Day 1: Bolaven’s nature and lifestyle immersion ( L , D )
We leave Pakse and start driving up to the Bolaven Plateau. At the start of the plateau we will stop at a small village, famous for knife making and blacksmithing. We spend some time here to see how knives are made by hand using traditional techniques before continuing on to visit some coffee and tea plantations. Here we learn how tea and coffee is grown and processed as well as learning about its importance as a cash crop. We then make our way to the stunning Tad Fan Waterfall. Here we take some time to explore the local area before we take a short hike to Tad Yeung Waterfall. We will have lunch at the waterfall and spend some time relaxing or swimming.
In the afternoon after we head to the fascinating Paksong Market, a great place to look around and discover and important part of local life! After some time at the market we head to an ethnic Mon Khmer village. These people originally came from what is now Cambodia and have a completely different culture and language to the majority of Lao people. We will spend the night in this village to learn about their culture by immersing ourselves in village life.
Approximately 3 hours . 5 hour sightseeing
Day 2: Ethnic groups and waterfalls discovery ( B , L )
After breakfast with our host family we visit some other villages to learn about their culture and how it differs from Mon Khmer and low-land Lao. We then travel to a waterfall where we will start our trek. Along the hike we will pass another waterfall before arriving at a Ngae ethnic village where we can learn about the different lifestyle and culture of this group. After enjoying lunch at a local restaurant, we continue to our final waterfall. From here we will return to Pakse in the late afternoon.
Approximately 3.5 hours 1.5 hours trekking . 3.5 hours sightseeing
