We got to the trail to the cave only to find that we had to pay 10,000 kip per person and walk through muddy rice field. Sandra decided to not come with, so just Joe and I went. It was so muddy! The guy we paid was ahead of us a ways and at a place where the trail branches off, he motioned for us to follow him. Once we got to the cave he gave us headlamps... We started thinking that maybe we inadvertently paid for a guide and that there technically wasn't any entrance fee. Oh well. Though, it wasn't a good sign that the 'guide' took his pants off before going in the cave. Early on we were up to mid-thigh in water, then climbed up a rickety bamboo ladder. The cave was pretty neat, though muddy. Once we got to a spot where he said the water was basically belly deep, we told him we'd go back. We got back to the stream that was not far from the entrance of the cave and he says "money for guide?". Whoops. Of course Joe only had 50,000 kip bills, which was a bit much considering he didn't actually do that much. Oh well. That's still only a few dollars, so I'm sure we made his day.
After lunch, we got on the bus and arrived in Vientiane without issue. We found a place to stay and had yummy sushi for dinner. We didn't do much while there. It's the capitol city of Laos, but definitely not what you would normally picture for the capitol city of a country. Not crazy busy and not super huge. Sandra spent the afternoon by herself while Joe and I walked around checking out nearby sights.
The next day was our scheduled day to leave, but since we were taking the night/sleeper bus it wasn't going to be until at least 7pm. We took a tuk tuk to Pha That Luang, which. The buildings were impressive, though we weren't able to go inside because we happened to go during the lunch hour which is when it was closed. The rest of the day we just hung out in cafes.
Once it was time, we caught our ride to the bus station, eventually found our bus. These buses have upper and lower beds, two people on each side, though it's relatively skinny. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't have to try sleeping by someone I didn't know. We made our way into the bus after some confusion as to where our bags were supposed to go and found out we were to sleep in the very back, on the top, which is technically supposed to have 5 people in it.... Fortunately, there was only one lady there and no one else came. We all did sleep some. More than we probably would have on a bus where we had just normal seats.
We're now in Pakse and working on finding some place to stay, though it's still pretty early, so who knows if we'll be able to get a room, but hopefully we'll at least have some place to store our bags.
Oh, I finally updated our 'current location' also.
-Miranda
Walking through the muddy rice paddy.
Pha That Luang
This was in the hotel where we were staying. I like the wireless router sitting on top.
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We left Luang Prabang on Sunday. We took a 'VIP' bus. The trip was supposed to take 6 hours. The road was not exactly what we would normally consider a 'main drag'... It was small and very windy, going through the mountains. The scenery was definitely gorgeous though. Driving by some of the villages was very neat. The thatch roofs and houses, plus seeing the kids playing in the mud with whatever they had at hand.
At one point we stopped and they were pulling tools out. That was only about half an hour or so of delay and we were on our way again. We were stopped again at a relatively recent mud slide. There was a van stuck in the mud. A bunch of locals eventually pushed it out. The bus let people that were behind us go. We watched a few trucks and a van go through without a problem. However, instead of the bus going, a van on the other side went... With not even close to enough speed, he, of course, came to a stop and was stuck in the mud. His van sat there for basically 20 minutes with barely anyone helping to push it out or get it unstuck. Sure, he tried driving backwards only to slide deeper into the mud, but that's about it despite quite a few tourists standing around. Finally, Joe went out there and eventually started yelling push! After just 5 minutes the van was out of the mud.
The bus driver was smart enough not to let anyone else ahead of us this time. We made it through without a problem and continued on our way. We made it to Vang Vieng only a couple hours later than planned.
Since we've been here it's mostly been raining... This is the 'party' town of Laos. The main thing to do here is tubing. Along the river are bars playing loud music and they have rickety slides or swings to use to get back into the water. Anyway, we decided to do a one day trek our first full day. It sprinkled on and off all day, but we did a cave hike. The trails to the caves were incredibly muddy. The caves were big and limestone. Some formations were pretty neat, but it was mostly black from old candles and torches and from people touching them. There were Buddha statues in each of the caves.
The coolest one was the water cave. We got into an inner tube then pulled ourselves along a rope into a cave. It didn't go super far, but it was still neat. I took some video that, if it turned out, I'll try to get up later.
The last thing we did was tube down the river. The bar section was pretty annoying. Not many people, fortunately, but it was nice to get past that to the quiet section. Since then, it's mostly been raining and we've just wandered around town or hung out in the hotel room. Nothing too exciting.
-Miranda
Peanuts we bought when the bus was stranded the first time. They were a lot softer than the ones that have been dried.
The van stuck in the mud with all the tourists standing around.
Some amazing scenery on the way in. These huge limestone pinnacles are everywhere.
