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Waterfalltopia

The city of Pakse itself was not pretty. I could see what everybody was raving about. My mom told me that there was something called the Boloven Plateau and that it had waterfalls. “Already seen a bunch of those and don’t care to see any more”.

La ville de Pakse n’est vraiment pas belle, la seule raison que nous y sommes c’est pour faire la visite du plateau des Bolovens, ils font du café et du thé, il y a des cascades et aussi des tribus. Pour les chutes d’eau je crois que j’en ai assez vu!

We got there and I was surprised to see 2 waterfalls neighboring each other. They were tall and thin with water pouring out of with crushing force. The unfortunate things were that we were there at the wrong time of day so they were dark and that they were far away. Though we could hear their sound clearly from where we were standing. The next waterfall was smaller and you could feel the cool mist emitting from it. It was covered in some sort of moss from which drops of water trickled into the great pool below. We left hastily and didn’t have the time to take many pictures. In this area there are some coffee plantation.

J’étais surprise par la première cascade Tad Lo, en fait c’était 2 cascades très hautes tombant de la montagne, nous étions de l’autre côté assez loin mais nous les entendions très bien. Malheureusement nous n’étions pas là à la bonne période pour le soleil mais le soir elles doivent être encore plus jolies.  Puis nous en avons visité une autre il fallait marcher assez longtemps, elle diffusait un mist qui était rafraichissant et il y avait beaucoup de mousses d’un vert très intense. Nous avons visité une petite plantation de cafés.

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The next stop wasn’t another waterfall but a village. Signs of poverty were clear in this village. The houses were more like bamboo shacks on stilts and there were pigs and dogs going about everywhere. I kind of felt like we were intruders, we had no local guide so we kind of looked around without being able to speak to the people. We ran into a group of girls about my age, 1 older and the rest younger. We tried to ask for their names and they said them, but only giggles followed, so I’m not so sure it was their names they were saying but maybe swears or funny words! We tried to interact but to no avail, the language barrier was a difficult obstacle to overcome. When we left, they followed us from a distance and waved our group of 12 goodbye.

Après nous avons visité un village du plateau. J’ai appris que les gens étaient presque tous des fermiers, ils font surtout du riz, c’est un travail dur et pas très payant ils ne sont vraiment pas riches. Les maisons étaient sommaires, ils avaient leurs animaux autour comme les cochons ou les poulets. J’aurais aimé que notre chauffeur vienne avec nous et nous serve de guide, car tous on avait l’impression de voyeurisme. Une des personnes avec notre groupe était Thai et ils se comprennent entre eux alors il était capable de leur poser des questions et ils répondaient gentillement. Il y avait un groupe de filles qui sont venues nous voir plus ou moins mon âge, elles allaient un peu à l’école, nous sommes arrivés à apprendre leurs noms mais elles rigolaient beaucoup. Même si c’était un peu difficile de communiquer  c’est bien d’avoir un contact amical avec les locaux.

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We had lunch at a hotel and the service was as bad ever. (I haven’t told you guys yet, but the service in Laos is rather slow, 30-40 min, they make one meal at a time). I was eager to swim in this particular waterfall because I could see it in the distance, but where I was it was more like a river with small rapids. Everyone was jumping off of this rock and I was curious as to why. It took me a while to jump and I realized that that particular pool was very deep. So it was kind of like a natural swimming pool. When I got cold I went to the one above and tried to cross as the Laotian kids did. But the current was very strong, and as I waded toward the rocks on the other side, the current washed me into the rapids. I clung to the smooth surface of a rock for dear life. I tried to call for help, but the sound of the water drowned my voice out. My brother glanced at me but said nothing, why? I thought I was going to die, because rapids scare me so much. After 3 minutes of struggle, I managed to pull myself up onto the rocks. Shaking badly, I needed time to recover. My dad looked up from his conversation and for the first time realized that I was not okay. Together we went back across the river but I was still traumatized. Even to this day I don’t think that escapade was funny, and hope it never happens again. My mom said I panicked that it was not that fast and nothing serious would have happened. In the middle of it I didn’t see it that way.

Nous avons mangé à un super petit hôtel près d’une cascade où nous nous sommes baignés. Le service pour le lunch était un peu lent mais c’est un trait du Laos, ils préparent un plat à la fois même si tu commandes 2 fois pareil. Je me suis fait une grosse frayeur dans la rivière à un moment j’ai voulu traverser comme avait fait un petit Laotien mais mon pied a glissé et le courant m’a emporté. Je me suis rattrapée de justesse à un rocher, j’ai crié mais personne ne m’entendait. J’ai cru que j’allais mourrir après pas mal d’efforts je suis arrivée à me sortir de l’eau mais ça m’avait secoué. Mon père s’est aperçu que je n’allais pas bien alors il est venu m’aider à traverser. Ma mère est revenue et je lui ai raconté mon périple, elle m’a dit que le courant n’était pas si fort que ça et que rien de dramatique ne serait arrivé, car après les quelques petits rapides il y a comme une piscine sans courant. Sur le moment je n’ai pas vu ça comme ça.

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It was nearing 4:00 when we left for the 4th and final waterfalls. We rode for a long time before arriving. The signs indicating to the falls were quite vague, the whole group was in confusion. We found the right path though and everything was all right. This waterfall had pipes running through it, so I wondered if it was not man-made. With the last few seconds left on the camera battery, I took some cool shots from the middle of the stream running down. Then we went to another village next to the falls. Since we had no guide, none of us knew which tribe that was. But what I did know was that they didn’t often see other kids like Jayden and I. On a porch, small children sat with what appeared to be their grandmother. They were intrigued by the hair of one of the girls from the group whose hair was curlier than my mom’s. The grandmother was frightened of it and told her children not to play with it! I left the village in a much better mood than when I almost fell down the rapids. That was mostly a very successful day, but no more waterfalls please!

Il était presque 16.00 quand nous avons fini notre tour du plateau par une 4ème cascade. Le chemin n’était pas très bien indiqué et une partie du groupe s’est séparé. J’ai pris les photos, j’ai du faire vite car il n’y avait presque plus de piles!      Sur les bords de la rivière il y avait un petit village, dans cette tribu les enfants fument de pipes en bambou, ils étaient assez fascinés par Jayden et moi ils ne doivent pas voir des enfants très souvent. Une des filles du groupe était Brésilienne d’origine noire avec des cheveux un peu afro elle a demandé  aux enfants s’ils vouaient toucher ses cheveux, ils ont hésité longtemps puis les ont touché la grande mère de la famille fermait les yeux comme si les cheveux frisés étaient une abomination! C’était top marrant. Notre périple était bien mais s’il vous plait plus de cascades je vais faire une overdose!!!

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