bolaven plateau

There is not much to do in pakse itself but one of the main attractions is to explore the 230km circuit around the bolaven plateau. I took a tour from the hostel and we stopped at tea and coffee plantations, waterfalls, 'ethnic' villages and a local restaurant for lunch.

I learnt that laos people drink green tea and coffee and find it strange that we drink black tea, especially with milk. They are one of Vietnam's biggest suppliers of green tea and one of the biggest exporters of coffee in Asia, after Vietnam.

Our guide had good english so I took the opportunity to find out more about laos and its people. For example, the people in Laos earn on average only $6 a day and it costs $2 a day to eat. They live in big houses with the whole family.

The minority villages we saw were also interesting. One group make their coffins when they are middle-aged and store them underneath their houses to bring good luck and hopefully a few extra birthdays. Another group are all addicted to tobacco from the age of 5. When the guide told us this I was hoping he was lying but sadly we saw a child smoking a bamboo shisha pipe given to it by its mother. The villagers have a very simple existence but they do not want to move into the town because they will have to pay bills and taxes which  they avoid living on the plateau. 

It was a very interesting day!

Tea plantation

Small kids playing in the village

Ready made coffins!