A Quick Guide To The Bolaven Plateau!

The charming Bolaven Plateau, known for its exceptional coffee and dramatic waterfalls, is a place of verdant tranquillity amid the muddy scenery of rustic villages and unpretentious markets. An eclectic array of sights and sounds, coupled with the pungent aroma of the rural lifestyle, and the scent of roasted coffee, make the Bolaven Plateau a beguiling destination for those in search of a rudimentary excursion of Laos. If coffee and waterfalls aren’t your things, there is always tea, trekking or just relaxation.

The Bolaven Plateau?

The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in southern Laos; an ancient volcanic area, rising from 1000 to 1350 metres above sea level, which experiences cooler temperatures than the rest of Laos. With a colder climate, regular rainfall and fertile volcanic soil, the Bolaven Plateau an excellent area for growing coffee, which is evident in the exceptional quality of coffee grown here. Not surprisingly, 95% of Laos coffee is produced on the Bolaven Plateau.

How we got there…

To do the Bolaven Plateau loop, we hired scooters (motorbikes). We planned on doing the big loop and allowed ourselves four days to complete it. As this was my first big solo ride (over this sort of distance with a large pack on my back), it was not surprising our plans changed, and with our usual nonchalance, we adapted to our new agenda effortlessly.

It began to rain shortly after we had departed Pakse and it was still raining as we reached Paksong. We originally thought we would stop here for the night before continuing along the “big loop” road. We stopped at the Jhai Coffee House to try the must-talked-of coffee, and Dwayne began to search for “things to do” and accommodation options (I had handed over the responsibility of accommodation to Dwayne after my precious princess had complained about my choice of budget accommodation).  Anyhow, for once I had the time to explore my surroundings whilst Dwayne sifted through the ridiculous amount of information a Google search will spit out before checking out booking.com for accommodation.

The World’s First Philanthropic Coffee Roaster!

The coffee shop we had stumbled into was more than just a shop. As I wandered the store, I discovered much paraphernalia and information pertaining to the local coffee-growing practices and, in particular, the education of the farmers regarding good farming practises, clean water, and hygiene education. It turns out that Jhai Coffee House is the world’s first philanthropic coffee roaster and cafe dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in the coffee farming communities of Laos. The Jhai philosophy goes something like this  “buy from the source, sell at the source and reinvest profits back to the source.” 100% of Jhai’s net profit is returned to the growers in the form of clean water wells and hygiene education to support children’s health. They also serve very nice tea, and it was while we sipped the local tea that we decided to keep going. This meant we would not be making the big loop, as the “big loop” road was currently still under construction and said to be muddy and full of potholes, not a particularly good idea for a novice on a very wet day.

Searching for accommodation…

We stopped for lunch along the way at Thateng and arrived in Tad Lo early afternoon. It was time to set about looking for suitable accommodation, and we were incredibly disappointed. We looked at some of the scruffiest, dirtiest rooms we’d ever seen at prices that didn’t reflect their value.

The first and most expensive we looked at was Sayse Guesthouse and Resort. We asked to look at the room, and we then proceeded to trek (and I mean trek) along an overgrown path. Soon we were walking on a path of large rocks which was becoming increasingly slippery. Dwayne in the meantime, was muttering “how the hell is someone supposed to get back to their room in the dark?” I was wondering where the closest hospital was, as the chances of having a serious fall was not all that farfetched! We finally arrived at the room. It was bungalow style, dark, dingy, and not worth the money they wanted (about AUD 30.00). So we trekked back through the mosquito-infested jungle, thanked the lady for her time, and proceeded to move onto the next disappointment.

Then we found the perfect room…

We went on to look at another three properties before we decided to have a coffee break. Where we stopped for a coffee I notice a guesthouse sign so, once we had ordered our drinks, I asked the proprietor if they had a room available. They did, and I asked to look at it. The grounds surrounding the cabin-like rooms were lush, and there was a stream running through the area. I crossed my fingers that the room was ok. It was! It was large and clean with a large bathroom and a balcony, even a   hammock! So I said I’d take it and asked how much. I was pleasantly surprised by the price of ₭60,000 (less than AUD 10). It was the cheapest room we had come across, and it was perfect.

While we had tea and coffee, we explored a map of the area and decided that we would use this charming little place as our base and explore the area on our bikes. Basically, we decided to stop the always-on-the-go travel we had, until this stage, been doing. We decided to stay the three nights here and relax and enjoy the peace. So that is what we did.

For us, the Bolaven Plateau was all about relaxation. Apart from taking some serious “timeout” laying in the hammock and reading a book, we also went for a ride to Salavan where we had lunch and explored the market. This was an exciting local market.  Many local people live in small villages in the jungle where they grow the fruit and vegetables they sell at the market. If they are not growing it, they come to the markets to buy it. Some of the vendors clearly make their living from hunting, and at the markets, we saw a lot of different game for sale. There were water monitors and an animal that looked like a cross between a cat and possum for sale – we have no idea what most of the animals were. Like I said… very interesting.