In massive contrast to the average street dog existence this little 'princess' is hand fed her dinner from a skewer, by our new guesthouse's receptionist, ensuring her pink doggy jacket remains pristine. The number of street dogs we've seen running about in Santa or fairy princess outfits is both alarming, given the heat during the day (aside from the complete stupidity of pet outfits itself), and totally comical. At night as I hear the scuffles, growls and howling I can't help giggling at the thought of the German Shepherd aka 'santa' wading in against 'superman' the crossbreed with various fairies and pink chartacers in tow. Just a brief glimpse into the recesses of my head...now on to Pakse and the Bolaven plateau
After exploring Pakse we stopped at the Panorama bar to admire the sunset and a pre-dinner Beerlao. We were setting off early in the morning so another quiet meal and early night ready to tackle the crazy roads of Laos.
Hard to believe that this little moped will cope with both of us, the dirt track roads and inclines but it will!
We head off for Thateng, Bryan and James's home town and where we will stay for the next couple of nights. It is almost 10 years to the day that Matt and Bryan last met and a lot has changed in both their lives since then. Matt had never met James and I had never met either of them. Within half an hour of meeting I was bombarding Bryan with questions and tapping in to his extensive knowledge of all that is Laotian, poor man, but it felt like I'd always known them. We would have all sat there chatting all afternoon if Bryan hadn't taken charge and we were soon on the road to the Suan Sinouk coffee plantation for an explore, lunch and more chat. The plantation is stunning and, leaving Matt and Bryan to catchup, James led me round the maize of ponds, river, bridges and beautiful gardens at the normal warp speed of a healthy 6 year old!
Let me introduce you to James, 6 years old born to Bryan and his Laotian wife, he has blond hair, almond eyes, is of continual interest to the local people who obviously adore him, and he is incredibly independent and quick witted. As my gran would say 'sharp as a razor that one'. Also in possession of a wicked sense of humour and astounding self-confidence which is a testament to his up-bringing thanks to Bryan.
After lunch Bryan accompanied us around the plantation explaining the coffee growing (see photo below) and drying process whilst I continued to...well interrogate is probably the right word. I did apologise for my incessant questions and Matt did his best to explain what a pain in the arse I can be, never just accepting that something is the way someone says but I have to know why. Bryan was an absolute gent and never waivered in response or lost patience, I am now a much enlightened individual in all things Laotian or I should say much more than before.
On the way back to our guesthouse Bryan stopped at the local market, firstly to show us the local produce and two to purchase a bottle of rice liquor which I'll get to in a moment...The market was an array of fresh vegetables, cooked and raw meats, alive and dead fish, seafood, amphibians and wildlife caught and sold by the hill tribes. Never have I seen porcupines, what looked like martens and Daubenton-sized bats on offer and I didn't want to look too closely in case one of them was on the endangered list. This is a very different way of life to ours, food and money is scarce, some times hard to make your beliefs match resulting in a war with your inner self...stretching but all part of the journey.
After the market we settled around an outdoor table at the guesthouse and Bryan introduced us to LaoLao the rice liquor. It is worth remembering that this was the eve of New Year's Eve and it was only about 5pm. We both tried some neat, it is difficult to describe but most like vodka with a 'scent' of something and feels like a chilli has got stuck in the back of your throat. Adding coke turned this complete animal of a drink into a rather pleasant cocktail and we sat, drinking, chatting and laughing, unable to feel the intense cold that had set in with the night, and having a fantastic evening.
My last thoughts for the night as we went to bed were that this was going to really hurt in the morning and luckily we didn't have to wait that long, 2pm I woke with an acid stomach storm raging in my throat and a thirst like I'd just crossed the Gobi desert, half a tube of toothpaste and large bottle of water later we were able to get back to sleep.
The following morning we started out a little later than planned, James at full throttle, us all at very much no throttle! The Tad Lo waterfalls were absolutely beautiful, three in total, Tad Hang, Tad Lo and Tad Suong, a perfect way two spend a hungover morning!
Two elephants were available for rides at the Tad Lo Resort, made me sad that they were so close to the waterfalls but no water available to them. Bryan has known the elephants for a number of years and assured me they were well looked after, just another one of those inner battles I suppose.
Bryan is not keen on photos so this is the closest we came but many of you will already know Bryan from early Swanmore days.
The day of waterfalls passed quickly, as did our hangovers, but we had definitely over cooked it the night before so New Year's Eve was a very tame affair by comparison. We went for a lovely meal at Sinouk coffee plantation and the back to the guesthouse for a couple of LaoLao and coke before our eyelids got the better of us and we all turned in. New Year wishes would have to wait until tomorrow. Originally thinking we would be worse the wear on 1st January we had tentatively decided to leave on 2nd January but as we were fresh as daisies we wanted to start our onward move to Four Thousand islands so goodbyes were imminent...and hard. The last couple of days were amazing and very special to us both. I had heard lots of stories of times gone by with Bryan, White Horse days, Thailand and more, I was not disappointed and can honestly say we're already looking forward to the Bangkok reunion before we leave SE Asia and keeping in touch from now onwards. Thanks Bryan and James for giving us an incredible conclusion to 2014 and start to 2015.
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