Chasing Waterfalls and Finding Ghosts In The Bolaven Plateau
Motorbiking around one of the coolest regions of Laos.
When I did the Bolaven Plateau motorbike loop in southern Laos, I went searching for the many awe-inspiring waterfalls which are one of the main attractions for people doing the loop. While seeking out one of them, called Tad E Tu, I paid a local woman to watch my motorbike (theft is extremely common) and wandered down a long, unmaintained dirt road. After ducking underneath the branches of a fallen tree, I arrived at what looked like an entrance fee hut, though it was half swallowed by overgrown vines; there was nobody inside the hut.
I wandered further into a dirt parking lot adjacent to a few rundown buildings. Underneath one of these buildings, an older man swept the open floor. When he saw me walking, he asked for payment to see the waterfall. I paid him and continued onward to a trail he pointed me to, taken aback by a rusty, long forgotten tuk tuk and the old ‘welcome’ letters tangled in the overgrowth.
As I descended down the grassy hill towards the waterfall, I passed several shabby guesthouses with jagged glass pieces that…
