Luang Prabang, Laos (March 29-April 2)

We, Ms Leah included, booked the VIP bus out of Vieng Vang, but unlike the last VIP bus we took this was the local bus.  Thankfully, it wasn’t a very hot day so the fact the air-con or the fans didn’t work, wasn’t that big of a deal.  Northern Laos is mountainous and can be very rugged in some areas.  The bus would slowly chug up the hills, only to get to the top and go speeding down the narrow curving roads.  This was not a fun bus ride, but we made it to Luang Prabang. 

Luang Prabang is located along a peninsula formed by the Mekong River on one side and the Nam Khan river on the other side.  It is absolutely enchanting.  The buildings are either built in the Indochinse architecture style or are old French villas and Unesco has named this former French capital a World Heritage site.  We had arrived in the later afternoon and wandered around to a few guesthouses before finding a clean, cheap place with two rooms (one for Jeff & I and one for Leah).  We dropped our things and then went out to explore the town.  Every evening Luang Prabang has a wonderful night market that spans several blocks.  There are, if I remember correctly, over 40 different ethnic tribes living in northern Laos, one of the biggest tribes being the Hmong people.  The market has colorful textiles from these tribes, paper lanterns, wood carvings, jewelry, paintings, chopsticks, and hundreds of other items.  I think the best part about this market is that it is extremely low-key and low pressure.  You could actually look at things without being pressured.  That night we ate a really good little noodle stand at the end of the market.

The next day was cold and rainy.  Leah, Jeff, and I wandered around the streets for a bit and then decided to get a massage.  After we were relaxed, we sat down at a street side café to have a couple of beers.  We were sitting there chatting, when all of a sudden Jeff stands up and starts yelling ‘Jackie! Jackie!’  Jackie is a French lady we volunteered with in Kalcutta and who was also on our flight into Bangkok.  She sat down and we had a few more beers.  It was a wonderful evening of friendly chatter!

In the morning, Leah, Jackie and I had decided to meet to take the walking tour of Luang Prabang recommended by Lonely Planet.  We viewed the cultural center and up the 100 m hill to the temples of Phu Si. From here, we had amazing views of all Luang Prabang. The walk brought us down to several other wats (temples) in the town center and finally to Wat Xieng Thong.   Xieng Thong is a beautiful temple and monastery.  The buildings of the complex are covered with amazing mosaics of trees, people, boats, rice paddies, and pictures of everyday life.  One the eastern side of the Wat, is the royal funeral chapel, where several of the royal family urns are kept. 

On our last day in Luang Prabang, we booked a kayaking trip down the Nam Ou river with Leah.  Although, we didn’t come across any big rapids, there were a couple of splashes here and there.  From the river we could see some farms, people fishing, and surprisingly people panning for gold.  We pulled the kayaks on shore and had a lovely picnic lunch.  After lunch, we continued down the Nam Ou to where it meets with the Mekong.  Just before we reached the Mekong, we came to some huge limestone cliffs.  After crossing the Mekong river, we beached the boats again to view the Pak Ou Caves.  These caves have hundreds of images of Buddha in them.  We rafted a few more kilometers down the Mekong, before exiting the river and loading the kayaks on the tuk-tuk. The tuk-tuk then took us a village called Ban Xang Hai or more commonly called the whiskey village. Although, it was an authentic village, it felt a lot like a tourist trap.  Lots of textiles and goods being sold out of doorways.  It’s called the whiskey village because the villagers make a lot of LaoLao here to be sold at the night market.  We were given a few samples of different types, and it doesn’t matter what kind of rice is used, its still disgusting!   

The next day, we took a bus north to Luang Namtha, just 17 kilometers from the China border.  We booked this bus with a private tour company for about 20,000 more kip (about $2.50) then the local bus.  It was well worth the extra cost!  Leah, Jeff, and I had the bus to ourselves and we had a driver and a ‘guide’ as well.  The guide would explain some of villages as we passed and answered our questions in the local market we stopped at as well.   

