Continuing south from Thakhek, we arrived in Pakse.
Pakse is the second most populated city in Laos but the region is most famous for tourists for its high concentration of waterfalls. Here again, one can rent a scooter and ride a 2 to 4 days loop around the waterfalls. But it was raining on our first day so we weren’t too excited about riding in the rain. So we just hung out around the town for a day. We went to the market in the morning, where we saw women testing tobacco to buy in stock. A tiny pet monkey in a bright jacket was jumping around near the entrance.
In the afternoon I went walking alone. I met with people playing pool (for money) in a house, and got invited to another house to share some beer and a fish salad dish. At the temple, a few kids were very happy to pose in front of my camera.
Laos has about the same level of awareness as India about plastic pollution. From north to south I have seen locals litter plastic waste and if they weren’t such a small population, the country would quickly be a giant dump ☹️. Collecting rivers across all Southeast Asia, the Mekong is apparently one of the big contributors to the great pacific garbage patch.
The next day looked a bit drier so we rented a bike for just a day trip around some waterfalls, without doing the whole loop. Still we managed to cover 4 different waterfalls sites in a single day. Except poor Mary, who was not feeling well and we left her sleeping all afternoon at the restaurant where we had lunch, only to pick her up in the evening.
That was enough of Pakse for us; we’ve already spent a week more in Laos than we had planned for and we won’t have much time left for Cambodia. So we took the morning bus to Don Det, in the « 4000 islands on the Mekong », our last stop in Laos before crossing to Cambodia.
Don Det is a laid back island destination with beaches on the Mekong river. The center is quite busy in the evening with backpackers parties but further south is much more quiet.
Our german host in Mama Laeuh guesthouse offered really good food, including schnitzels and cordon bleu. Our german travel companions were delighted and we spent most of our time sleeping and eating and bathing in the Mekong (which is incredibly hot for a river). On the second day we rented bicycles to explore the island. We went to the « end of Laos » where you see Cambodia across the river, and to a big waterfall on the Mekong. Our German friend taught us the human catapult game and Leo and I learned to do back flips in the water 💦
Bye bye Laos. It was by far the cheapest country of all the trip and not the least interesting; so much nature to discover and so many waterfalls to jump in 😅. Next stop Cambodia.
The Mekong from the Pakse bridge Woman testing tobacco at the marketThe cute pet monkeyAn abandoned house near the river« Come on in for a beer! »Kids at the templePlastic waste is everywhere ☹️Tad Gneuang WaterfallTaf Fane waterfall Tad Champee waterfall Lazing on the Mekong in Don DetEvening on the Mekong Early morning on the Mekong Lazing in the Mekong Leo’s back flip (photo by Jonas)
Luang Prabang is the most touristic town in Laos. It’s famous for its french colonial style, its many temples and monks, its splendid national museum, its night market…
We went there for only one reason: to go see (and jump in) the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls!
The site of Kuang Si is notoriously beautiful and praised by everyone we met, but we’ve been to the Philippines and our level of expectations for waterfalls is rather high!
In the bus to Luang Prabang we met Tristan and Leander, two young French guys, cycling their way through Southeast Asia, and they told us the path to the “secret spot” in the falls!
Mary had also told me about the « giving of alms » ceremony in the morning, so I woke up at 5am to go check it out. But i was so tired from the previous days that I went back to bed after just a few photos.
The falls really are beautiful, with a series of natural pools of blue-green water, and the main site where the water flows from one pool to the next down from an immense cliff. But the secret spot was by far the best part! Somewhat hidden at the end of a secondary trail that seems to lead nowhere, you reach some of the natural infinity pools hanging on the cliff, with a view on the valley. Splendid 😍
Before going to the waterfall, we had to book our train tickets for our onward journey the next day. There’s a ticket office conveniently located downtown, 5 minutes from our guesthouse. After queuing for 20 minutes, the cashier tells us “sorry I can’t sell any more tickets for tomorrow, but you can go to the train station, they have tickets!”. What’s the point of having a computer and a centralised booking system if it’s managed like she had a limited number of physical coupons?!
So we drove our scooter for 30 minutes away from the town, to the train station and indeed, there were plenty of seats left. (when we boarded the train the next day it was mostly empty)
The China-Laos railway, as the name suggests, is really a Chinese railway. I’m sure they managed to get the Laos taxpayer money to build the gigantic train station, but no-one is using it; it was mostly built to dump Chinese goods into Laos.
Anyway, we got a train ticket for the evening so we could go back to the waterfall the next day 😛
The majestic Kuang Si waterfallsSunset on the Mekong“Giving of Alms”Night market and the national museumSome more pics of the Kuang Si 😍And the big China Laos train station in the middle of nowhere
First thing first, after landing at the Cebu airport, I collected my guitar that the stupid staff in LA forced me to check in.. I had objected of course but they assured me that the many “fragile” stickers would ensure careful handling, and anyways I didn’t have a choice! Well, what was bound to happen .. I got my guitar back with the body cracked open!
Anyways, more on this later.
Here we are in Asia, where the food has vegetables in it!!
It’s like a new beginning and barely 2 days here, Mary suddenly no ik j CV c overcomes her greatest fear of all! And twice in a row!!
Mary loves to be in the water. In shallow water only. As soon as there’s no floor beneath her feet, she panics.
