Taken back in time: Tad Lo Village and waterfalls
When Raquel and I arrived to Tad Lo, we didn't really know what to expect. First of all, the bus ride was interesting because for the first time we both tried barbecued chicken and rooster heads. Interesting. Then at our destination, the bus stopped somewhere on the side of the road, not at a bus station so that was a good indication that this was going to be a small, simple place. After gathering our bags, we headed in the direction down the road that another falang (foreigner in Lao) suggested to us. We knew we were going the right way because we saw a small sign in English, what a relief, welcoming us to the Tad Lo area. It was about 2km down a winding road through another small village with some houses scattered close together and those with a bit more land, a little further apart. It was definitely one of those authentic villages at which time has stopped many years ago and has preserved all the habits; living and farming, just like they were hundreds of years ago. There were cows sleeping right on the road. Little pigs running around or following their pig mama across the road. As simple as it was, it was absolutely lovely! People were saying hello to us, both in Lao and in English, kids were waving to us and old ladies sitting down with their grandchildren were showering us with huge, genuine smiles. In its own way, it was perfect. The more we walked, the more we could hear the constant rhythmic hum of the waterfall ahead. Raquel saw some cabanas across from where we saw the river, so we headed in that direction after taking a right at the intersection. The cabanas she saw were the same ones that I bookmarked in my guidebook. The view from them was very nice, with the river peacefully flowing across from us and the waterfall sitting to our left. We got the price down to 25,000 for both of us so it was definitely a bargain.
After we settled in, the first thing we did was go in for a dip in the river in front of our cabana. The water was so refreshing, especially after a long day of going from bus to bus. We saw locals bathing in the river earlier so we decided to do the same. After coming back and eating our pineapple that we bought at the Pakse bus station market, we went for a walk to see the surrounding area. There wasn't much to see really, especially since it was dark by then. Soon after leaving, we headed back and sat down to have dinner at the restaurant next door. The girl taking our orders could not have looked more bored with us and with her task at hand. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I had a papaya salad, my favorite now (thank you Miguel y Sara!) and Raquel got a steak which she has been craving for a while. We also shared a Lao Beer with sprite. Who knew that beer could actually be good? Haha I'm just really not a fan so that works for me and again, that was thanks to Sara and Miguel. Thank you come again! :)
The next day we woke up early to go see the locals bathing their elephants in the river. People said it was a daily routine. We saw one elephant just hanging out and continued to wander down the path in hopes of finding the other waterfall. After seeing it but not seeing any more elephants, we slowly headed back trough the woods.
We went for breakfast at a guesthouse down the street which we saw had pancakes. They turned out to be crepes, but nonetheless, very delicious. I got banana and condensed milk crepe while Raquel decided on a lemon and sugar crepe. After breakfast, we headed back to our place for a quick change and headed out to trek through the woods to find the Tad Soung Waterfall which was supposedly about 4km away, through small villages and river paths. Well, we found the village. Got many greetings from locals and little kids asking for pens, in English. At least they weren't asking for money... So after asking a couple people for directions, we headed across the village, through a small stream and down a path. After about an hour of walking through rice paddies, and other vegetable fields we walked up to small stream crossing over towards a village. We figured it was the next village in our path. But the stream looked a bit too familiar... We were back at the same village! I am not really sure how that happened but obviously, we took some wrong turns when the river started turning and we lost the path. So we walked through the village yet again, asking for new directions, and deciding to walk down another road. That led to about three more hours of walking following paths only to find ourselves in the middle of rice and potato fields, with local farmers giving us the strangest looks, after politely saying the customary 'Sabaidee!'. We gave up eventually and just went back to the first village deciding to take a dip in the river streaming down from the other waterfall. There were many local kids in the water playing and bathing with their grandmother, only clad in a towel around her waist, sitting on a tree which was halfway submerged in water, washing clothes. It was a great scene because everyone was laughing and smiling, including us, as our earlier frustrations floated away like the river.
We slowly made out way back to our cabana and went to have lunch, followed by a lovely siesta in the hammocks.
Later on we headed into town to get some snacks for tomorrow bus trip. We stalked up on some bananas, pineapple, coffee and some cookies. One of the cookies I got turned out to be very bad. They tasted like they were really old and have been siting out in the sun for years, which was probably the case. Disappointed, I left them alone and decided to leave it at the restaurant next door.
But when we went there to have dinner at around 9pm, the indifferent waitress happily announced that they were done serving food, even though the night before we sat down to eat there at 9:30pm. So we headed down the road, to the next restaurant which to our disappointment, was also closed. As we were walking down the road we both suddenly realized what was above us. Just above our heads, unraveled the most amazing sky full of incredibly bright stars. The last time I saw a sky like that was on the boat during the sailing trip from Cartagena, Colombia to Panama. We were out in the open sea, with land nowhere near us and no lights around so it was incredible. But to see a sky like that on land was absolutely amazing. Our spirits were lifted completely forgetting the fact that everything was closed. We were just gazing up at the sky, not knowing where to look first because there were so many possibilities. As we walked further down the road, we saw another restaurant and a little old Lao woman had just walked outside and was shutting the lights off in the restaurant part. We didn't even have enough to get disappointed when she turned them right back on as soon as she saw us walking over! We were greeted with a bright smile of a beautiful old woman as well as her daughter and grandson. All very excited to have us there. We chose our meals and happily waited for its arrival. After eating a delicious Pad Thai, we were discussing whether we should leave the cookies at the table or just give them directly to the hosts. Meanwhile, the little grandson was saying something and sounding disappointed as his mother was wrestling him back so he wouldn't run towards. Soon we realized that he was reaching for the cookies! It was perfect. So I took the package of cookies and motioned for him to come over. He happily ran over and took one, while smiling from ear to ear. When his mother and grandmother thanked us a million times, I motioned for them to take the whole bag after the which all three of them became so happy and started clapping and thanking me with deep bows of appreciation. It was so lovely. It's really nice to see happy people like them, just living a basic life but enjoying everyday of it.
