Were on the road real early today

Sekong had seemed incredibly sleepy last night…it didn’t get any better in the morning. Despite the fact that Lao people seem to get up at 6am to go about their day during daylight hours, the town looked positively abandoned. Also, there was no breakfast to be had here, at least not of the baguette and jam kind. To increase our chance of yet another French inspired start into the day, we packed everything on Rocinante and left the town at 7am.

Up on the plateau, it was chilly this early in the morning; for the first time in a while, I wished for something to stop the wind from getting through. We had a look for breakfast places along the road but didn’t see anything except for rice porridge. Thus, we needed to drive 80km to Paksong, the next town on the loop. The route was pretty, though. Full of views over small valleys and the opportunity to see waterfalls. So early in the day, we also had the road almost to ourselves.

Best coffee place around

Arriving in Paksong around 9am, I was on the brink of being hangry. None of the guest houses looked as if they served breakfast so we settled on heading to a place that advertised “coffee” on a sign outside at least. Plan B was to get coffee into Flo before having a roadside One Square Meal. Indeed, we still carry those.

This Jhai coffee place had just opened at 8.30am so everyone still seemed to wake up and prepare the shop. The menu stated that “green tea” would be the only option except for coffee. Oh well then. Heading over to the counter to order, I asked if breakfast was an option as well, totalling prepared for the inevitable no. “’Suppose we can make you some baguette and eggs” was the answer which made Flo’s and my day. Enthusiastically, we gave the thumps up for THAT kind of breakfast and settled down on mattresses and pillows, the Arabic way of sitting around a table.

Thanks for that great conversation. All the best to you!

While waiting for breakfast, we realized that the young man at the counter was German. He and his partner lived above the café (as it seemed) and worked in the coffee place so Flo went over and talked to them, while they made us the most amazing breakfast we have had for a while. Jhai coffee is a not-for-profit organisation which helps Laotian farmers on the Bolaven plateau increase the quality of their beans so that they can ask for higher prices and, for the first time, can export their coffee to the US. Every penny they make on roasting coffee for the farmers goes back into the community in form of courses about hygiene and access to clean water.

As said, breakfast was amazing. Slices of baguette with chunks of butter and French jam as well as two fried eggs per person made sure we were well and truly full. So afterwards, we asked the German couple, Adrian and Isabell, if we could interrupt/join their own breakfast to hear more about their volunteering. A really nice conversation ensued which ended with us leaving three hours later when it was almost time for lunch. If you want to learn more about Jhai coffee check out their website and feel free to donate to their cause. We put the fundraiser on our “make a difference” page now.

One of the coolest waterfalls on our trip

Not far from Paksong, a couple of waterfalls are advertised for. Isabell had recommended the Tad Gneuang water fall so this is where we stopped. Again, an entrance fee had to be paid which was okay but we had to leave Rocinante at the gate while all the cars were allowed to drive closer to the falls. Not cool. As with almost every water fall, they turn out to be touristy places, however, this one was also very pretty. We spent some time walking around, looking at it from above and from the bottom while taking pictures when the view was clear for once. Sone people were swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls; it wasn’t quite warm enough for that in my opinion. The Bolaven plateau is generally rather cool.

When we were about to leave again, a guided motorcycle tour pulled up. All of them were on big bikes as well and Flo said that Thailand offers such tours through Laos.

The afternoon was spent on a very late dinner, riding the last stretch to Pakse and looking for a guest house in a town that, again, was quite booked out already. In the end, we stayed in a very basic bungalow near the river. Great dinner was had at the Champady restaurant where Flo had an excellent Pad Thai while I got to try sticky rice with mango, a popular dessert only available in the South of Laos.