View of Luang Prabang & the Mekong from Phu Si

Me outside one of the wats in the center of town

Main temple at Wat Xieng Thong with the tree-of-life mosaic on the end

Locals panning of gold along the Nam Ou river

Leah, Jeff, and I on the Nam Ou

Jeff inside one of the Pak Ou caves

Lady with a bamboo rat at the local market the bus stopped at

Close-up of the ROUS, aka the bamboo rat

Vientaine & Vieng Vang, Laos (March 25-29)

We left Tha Khaek on the morning VIP bus.  Unlike the previous VIP buses we had been on, this bus was deluxe!  Two stories, air-con that worked, seats that reclined back when you wanted them too, and TV/DVD that ranged in entertainment from karaoke to Fast and the Furious in Laotian.  It was a very pleasant ride and after about 5 hours we arrived in Laos capital city, Vientiane.  Although Vientiane was a very nice, clean city, I felt that it lacked character and was much more expensive than the rest of the country.  J agreed and we caught one of the first mini buses the next day to Vieng Vang.

On the ride we met a very nice American, Leah, who despite being a Vandal was really interesting to talk too.  (For those of you who know about college loyalties, the Vandals are from the University of Idaho & is 8 miles from where I went to college at Washington State University GO COUGERS!)  Leah had spent the past year and half teaching English at private schools in China.  We chatted for bit and picked her brain for the ‘cool’ places to visit in China.  Several hours later we arrived into Vieng Vang, found a guesthouse, and acquired Leah as a neighbor.  

At dinner that night, the three of us met another American and an Australian at the table across from us.  The Australian, Kallie, worked for Lonely Planet doing some editing and freelance photography.   We had a festive evening of drinking beers and laughing.  The thing to do in Vieng Vang is to rent an inter-tube and float down the Nam Song river.  We all agreed on a meeting place and time for the next day and said goodnight.  The next morning we meet up with Leah and walked to the appointed meeting spot.  The walk turned out to be much longer than we had thought.  It turned out to be a couple of kilometers and we arrived late. Kallie and Emily (the American) were no where to be seen.  So we ate lunch and crossed the river to rent the inter tubes. 

This river float was very different from our peaceful float down the Mekong River in Don Deit.  Bars line the river, each having its own drink specials, loud music, and rope swings or zip lines.  We crossed the bamboo bridge to the first bar and talked to the bartender about renting inter tubes.  He informed us that the inter tubes were rented back in town and then everyone takes a tuk-tuk out.  Leah, Jeff, and I came into a little group huddle about what we were going do, when the bartender changed his mind and rented us three inter tubes.  Before we set off, Jeff had a bucket drink of Lao Lao (Laos whiskey, trust me its gross!) and Red Bull and launched himself off the rope swing at the bar several times.  Then we were off down the river.  It wasn’t long before we got to the next bar, maybe 20 meters, and we had ever intent of moving on, but ropes were being thrown out and we were being towed back into shore.  Jeff launched himself off another rope swing several times before we were ready to move on. 

By moving on, I mean we drifted across the river to the next bar.  This one not only had a higher rope swing, but a zip line as well.  Jeff took the zip line out but didn’t let go before it hit the end of the line. When his hands slid from the handles of the zip line, the momentum he had going flipped him, literally head over heels, about three times before he hit the water.  From someone who didn’t hit the water hard, it was pretty funny to watch. 

We were towed into several other bars and Jeff went off every rope swing around.  I, being scared of heights, was perfectly happy to watch, take photos, and chat with Leah.  We floated past the bar area of the river and down into the quieter areas.  Once the noise disappeared into the distance, the river was quiet relaxing and beautiful.  As the sun set, the temperature dropped and we exited the river before reaching the town center.  It was a fun day.

The next day, the weather changed, it is was a bit cold and rainy.  Jeff was really sore from all the swinging so we took it easy.  In nearly every restaurant in Vieng Vang, there are endless re-runs of Friends or Family Guy replaying over and over.  After watching about 10 episodes of Friends, it was time to move on!  

Boo Vandals !! Go Cougs!

Floating down 'bar street'

One of J's many launches off the rope swings that day

Not all Vandals are that bad!  Thanks for floating with us Leah!

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!