Nam Pakan is a limestone reservoir that has bright colored, clear water. I didn't stay here over night, it was a short detour on my way back to Thakhek. This series was supposed to be all @pinmapple pins of the places that I stayed on my trip, so I kind of feel like I'm cheating with this one. But I've already posted about Thakhek and I only have a couple of photos from that city.
I think my tour is going to get really messy, especially when I get to Vietnam. Most of the photos are of the day's journey and not where I stayed. I guess we'll cross those bridges when we get to them.
On my last day on the Thakhek Loop, I left Vieng Kham and it was pretty much a straight shot down the highway to Thakhek.
On the map that I had been given by the scooter rental company, it showed a place that had been circled. I had a ton of extra time on this day and the guy had said it was worth seeing. So I decided I'd check it out.
But first, I had to take another gratuitous scooter photo. When I look at other people's posts about scooter trips, they always include scooter photos and the photos are always boring. Mine is particularly boring, but I guess we all have a particular love for our trusty scooters. Like parents of ugly children or unremarkable pets, we can't help but share the photos that only we can love.
Every now and then I would come across these brightly colored trees. I don't know what they are, but I was drawn to them like geckos to a beer sign (more about Laotian wall lizards in a future post). Much of the ride next to the highway was dusty and kind of dull-colored. These trees were like a neon sign, and they weren't very common.
Next to the highway, trash is everywhere. Can you tell that I don't have many photos from this day's ride? Yes, when I post litter photos it's a safe bet that I'm low on photos.
And here is another gratuitous water buffalo photo. I will always post water buffalo shots, even if I have 300 photos from the day. If I have a spirit animal, it is a water buffalo.
Eventually I made it to the little lake/pond/reservoir. The color of it was very striking. It was pretty incredible how vibrant the water looked. There was a tourist couple there who were also on the loop. I talked to them a little bit and we helped each other find the entrance to the water area.
I was there to take a few photos. They were there for swimming. I'm not all that interested in swimming. I loved swimming as a kid and my parents would have struggled to prevent me from jumping in. But as an adult it just seemed like more work that it was worth.
I don't remember if this is the same type of tree as the bight one that I posted earlier in this post. It's a cool looking plant, whatever it is.
After I took a few photos, I went back to the area where we parked our scooters. While I was talking with the other tourists, we kept hearing someone in the forest clack-clack-clacking on something. We didn't know what it was, but the sound kept getting closer and closer. Soon a local girl of about 13 years walked out of the forest with a basket on a long pole. She was hitting the pole with a machete. We waved and smiled. She walked up and showed us the basket.
At first I couldn't tell what she had.
Then I saw that the basket was full of fire-ant larva and angry ants. She was tapping the pole to keep the ants from crawling down it and getting her. The girl reached in and grabbed an egg and ate it. Then she shook her hand as she was bitten by an ant.
She offered one to me, but I politely declined. I got a photo and she continued on her way.
I got back on the road and returned to Thakhek a short time later. I returned my bike and picked up my backpack. I'd been worried that it would be stolen, but it was there, safe and sound.
The next day I took a bus south to Pakse. There was another loop that I read about online and the start/end point for it was there. I hope you'll join me tomorrow as I start the Bolaven Plateau loop.