Tha Khaek, Laos (March 21-March 24)

An early morning start was needed to catch our bus from Pakse to Tha Khaek and we were on the road at around 7:30 am.   We knew we were in for a long day the moment we stepped foot on our old rickety public bus that did not seem to have a working AC system since the French colonial times.  The bus would stop to pick up people anywhere along the road and there were a lot of people spread out that wanted a ride.  By 1 pm the sun was out in full force and we were reduced to puddles of human flesh in our seats even though the ceiling fans were putting up a noble but futile struggle to combat the heat. Lucky for us the bus would stop every 15 minutes for a 45 minute break so we could move our roasting bodies from the bus to the sweltering blacktop but at least  there was cold beer Lao available to prevent our internal organs from slowly cooking inside the crock pots we called our bodies.  At 5 pm we finally arrived at Tha Khaek our journey taking 9 hours to cover about 300 km (187 miles).  We hightailed it to our guesthouse to begin to plan our adventure and reason for even going to Tha Khaek, a 440 km long bike circuit commonly known as “the loop”.  Information was gathered from the guesthouse and from other travelers who had just recently finished the loop and our hog was picked out from the line up.  She was a teal blue Chinese made 4 speed 125 cc scooter that was way underpowered and going to be excessively overloaded, it was perfect.  After looking the bike over for a few hours with the shop I felt confident that it was up to the task of safely getting us around the loop.  We consolidated our bags to one small backpack that Teresa wore and a smaller daypack that went into the front basket, the rest went into storage at our guesthouse. We were gassed and ready to roll.

                We were up at the crack of dawn (that’s 9:30 am in Jeff and Teresa Time) and proceeded to drive 600 meters to our first stop for breakfast. We had noodle soup ( pho) and this was to be the kickoff of a 4 day pho fest where every meal consisted of inexpensive yet delicious spicy broth filled with rice noodles, mystery meat, and assorted veggies.  The first day of the loop was amazing.  We headed east towards Vietnam through towering karst spires and lush countryside.  The loop was basically a tour of a multitude of caves that had formed in the soft karst limestone due to water erosion with the coup de grais being the last cave which was a 7.5 km long river that had punched its way through a mountain.  Our first cave,  Tham Pha Pa, was a recent discovery by a local guy who was hunting bats and came across the cave finding over 220 bronze Buddha statues that had sat undisturbed for the last 600 years. The cave itself was unremarkable and quite developed with lights, flooring, attendants, and of course a bunch of little buddhas everywhere.  The entrance had an emerald  blue lake that recessed into unknown depths of the karst tower which was beautiful.   A few kms down the road we reached what was to be my favorite cave of the day, Tham Xing Liap.  It was just a massive natural cave that has been left alone.  A small stream had cut a passage through  the karst creating a vast cavern that had 2 huge entrances and one small one. I somehow convinced Teresa to overcome her fear of caves and we meandered our way through with our trusty headlight. Crystal clear pools of water were scattered throughout thel cave system and were often the only way to pass through. We took a break from the sweltering heat by swimming in a cold river swimming hole that was popular with the folks taking on the loop.  Next up on the cave agenda was Tham Sa Pha In.  This was a holy cave with numerous prayer flags and banners  strewn throughout and It also contained a Buddha shrine.  At the bottom was the most spectacular pool of water that extended deeper into the cave and  was illuminated by a massive natural skylight. The sun lit up the water and made it shine such a bright blue that seemed to beg for you to take a dip in it, but since it was a holy cave swimming was not allowed and  we reluctantly made our way back to our bike to continue  our journey. We visited one more cave that was crap and was not worth the visit.  All we had left for the day was an 80km drive to our guesthouse and figured that we would get there with plenty of daylight remaining…we were wrong.  About 20 km from the village our guesthouse was in was the last of civilization we would see for a full day. The road became rough, hilly, windy, and unpaved and of course we got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. We figured we had about 8 km to go so we started walking and eventually flagged down a passing truck that we got a ride with to the next village with a bike repair shop. We weren’t really that concerned since we had already dealt with flat tires in Ban Lung and we figured it would be a straight forward fix…we were wrong.  The tire in question  had already been patched 3 times so the repair guy deemed it was new tube time which required the removal of the wheel from the bike.  Seemed like an easy task…we were wrong.  The wheel was removed, the tube changes, and the wheel replaced. The repair guy checked how the wheel spun and was not satisfied with the result.  The wheel was again removed and the rear brake was tinkered with. The wheel was reassembled and it still did not spin correctly. His fix was to loosen the axel bolt slightly and viola, its fixed.  We paid him the 2 bucks for the repair and we were on our way. As we left we sensed something funny in his attitude, he wouldn’t look us in the eye but we didn’t really think much of it since we were back on the road and would be relaxing soon…we were wrong. About 2 km from the shop the bike started to severely bog down and eventually would almost not move under power. We got off and noticed smoke from the rear wheel and the brake was glowing hot. We put the bike up on the jackstand and I checked the wheel.  When it was rotated it made a scraping noise and a tremendous amount of slop when moved side to side.  BALLS!! We were on our feet again walking the bike the remaining 1 km to the village where I found the local “bike shop” manned by a 16 year old kid. It was dark by then and I found him standing under a light bulb with a lit candle trying to ignite the numerous moths that hovered around.  I knew then I had the A team of bike repair guys. I speak very minimal Lao. I can say hello, thank you, please, and I can count to 5, only two of those words were useful that night. As luck would have it he spoke not a word of English so attempting to explain what happened at the previous bike shop was an exercise in futility. Finally I put the bike back up on the jackstand and wiggled the wheel.  “Oh my god!” HA!  The little bugger did speak English!  We wheeled the bike into the minimal lighting of the shop/living room/kitchen and he disassembled the rear wheel.  When he removed the rear brake unit a shower of ball bearings, metal shards, and melted plastic fell into a sad little pile on the floor.  “OH MY GOD!!!” My heart sank at his exclamation.  We were literally in the middle of nowhere and replacement parts were not an option.  He began to examine the pieces in the same way I expect a coroner examines a corpse.  His older sister was watching the process and they began talking to each other in very serious tones all the while shaking his head as he looked over the carnage.  The brake unit had come in contact with the hub so it was metal to metal  causing massive amounts of heat, stripping away chunks of metal, melting the hard rubber chain/gear buffer, and possibly contributing to the bearing going out. Finally the kid got out a flathead screwdriver and a hammer and started to go to town on the parts. There was much scraping and chiseling, peeling and prying.  He finally got the pieces relatively cleaned up and installed new rubber chain buffers. He did have a extra bearing laying around but it was a bit too small so he cut up an pop can and used the aluminum strips to shim the bearing in place.  I was impressed so far.  The wheel was reassembled but the same problem remained, it wouldn’t spin correctly.  He realized he needed a spacer between the hub and the brake unit, picked up a nut that was larger than the bolt and between the two of us managed to get it between the hub and brake.  He then torqued down the axel bolts with considerable strength and gave the wheel a spin. Presto! Smooth as a baby’s bottom.  It took 3 hours but he did it with spare parts that were laying around. The kid had defiantly earned his cash all 50,000 Lao kip which was $6.25. Teresa had checked into the guesthouse in the meantime and had returned to watch the victory and we hopped on said our goodbyes and thank you and made our way to our guesthouse to clean up and grab food and a few beer laos since we figured the guesthouse restaurant would still be open at 8 pm…we were wrong.  The tiny village we were staying in was basically shut down by the time we were finished with the bike. We walked down the deserted streets in search for any kind of nutrition and water. We finally found a shop where  we could get snacks and water and, in a complete change in our luck, they also had hot pho and cold beer. We then went to sleep.