First morning in Moalboal, we book a scuba diving initiation! Mary follows, somewhat reluctantly, and she manages!! I never thought she would ever try this, but she did!
Moalboal is famous for its schools of sardines just near the shore, and indeed it’s quite magical to swim in the swirl of sardines glittering all around you.
The next day -we’re on a roll!- we book a canyoneering excursion in the Kawasan falls. And again Mary manages to come along and jump in the water from 4 metres high! And this time she even enjoys the experience! (Ok, maybe not the jumps as such, but overall)
Knowing her fear for so long, I was very impressed that she managed to do this with us!
The next thing we did was to rent a scooter to explore a bit on our own. Indian style: the whole family on one scooter! Again, Mary was initially not reassured. But it went well, and we’ve been doing this ever since.
We found the Inambakan falls very beautiful. And the local kids showed me the scary slippery spot where you can jump from 10m high, so that was fun 🙂
On why waterfalls are so much better than the sea:
– it’s fresh water and not yucky sea water that makes you sticky
– there’s always shade, whereas beaches just let you burn to death
– no sticky sand all over you
– there’s always a jump spot or a cave to explore, or you can walk up the stream
Anyways, in the Philippines, you don’t have to choose, there’s always both within a few kilometres !
So that’s mostly what we’ve been up to: exploring waterfalls, then back on the beach for the sunset. Not a lot to write about though, which is why I’ve been running late on the blog!
Every other day, I still had to call Air China to fight and try to get a compensation for my broken guitar. They initially offered me 60usd in compensation for a guitar worth 600usd! After much arguing they raised it to 100usd. I said it was still unacceptable, they told me to check with LA to see if I can get more from them, I argued it was not my job to manage their internal communication and chase every agent in the company… etc etc… eventually I know the poor agent on which I yelled so much did everything she could. She managed to get the blame on the agent in LA who wrongfully forced me to check in a guitar in a soft case, the agent now had to pay 150usd from his own pocket!
So in the end, I get 250usd -not half the price of the guitar- the LA agent gets fined for trying to apply unclear rules, and Air China breaks luggage and gets away clean for a cheap 100 bucks!
After a few days in Moalboal, on the Cebu island, we took a ferry to Bohol, an island close by.
Bohol is most famous for its « chocolate hills », a strange geological formation with hundreds of round hillocks. The hills are very nice indeed, but they charge you to climb a few stairs up to a concrete platform overlooking the panorama, which we found a bit boring Here again we liked waterfalls better and we visited some by the Loboc river.
I had a hard time remembering the name of the main port town, Tagbilaran, so I kept calling it Tagliatelle !
From Bohol, we took another boat to Siquijor, a smaller island on the western side.
And we loooved Siquijor! Very quiet, friendly and with the most beautiful waterfalls ❤️ Unfortunately, Mary and Leo didn’t feel well for a couple of days so I went exploring on my own, and then I took them back to the spots I had found. One of the waterfalls had big swing ropes to jump in the water and that’s pretty much all we did. I even learned to do a backflip from the smaller one. It only took me 500 failed attempts where I would constantly land flat on my face! But perseverance had it eventually !
From there, we returned to Cebu city to catch a flight to Puerto Princessa, on the Palawan island, further to the east. Everyone kept telling us about the lagoons in El Nido, so we headed there. 5 hours in a van, directly after landing.
El Nido is a very touristic place, with an armada of boats leaving every morning to take hordes of tourists to the famous lagoons. We were rather put off by the crowd and felt caught in a tourist trap. But we took the tour anyway, because that’s the thing to do here, and indeed, the lagoons are mind blowing! Sharp black rocky spikes emerging straight up from clear turquoise waters. It’s very hard to render in photo (especially since i couldn’t wet my camera), none of my attempts give justice to the place. That’s typically where you need a drone.
We also went exploring some waterfalls of course. Nothing comparable to what we had in Siquijor here, but very refreshing nonetheless when it’s so hot in the day.
Last but not least, I climbed the Taraw cliff this morning. I did this alone since I had to wake up at 4am to reach the top by sunrise and neither Mary or Leo wanted to do it. It’s a very steep climb in complete darkness on razor sharp rock blades: not really a walk in the park. Of course the early morning view from the 1745m peak over the bay is stunning !
Most of the tourist crowd continues to Coron island, which is supposed to be a paradise for divers and snorkelers. But we decided to get away from the crowd this time, so we’re headed in the opposite direction : Port Barton will be more quiet.
First sunset on the Philippines Scuba diving for the first time!Canyoneering in KawasanThe Inambakan waterfall in CebuKids under the waterfallOn the stairs to see the chocolate hillsPosing in front of the chocolate hillsChess game in Tagbilaran (pronounce Tagliatelle!)Countryside of Bohol, while looking for waterfalls Pahangog falls in BoholLeo playing with the sun in SiquijorLeo jumping in Lugnason falls, SiquijorGiant swing on the beach in SiquijorMagical sunset in SiquijorBoats at sunsetTourist pose at our favorite spot: Cambugahay falls in Siquijor Swimming in the underground river in Siquijor The big lagoon in El Nido, PalawanClimbing Taraw cliff at 4amSunrise over El Nido from Taraw cliff
Here again we liked waterfalls better and we visited some by the Loboc river.
Raahi - A traveling family 