As explained in our last post, walking off the beaten path can be a dangerous undertaking in Laos, there is a real chance to stumble upon an unexploded bomb from the Vietnam war. Nevertheless, we did venture off the beaten path in Southern Laos – though we stuck to roads, even if they were rough roads at times, so there were no bomb encounters involved. It still was an adventure.
It all started in Pakse, where we rented two motorbikes for three days to explore the Bolaven plateau and its surroundings. Across South East Asia, small motorbikes are the most widely used mean of transport by locals, and in most places one can rent a motorbike for a few dollars a day. Never has anyone bothered to ask us for a driving licence, the usual procedure is to hand over your passport as deposit in exchange for the key, and off you go. It has become our new hobby in Southeast Asia to explore places by motorbike – it’s a great opportunity to somehow mingle and get in touch with the locals, get to more remote places independently without having to bargain with annoying tuk-tuk drivers whose sole agenda is to rip you off.
The trip through the Bolaven plateau took us three days, in which we covered almost 500km. The area is still largely devoid of tourists, so it’s a great chance to see a version of Laos that is not transformed by tourism yet. We drove through beautiful Laotian countryside and minority villages, where people still live a very traditional lifestyle. The cooler climate on the Bolaven plateau supports giant coffee plantations, and the way was often lined by coffee beans being dried on the roadside. Life up here is very simple and poor. In the villages, bamboo huts on stilts seem to be the only housing available, and the huge families crowd under them to seek shade in the afternoon heat. Countless children waved at us as they walked home from their schools, that often were little more than a dusty football field and some cement barracks. Funnily, they all excitedly yelled ‚Sabaydee‘ (the Laotian greeting) as soon as they spotted that it is a Westerner riding the motorbike, and more than once I almost lost balance as I raised my arm to wave back, while driving slalom between the water buffaloes, geese or pigs that randomly roam the street. The number of children in the streets was astounding – and when we later checked the age structure in Laos, we understood that it wasn’t just a coincidence: 37% of the population here is under 14 years of age – compare that to 13% in Germany.
Simple things like finding a place to eat become a bit more of a challenge out here. Nobody speaks English, nor is there any tourism infrastructure whatsoever. We stop somewhere in a village, and try to ask the locals with gestures where we could get some food. Surprised faces (not sure if they are more surprised that we are here or that we decided to talk to them), and pointing in an onward direction. Finally, we find a place that looks like it could be something like a ‚restaurant‘. A wooden hut, the floor is just the bare earth, and there is one table. 
At the same time, the room serves as the bedroom, indicated by the mattress and blankets on the floor, as the kitchen, since there is a fire on the ground surrounded by stones, and also doubles as a farm. The dog walks around, the cat lazily stretches out on the table, and a hen with ten chicks following her aimlessly wanders around in search for food. After lots of pointing and trying to understand what food they offer, the friendly woman in charge serves us a noodle soup with an egg in it. At least we didn’t accidently order chicken feet. The next day in Attapeu, end up at a little roadside food stall with one table that serves as really tasty rice noodles in ginger coconut milk broth. We also get to try the freshly made green papaya salad, that is incredibly spicy, and the owner lets us watch as she prepares some fresh spring rolls, with rice paper, bean sprouts, salad and cucumber inside, that then get dipped into a spicy peanut sauce (probably one of my favorite foods in Laos).
As we ride along after lunch the first day, the layer of red dust that covers us becoming thicker by the minute, my motorkbike hits a patch of sand and starts to lurch. I put my feet down to try to regain the balance, but it’s too late, and next thing I know I hit the ground, and I come to a painful halt on the sandy gravel. It takes me a few moments to realize what just happened. Mario rushes towards me and lifts the motorbike up so I can actually get up and assess the damage. Luckily, I only got a few cuts, grazes and bruises, given that I was only wearing shorts and T-shirt it could have been much worse. The motorbike however suffered quite some damage. The rear mirror is shattered, the foot pedals and the gear shift is completely bent, and the handle for the front break broke off. It later turns out that also the headlights don’t work any more, but that is a minor problem since most of the Laotions you meet in the dark don’t use them either. While I usually always carry some first aid stuff with me, this time we don’t have anything with us, not even a single band-aid. So we clean the wounds with some drinking water and carry on – not much choice in the middle of nowhere. Once the shock about the accident has subsided and the pain lessens, I start worrying about the damaged motorbike. We decide to try to get it repaired on the way, instead of being charged loads when we bring it back like this to the rental place. The next day, we find one of these repair shops in a village we are passing through. There is not much explaining needed, it’s obvious what’s broken, and to the mechanics it’s just as obvious how to fix it. They offer me a chair, and about 15 min and 15000 Kip (about 1,50Euro) later, they fixed everything perfectly except the mirror. This is taken care of by another shop we find later, they replace both mirrors for the equivalent of 2 Euros. And I had even wondered before whether our third-party liability insurance might be able to cover the costs of the accident… Well, that won’t be necessary now.
Since we are always a bit behind with our blog these days, I can reassure you that all the grazes have healed by now, and there are only a few scars left that will remind me of this amazing little side trip around the South of Laos.
