Is the largest city in the south of Laos but is only about the size of halesowen, its tiny! But much better than Savannakhet (even though the guide book says it's the other way round) it's really relaxed and chilled out and theres quite a bit to do in the surrounding area.
This is an area of high ground that where there is a lot of Coffee and Tea grown and it has beautiful waterfalls and mountains. We tried some locally produced tea and saw the plantation that was 1.5km in each direction and much have housed thousands of tea bushes. Our guide advised us that every two weeks they pick the newly sprouting buds to dry and crush into tea thats ready to drink, and there are only 3 girls to do it!
We also went to the highest waterfall in laos some 120m high, it sounded pretty impressive but due to the unrelenting rain and the mist that it threw up we never got to see it...just a photo :( The three other waterfalls that we saw were very impressive, including one that had been made into a sort of eco friendly area, it had been a waste land prior but they used all the drift wood to build paths and a restaurant and didnt cut down a single tree at all. It was so peaceful and they had a Mynah bird that could say hello hello and Sabadee bo! We had lunch infront of another one which was picturesque and the third one had loads of guest houses around it that you could stay in and just sit outside on the patio and watch it. The guides took us to 2 markets and we tried some Lao coffee (very strong!) and we saw where the locals shopped, it was odd, all of the markets we've been to before have been indoors and basic but clean enough. These were just dirty, dogs everywhere and the smell of dog poo hung in the air, and the meat looked old there were dead frogs in bowls and fish inside huge blocks of ice. We were lucky to get out alive! We also got to see two villages, the first one our guides warned us about saying the poeple smell and there skin is dirty because they don't bathe. We got there and it wasnt the skin colour that struck you it was the poverty, children in huge t-shirts so big they had to wear it back to front so that it would stay on. The most disturbing thing by far that we saw was the smoking. The first people we met were two old women and a little boy of about 8 years old. They had a huge bong (that our guide told is if filled with tobacco, water and suger - making it sweet) passing it between them, including to the 8 year old. The youngest we saw looked about 4 years old and was on tiptoes so that he could reach the top, there were also children walking round with makeshift cigarettes (made out of paper) and there seemd to be more children than adults doing it. The village had lots of houses on stilts and their unusual custom is that they build coffins before people die and store them under their houses ready to be used as and when they are needed and everyone had one from the very young to the very old. They used to be quite ornate made out of wood, but now they are made from stone as its cheaper and wood is so expensive. They make their livings out of growing coffee and selling it, we saw a little tractor thing carrying huge bundles of the stuff looking like it was gonna topple over (which sure enough it did - nearly crushing the little boy that was trying to keep them stable!) The second village we saw made a living from weaving and they had a wooden coffin to show us, they showed us how they did the weaving by hand and one scarf takes about a month and a half to make, as they have no loom just 4 peices of bamboo, and they do all the threading and weaving by hand! They also had some coffee trees and a peanut plantation but there was only enough for their village so they didnt sell any. All in all it was beautiful everything so free and wild and left just as nature intended and there werent a lot of tourists which is unusual out here! The roads had no tarmac and we had to wait whilst a group of locals removed a truck that was stuck in the mud and we ourselves practically skidded to the bottom of the hill rather than drove, plus it rained all day so by the time we got home a hot shower was amazing!
The second day we went to Champusak where there is a collecton of Khmer ruins, we were joined by the same people we went to the plateau with, Anita and Jack, and got a quite pleasant bus ride down to the river, hopped on a ferry loaded up with loads of cars and motor bikes and just made from 3 small barges and planks of wood nailed on top to keep them together...eeeek! But we didnt sink and got over the river then it started to rain...again! we got to the ruins and looked round the museum first then went up to the old temples. They were AMAZING!!!!! absolutley beautiful and one of the best things we have seen yet...stunning! There are three layers, the top one and the most impressive one is at the top of a really steep dangerous set of stairs which was very slippery in the rain but it was so worth it! Just left to nature apart from the 4 Buddhas inside that had been dressed in the traitional orange robes, there was a spring, some amazing carvings and a fantasic view out over the whole complex...even in the rain it was one of the most amazing things we have done. However after this the fun really started, we hopped in a tuk tuk back to the main town had lunch and did the boat ride back. This tiny little boat with holes in the roof and no side covers to keep the driving rain out chugged us home in a little over three hours and we were miserable! We were wet before we got on but soaked when we got back and had to sit the whole way on really uncomfortable wooden benches while the rain came in from the sides, the roof dripped and ocassionally let a huge waterfall in that soaked me and Anita! We must have looked a sight when we got off at the boat pier and walked back to our hotels in the rain, wet through, covered in mud, and just generally dishevelled! That hot shower was the best one ever and for the first time in 2 months i got my jumper out.
Our last day we just spent chilling out not really doing much, but finally we set off for the 4,000 Islands of Si Phan Don which houses what is supposed to be some of the best scenery in laos, the most chilled out people and it is also home to some very rare irawaddy river dolphins!