That lovely evening concluded our stay in the Tad Lo village until we left for Pakse and then Four Thousand Islands the next day.
After we settled in, the first thing we did was go in for a dip in the river in front of our cabana. The water was so refreshing, especially after a long day of going from bus to bus. We saw locals bathing in the river earlier so we decided to do the same. After coming back and eating our pineapple that we bought at the Pakse bus station market, we went for a walk to see the surrounding area. There wasn't much to see really, especially since it was dark by then. Soon after leaving, we headed back and sat down to have dinner at the restaurant next door. The girl taking our orders could not have looked more bored with us and with her task at hand. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I had a papaya salad, my favorite now (thank you Miguel y Sara!) and Raquel got a steak which she has been craving for a while. We also shared a Lao Beer with sprite. Who knew that beer could actually be good? Haha I'm just really not a fan so that works for me and again, that was thanks to Sara and Miguel. Thank you come again! :)
The next day we woke up early to go see the locals bathing their elephants in the river. People said it was a daily routine. We saw one elephant just hanging out and continued to wander down the path in hopes of finding the other waterfall. After seeing it but not seeing any more elephants, we slowly headed back trough the woods.
We went for breakfast at a guesthouse down the street which we saw had pancakes. They turned out to be crepes, but nonetheless, very delicious. I got banana and condensed milk crepe while Raquel decided on a lemon and sugar crepe. After breakfast, we headed back to our place for a quick change and headed out to trek through the woods to find the Tad Soung Waterfall which was supposedly about 4km away, through small villages and river paths. Well, we found the village. Got many greetings from locals and little kids asking for pens, in English. At least they weren't asking for money... So after asking a couple people for directions, we headed across the village, through a small stream and down a path. After about an hour of walking through rice paddies, and other vegetable fields we walked up to small stream crossing over towards a village. We figured it was the next village in our path. But the stream looked a bit too familiar... We were back at the same village! I am not really sure how that happened but obviously, we took some wrong turns when the river started turning and we lost the path. So we walked through the village yet again, asking for new directions, and deciding to walk down another road. That led to about three more hours of walking following paths only to find ourselves in the middle of rice and potato fields, with local farmers giving us the strangest looks, after politely saying the customary 'Sabaidee!'. We gave up eventually and just went back to the first village deciding to take a dip in the river streaming down from the other waterfall. There were many local kids in the water playing and bathing with their grandmother, only clad in a towel around her waist, sitting on a tree which was halfway submerged in water, washing clothes. It was a great scene because everyone was laughing and smiling, including us, as our earlier frustrations floated away like the river.
We slowly made out way back to our cabana and went to have lunch, followed by a lovely siesta in the hammocks.
Later on we headed into town to get some snacks for tomorrow bus trip. We stalked up on some bananas, pineapple, coffee and some cookies. One of the cookies I got turned out to be very bad. They tasted like they were really old and have been siting out in the sun for years, which was probably the case. Disappointed, I left them alone and decided to leave it at the restaurant next door.
But when we went there to have dinner at around 9pm, the indifferent waitress happily announced that they were done serving food, even though the night before we sat down to eat there at 9:30pm. So we headed down the road, to the next restaurant which to our disappointment, was also closed. As we were walking down the road we both suddenly realized what was above us. Just above our heads, unraveled the most amazing sky full of incredibly bright stars. The last time I saw a sky like that was on the boat during the sailing trip from Cartagena, Colombia to Panama. We were out in the open sea, with land nowhere near us and no lights around so it was incredible. But to see a sky like that on land was absolutely amazing. Our spirits were lifted completely forgetting the fact that everything was closed. We were just gazing up at the sky, not knowing where to look first because there were so many possibilities. As we walked further down the road, we saw another restaurant and a little old Lao woman had just walked outside and was shutting the lights off in the restaurant part. We didn't even have enough to get disappointed when she turned them right back on as soon as she saw us walking over! We were greeted with a bright smile of a beautiful old woman as well as her daughter and grandson. All very excited to have us there. We chose our meals and happily waited for its arrival. After eating a delicious Pad Thai, we were discussing whether we should leave the cookies at the table or just give them directly to the hosts. Meanwhile, the little grandson was saying something and sounding disappointed as his mother was wrestling him back so he wouldn't run towards. Soon we realized that he was reaching for the cookies! It was perfect. So I took the package of cookies and motioned for him to come over. He happily ran over and took one, while smiling from ear to ear. When his mother and grandmother thanked us a million times, I motioned for them to take the whole bag after the which all three of them became so happy and started clapping and thanking me with deep bows of appreciation. It was so lovely. It's really nice to see happy people like them, just living a basic life but enjoying everyday of it.
That lovely evening concluded our stay in the Tad Lo village until we left for Pakse and then Four Thousand Islands the next day.
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