Asia 2018: Day #11 A Market, a River and More Waterfalls

Our tour guide in southern Laos had mentioned the previous day that she would be visiting a nearby local market and invited us to come along. She did note, however, that it was generally finished by 7 and that it was a 10-15 minute walk from our hotel. Which meant that we had to be up before 6 to meet her in the hotel lobby before 6:30 – breakfast later. This is not a problem for us on holiday as we get very tired early from the heat and exercise and are therefore up at around dawn. I'm glad we did this day as the sunrise over the Mekong outside our hotel room was spectacular.

The little market we visited was a perfect example of way the locals shop in the area. All the food items were fresh, mostly either caught or cut that morning or the previous evening: frogs tied together still jumping, eels wriggling in buckets and even some of the catfish attempting to jump out of their bags. Most of us would see this as being cruel or inhumane but this is basic living in basic conditions. The only way to know if an animal is fresh is if it's still alive when you buy it, and in a poor country like Laos everything that can be eaten is eaten.

Wide view of the market

 

Fish and frogs for sale

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and climbed into a small boat for a one-hour trip downriver. 

This gave a view of a different part of the river and delivered us to the Don Khone area where we caught a tuk-tuk to the Liphi Waterfall. We had a little trouble with the machine at the start: the tires were a little flat,the brakes were sticking a little, and certain people might have weighed a little more than the machine was capable of transporting. I've lost a little weight since I've been on holiday but not enough for the poor tuk-tuk to cope with. I believe the term"buffalo" was used more than once, humorously. Our guide took the prudent approach and travelled on a separate motorcycle.

Tuk-tuk with smug passenger

It was then back on the boat up-river to a spot where we re-joined the van for the short drive over to the Khone Phapheng, the biggest waterfall in South East Asia.

Khone Phapheng waterfall

Then lunch and the two-hour drive back to Pakse finished off the day.