The Bolaven Plateau

I spent some days in an almost unreal tranquility. Well, maybe not unreal, but the silence was extraordinary. The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated plain in southern Laos, a little bit out of the way for most travellers. From Pakse it's a two and a half hour bus ride to get to Tad Lo, a tiny village in a beautiful setting, even in the dry season. Three waterfalls within 20 minutes walking distance, countryside (though dry at this time of the year) and some more smaller villages. A couple of lodges and guest houses, centered close to one waterfall. A nice terrain for walking, bathing in the ponds (dry season!), reading or just watching time go by...

That maybe doesn't sound overwhelming, but what attracts people to come here is the silence. The number of cars passing through the village is practically irrelevant (Tad Lo is about 2 kms from the main road), scooters (small motorcycles) are a common means of transport, but as most roads are not paved, they simply have to go slow...

It's dark at 7 pm, and then anything that would mean some kind of noise, ceases. With the exception of the cicadas, which for a while maintain their extraordinary chirping ( they are very small for the noise they produce). So in the evenings I sat either at the tables of the guest house, talking with fellow travellers, or on the "veranda" of the cabin I had rented (30000 Kip\ 3 US-dollars) to read and relax...

It would have been perfect if there weren't dogs... during the day they laze in the shadow (the Bolaven plateau is at night a bit colder due to it's altitude, but it is still hot during the day), they try to get something to eat and besides that nothing else... which means that they're awake at night. They are actually very friendly and not very big - every well-nourished European cat would wage a fight with them - but at night only one of them needs to hear some strange noise, a chicken coughing, a cicada turning around in it's well-earned sleep, and then the hell is being raised... one starts barking, the others join almost immediately, it extends from one hut to the next, from one village to the next, at least so it seemed... after a while they seem to notice that there's nothing going on, the barking dies down slowly...

Yet in spite of the dogs the Bolaven Plateau is well worth a visit. Quite a few people hire a scooter in Pakse (between 7 and 10 dollars per day) and cruise around for several days... a nice option, because you are simply more independent, and distances are not that vast...