claw machine and won a Pikachu plushie, which he was equally pleased with. It was fun to give the kids an afternoon of entirely their own choosing, and we reminded ourselves to include more opportunities for Leo and Anna to find activities and things they want to do in the places we visit.

They also had these cool little K-pop karaoke booths. Anna posed for a photo, but there were no English songs to choose from!

We had such a fun afternoon there, that we ended up going back to eat dinner there so the kids could get a corn dog each.

I was quite impressed that they actually made these up on the spot, rather than re-heating the display ones. Shaun chose pork and rice, and I got pork noodle soup, a comforting favourite.

We didn’t fancy another walk down a dark alley with dogs barking at us so we caught a tuktuk home, with three of us crammed in the passenger seat and Shaun riding as a pillion passenger.

Tourist Quotes

We had attempted to get quotes for a tour to the ruins of Wat Phou combined with transport to our next accommodation the following day. However, when the quotes came in at over a million kip (more than NZ$100) for something like this vehicle below, and 1.5 million kip (NZ$150) for a minivan, we decided to flag the tour and catch a local taxi directly to our accommodation instead, for the sweet deal of 370,000 kip.

Sabaidee Valley Resort

After only two nights and one day in Pakse, we took the thirty minute taxi ride out to Sabaidee Valley Resort in the Bolaven Plateau, where lots of agriculture takes place, including the cultivation of several large coffee plantations.

Arriving at Sabaidee Valley was a delight, as we were warmly welcomed by our host Pong and shown to our large, comfortable family room. When the kids saw the swimming pool, they were pretty stoked that we had three nights booked here.

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon, swimming in the cold but refreshing pool with its incredible view and then ate dinner in the restaurant there, which for an isolated resort in the middle of the countryside was actually pretty reasonable. Just as we were walking back to our room, the heavens opened, and there was a lot of overnight rainfall.

The Bug Place

Leo’s first reaction to Sabaidee Valley was of ecstatic joy when he saw the lovely spacious room and the amazing pool, however overnight, the rain brought a trail of ants inside the corridor, where they formed a line between our shoes, well, specifically Leo’s shoes (he must’ve stepped on some food) and their exit point, a gap in the door. Leo’s reaction to this was to completely reverse his opinion of the entire place, and write another rant about ants.

Bugs ‘n’ Breakfast by Leo

When we first walked in, the place seemed great. The pool looked amazing, and the sauna also looked cool, but then we found out there were lots of bugs such as mosquitos, dragonflies, and big red ants. The ants were annoying at first, but then overnight, an entire colony came into our room and got all in my shoes, no one else’s but mine.

The pool was fine, but it was ruined by all the dragonflies flying overhead. The sauna was the only good part because there were no bugs, and we were in the highlands, so it was cold. But then, when we had breakfast, they had the slimiest eggs. Normally I don’t like fried eggs unless they are cooked by my mum because I like the yoke runny which often causes the white to be runny as well but this time the omelette I had was 10% cooked and made me throw up twice and almost throw up a third time. My review is 2 stars because it had a sauna.

*To be fair on the Resort, Leo’s views were not shared by the rest of us, who were not at all fazed by the insects and found the breakfast to be alright, even though the eggs were generally underdone. Saying that, the ants did appear to gang up on the poor lad. I think his throwing up after breakfast was more to do with taking anti-malaria tablets on an empty stomach!

Tad Fan Waterfall

The next day, we had organised to do a portion of the Bolaven Plateau Loop, with a driver supplied by Sabaidee Valley Resort. Our first stop was at Tad Fan Waterfall, where we paid the 50000 LAK  entrance fee and made our way to the observation deck.

The waterfall was spectacular, made even more so by the rainy season fullness of the river.

In addition to viewing the waterfall and enjoying a coffee at the café there,  you could also zipline across the ravines between the waterfalls and even stop for a coffee in mid-air! Needless to say, none of us were interested in doing this activity as it looked utterly terrifying!

Tad Gneung Waterfall

Our next stop was Tad Gneung Waterfall, which was also an incredible sight. We walked past the restaurant with colourful bunting lining the path and loads of trees with datura-like flowers growing everywhere.

Bolaven Coffee Plantation

The Bolaven Coffee Plantation was a picturesque spot off the main road, where you could order a coffee and enjoy the view, as well as buying their products.

Shaun doesn’t drink coffee at all, and I stopped drinking it about three years ago, but I decided that since I was at an actual coffee plantation, I’d better try the coffee! I ordered an iced mocha, just to take things easy, and it was pretty nice (imagining that I actually like the taste of coffee). The kids both tried a sip too, and Leo really liked it, but Anna was not at all keen!

Driving through the Laotian countryside, we saw lots of these types of tractors, which have replaced buffalo power for a lot of farmers.

Agro Farm

Our last stop before returning to Sabaidee Valley was at a local farm called the Agro Farm, where they grew loads and loads of salad greens and veges hydroponically.

They were also growing thousands of tomato plants in a massive greenhouse, which made both kids nostalgic for their Koro’s tomato relish, having had many pre-harvest walks with my dad to his glasshouse each summer.

After a walk around the greenhouses, we ate a delicious, vege filled lunch at the cafe before making our way back to the resort.

The afternoon was spent at the pool again, followed by dinner. The evening downpours here were torrential, and cooled everything down to the point where at 870 metres above sea level, it was the coldest we’ve been on our travels so far (22 degrees in the evening)…I wore my jeans for the first time since I got off the plane from NZ. Finding this temperature ‘cold’ means two things: 1) that we’ve fully acclimatized to Southeast Asia and 2) that our return home to Wellington in a couple of months will take some serious adjustment!

A Rest Day

Our third day at Sabaidee Valley was a relaxing ‘home day’…the kids did a bit of homeschool maths, reading and writing, and we made the most of the pool and sauna.

There were bikes at the resort that we could use to get around the large property, so Anna and I had a few bike rides.

Later in the day, we enjoyed watching a family movie together. Days ‘off’ from travel are so nice…they’re like a lazy Sunday would be at home. We packed later in the day, ready for our journey to 4000 Islands the following day.

That evening at dinner, Anna managed to get to an impressive four stories in her card house building!

Moving On

In the morning, we were picked up by our driver at 10am and taken to Pakse, where a van would take us to Nakasong. Just before our journey, we had time to grab some baguettes filled with delicious homemade pate and pork slices from this lovely couple round the corner, so we were all set for our next adventure.