Today we are leaving the 4,000 Islands and heading north to Pakse to start the Bolaven Plateau Motorbike Loop!

We catch the morning long tail boat back to the mainland which is actually quite chaotic.. turns out they pack the boats just as full as they do the minibuses complete with all of the luggage piled up in the front. Luckily after a quick 30 minute ride, we (and our luggage) make it back safely and we make our way to the bus station.

After our first (truck) ride in Laos when we crossed the border from Cambodia, we weren’t exactly sure which mode of transportation to expect today. Much to our surprise, a big bus shows up and we have an uneventful 4 hour ride north to Pakse.

Once we make it to Pakse, we get checked into our hotel and get ready for the Bolaven Plateau Motorbike Loop! This is the whole reason we have stopped in Pakse and we plan to begin the loop tomorrow.

We rent our motorbike from Miss Noi’s which is THE PLACE to rent from according to all the blog posts we have read. :) We head there first thing and get put on a waiting list for a bike for the next day. They tell us to come back at 6PM for an orientation and they will know at this point how many bikes have returned from the loop that day and therefore how many they will have available to rent.

At 6 o’clock, they go over both the big and small loop route options and all the logistics that go along with each. It lasts about an hour and afterwards we find out there will be a bike available for us for tomorrow!

Next day...

Day 1 on the loop! We get packed in one backpack and head over to Miss Noi’s to pick up our bike and store our remaining luggage.

We get on the road and our first stop is at Mr. Vieng's Coffee House which is supposed to have the best coffee on the loop. We have a cup of coffee and continue on our journey.

We make it about 90 KMs total today to Tad Lo where we are staying the night. We get checked into our guesthouse and have some lunch. We hop back on our bike and backtrack a little bit to our first waterfall of the loop, Tad Soung.

We had learned during our orientation that bike theft is unfortunately pretty common on the loop. They told us not to stop anywhere that didn’t have paid for parking. This should hopefully eliminate the concern of someone stealing our bike!

We pay 5,000 Kip for parking and head to see the waterfall. Unfortunately, the waterfall is a little underwhelming because the water flow is controlled by a damn that releases at 4PM...

We head back to our guesthouse and park our bike for the night because the next 2 are within walking distance from town. We enjoy a walk just down the street to the Tad Hang waterfall and even though the main bridge is down, we are still able to cross the river above the waterfall in order to get to our last waterfall of the day, Tad Lo, which is just upstream. We go for a swim and we have the whole waterfall all to ourselves!

Next day...

It’s day 2 on the loop and first thing in the morning, we head over to Mama Pap’s for breakfast, who is supposed to have the biggest pancakes in town! She does not disappoint and we enjoy a filling breakfast before getting on the road.

Our first stop today is at what is known as Captain Hook’s village. This is a local village on the loop and Captain Hook is one of the villagers who speaks very good English and does small tours around the village each day. We had heard Captain Hook is very chatty and the tours could last anywhere between 30 minutes and 6 hours.. depending on how many questions you ask.

Captain Hook takes us all around the village and talks to us about the coffee they grow along with the medical plants they use and many of their traditions. We end up spending about 3 hours there before we get back on the road.

We attempt to stop a couple times for lunch with little success so we make it to the area we plan to stay tonight right near the Tad Hua Khon Waterfall. We find a small shop in town selling noodle soup so we have a 3PM lunch.

There are not many accommodation options for night 2 on the big loop but there is a campground nearby we had heard good things about.

After lunch we head to P&S Garden campground and get checked in to our tent for the night. It is actually a really cool set up. They have about 10 sites set up along a creek and the tents each have a sleeping pad, blankets and pillows.

After getting settle into our campsite, we make the short walk to the waterfall to enjoy a quick swim and a beautiful sunset!

It has been a great 2 days so far on the loop and we are so excited to continue on tomorrow...
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