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We attended 1 day "mahout training" today. Mahouts are the local elephant handlers. We took turns mounting an elephant involving pulling up using an ear while she lifts her front knee for you to step up on. We also learned and practiced a few simple lao commands which the elephant was sure to ignore. We then went for an hour long basket ride and bare-back riding session through some jungle. It was so hot and I was sweating all over the poor elephant, so I decided to walk for half of the slow trek. After lunch and some fancy pool?! time we went back to the elephants to bathe them in the Mekong.. Rather they bathed us. We each got on one where they then waded into the mekong and proceeded to duck underwater a bit, while we tried to hold on and scrub them a bit. Good times, other than the mahouts being a little juvenile. Some were splashing the person on the elephant, one was even pouring buckets of water of a girls head and shoulders. Finally the day ended with a wonderful waterfall visit. It was a more horizontal falls than vertical, With various ledges and 1-6ft falls bubbling down over a large jungle-covered area. All in all it was a fun and tiring day.
-Joe
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Us with the elephant we 'trained' on. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Bathing the elephant. Yes, my mahout was a kid... (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Miranda's elephant decided to go back up to where the other elephants were instead of letting her off at the bank like everyone else. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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The waterfall. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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To get from Northwest Laos(silent 's') to Central Laos, one of the best options is the slow boats. These leave every morning, overloaded with people sitting in non-fastened backseats from vans. Roughly 80 people were on our long boat measuring 10ft wide and nearly 200ft? long!
The trip was 7 hours the first day, with an overnight stop in a ready-for-tourists village. Many places offered accommodation, morning to-go baguette sandwiches, and some good dinner. The second day's boat trip was longer, close to 10 hours. We were very happy to be off since we had been sitting on the floor most of the time. The scenery was nice, mostly the same for the 16 hours, but occasionally some notable moments.. Like a floating bloated dead Water Buffalo we passed... A nice river-front rock-face-cave-dwelling monk temple... And a similar boat with 2 giant elephants on it rather than loads of tourists...
We are now in Luang Prabang, and while not super cheap, the accommodation and food has many options and confusingly french-asian in architecture and menu. It is hot though. We feel a bit bad about using some AC, but the alternative of constant full-body sweating is tiring.
We have purchased a full day of elephant wrangling tomorrow, so it should be exciting.
-Joe
The lineup of slow boats ready to go. Since it's low season, only a few went.
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The next day, we headed to Chiang Rai. Our goal was to get closer to the Loas/Thailand border, but break up the bus ride some. It only took three hours to get there, so it wasn't terrible.
The city was cute. The first evening we didn't do much. The next day we rented scooters again though. We headed to the 'white temple', Wat Rong Khun. It was stunning. White and mirrors. The statues around the temple were crazy. The guy that is designing it has been working on it for decades and hopes to have it completed in 2070. Apparently it's supposed to represent Nirvana. You would expect the guy was a heavy metal fan. There were a lot of skulls around and generally creepy faces. Inside the temple they were working on a very colorful mural which included all sorts of images, but some things you would not at all expect, such as Michael Jackson, Superman, Batman, Neo from The Matrix, the Terminator, Captain Jack Sparrow, etc. You're not allowed to take photos inside the temple, so I don't have any images of those.
After leaving there, we went to a temple in a cave. It was so quiet. Nothing too significant. Lots of dogs and cats and one monk. We left there only to have a torrential downpour start. We got under a canopy of a small shop before we got too wet and were stuck there. Fortunately, it was only about 15 minutes or so. We didn't wait for it to stop, but it had let up quite a bit. The roads were pretty flooded, but once we were moving it wasn't too long before the roads were a lot better and it wasn't raining anymore.
That night we decided to go to the foot market, but, of course, it was raining again. So, we didn't stay for long.
We didn't do much on our last day in Chiang Rai. We walked to the Hilltribe museum to check it out and watch the movie on it. We went to the night market and walked around some. That was about it.
This morning we hopped on a bus to the border city of Chiang Kong, which was only two hours. Upon arriving, we went to the port and crossed the Mekong River into Laos. It's hot! When we were eating lunch, I noticed their thermostat said 40. That's basically 104!! We're melting. Our plan tomorrow is to get on a 'slow boat' and head down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, which will take two days of travel. Staying at a village along the way for one night. Should be interesting.
-Miranda
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A panoramic of the white temple. (Click photo for larger view.)
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The front of Wat Rong Khun. (Click photo for larger view.)
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The no smoking sign. There was a similar one for no alcohol. (Click photo for larger view.)
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A pit of cement hands in front of the temple. Kinda freaky. (Click photo for larger view.)
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We had a chocolate fondue at Swenson's. Yummy. (Click photo for larger view.)
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