                I’m glad to say the next day was highly uneventful.  We had 66 km of very rough single lane roads through the jungle.  They had  conservation checkpoints set up on either side of the 66km that were to prevent people from  poaching trees.  The jungle was pristine and untouched and since the road was so bad we spent a lot of time in it going very slow.  Once back on the main road we pushed on to our final destination the big 7.5 km long cave at Kong Lo. The last was gong to be a long one since we were visiting the caves and making the 185 km drive back to Tha Khaek.  We were up again at the break of dawn (9:45am) and hired a boat to take us into the caves.  We paid 110,000 kip ($13.75) for the two of us in our own boat with 2 guides. We walked into the cave to find a lake where about 2 dozen longtail boats were parked.  With the four of us onboard the boat was nearly flush with the water and maybe 2 inches of freeboard remained.  Our spotter in the front of the boat was blind in one eye thus eliminating all depth perception and the driver was busy steering the boat and constantly bailing the water that seeped in through every crack and hole.  So the four of us took off in the S.S. Minnow  to go deep into the bowels of the mountain…and it was spectacular.  Its my understanding that the cave and river was traditionally used for trade between villages and the driver and guide whisked us through the dark depths with ease.  There were areas where we had to get out and walk due to shallow waters and small rapids but for the most part the trip was made cruising along in the longtail.  We finally saw the light of the cave opening and popped out of the other side of the mountain range and into the sunlight. We rested on the other side of 20 min that had the pleasure of getting back in and going it all over again.  Teresa, who is normally not fond of caves, loved the trip.  The cave was massive and at one point the guide and I tried to hit the ceiling with rocks throwing as hard as we could.  The best part of the cave was that it was not lit except for a small area with interesting geological features and the only light was from headlamps and there were relatively few visitors to the cave.

                We exited the cave, jumped on our bike, and sped off for Tha Khaek in hopes of getting there before dark.  The road back was boring since it was on the main highway that paralleled the Mekong River.  Got back without a hitch, ate some food that was not pho and called it a night.  We have an early day tomorrow as we take a bus to Vientiane to start our next aventure. 

Stopping for a quick break

Exploring the first cave we saw

Buddhist prayer flags strung in Tham Sa Pha In cave

Exploring the Kong Lo cave

Deep in the Kong Lo cave with one of our guides

Getting through one of the shallow water spots.  Out of the boat!

There is light at the end of the tunnel!