Arrivée à Tat Lo (selon le Lonely Planet, un petit village tranquille avec de belles cascades), nous découvrons la grosse fête pour le nouvel an bouddhiste (qui dure 3 jours). Tous les locaux et les gens dans un rayon de 50km sont là!!! ils sont tout habillés dans l'eau, s'éclaboussent, musique à fond, plein de stands de bouffe!! Le festival de l'eau dans un village paumé avec 3000 personnes!!! C'est cool à voir mais on en a plein les oreilles!! Le bon côté, la fête commence à 9 heures le matin et finit à 20h!
Ce matin, nous avons fait un tour de deux heures dans la forêt à dos d'éléphants! C'était sympathique et relaxant.
Ensuite, nous prenons sur le bas côté de la route un bus pour le centre du plateau, puis changement de bus sous des trombes d'eau, et finalement arrivée à Paksong où... il n'y a rien!!! Pour les gens qui sont motorisés le plateau (café, cascades..) doit être magnifique, mais pour les gens à pied (dépendant des bus), c'est galère. On rencontre un autre français, on trouve un pt'i hôtel, et là on croit comprendre qu'il y a un bus à repartir pour la ville principale dans l'heure... on mange dans un boui boui (délicieux!) où là, on nous dit: "non pas de bus avant demain". Je dresse le tableau: on est trempés, on sent le coup où si on reste on va pas pouvoir se déplacer, pas de vélo ou moto à louer, personne ne parle anglais, le stop ne marche pas....
Un petit mec nous dit qu'il y a un bus à partir du marché, on monte à l'arrière de son pick up, il nous dépose dans un endroit glauque.. Olivier lui propose de l'argent pensant qu'il allait refuser.. tu parles 20,000 kip pour 1.5 km!!! le chacal!
On nous dit au marché pas de bus... on repart sur la route principale, tentons à nouveau le stop!! et là un Hummer s'arrête!!! Un canadien nous ramène GRATOS à Paksé!!! Quelle escapade.. on a bien rit!
From Pakse we took some local busses to move around southern Laos. Local= goat on the roof, truck tires in the bus, 40km/hr maximum... quite interesting!
We arrived in a small village Tat Lo, which, according to the Lonely Planet, is quiet and pretty with its big waterfall... except that we are right in the Lao New Year! There are about 3000 local people partying (loud Thai music, lots of weird food, water splashes, water guns...). They all bathed fully dressed in the, indeed, amazing waterfall! Well, it was a nice way to celebrate the Lao New Year, which lasts 3 days and is centered around water, cleaning, etc... (we are in the hottest season of the year, but it's not that bad). When Lao people party, they start the loud music at 9 am and finish at 8pm! SO it was not that bad!
The day after we went on a 2 hour elephant ride, it was pretty peaceful riding in the forest and villages.
Then, we are on the road again: trying to reach the "famous" Bolaven Plateau (famous for its coffee and huge waterfalls). From one bus we hopped onto another one under pouring rain, and we finally arrive in the only town (one street deal) of the Plateau: Paksong...and NOTHING! A couple of guesthouses where nobody speaks English, no bike rental, no NOTHING! We had met a French guy in the bus and as we were to check in a guesthouse for the night thinking that we would leave first thing in the morning, we think that the owner is talking about a bus to go back to Pakse in a hour (maybe he does not really want our business!). We don't check in, run back to the road under the rain, and stop in a small restaurant to eat while waiting to catch the bus. There, we are told (again in Thai and sign language...) that there is no bus today... A guy comes out of the place and says there is a bus a kilometer away. We are hopeful, unless you are motorized this place is a dead end! He gives us a ride, Olivier offers him money, thinking that he would not accept... But we are in Laos, we are white, therefore we are rich!! 20,000 kip (2.5$) for 1 km!!! AND...surprise, no bus!!!! We head back to the main road, thinking "shoot, now we have to walk back to the guesthouse". We try hitch hiking one more time, we were not really successful before! A hummer stops!! Obviously local people don't have cars, so a hummer must belong to... a Canadian who does business with the coffee plantations. We are offered a smooth ride back to Pakse (no goat on the roof, no big tires at our sides)!
This is the kind of things that happen on such trips: unespected huge party in the middle of nowhere, and famous roads leading to nowhere! We had a good laugh and will certainly remember the Bolaven Plateau, but not for its coffee plantations, pretty villages, and waterfalls... Outside of the main road, Laos remains very rural and unexpected, we loved it!
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