Pak Ou caves Near Luang Prabang

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Trip to the Pak Ou Caves

With a couple of days left in Luang Prabang, we figured that we should take another excursion out of town. The day before, when talking to the monks, they had really suggested the Pak Ou caves which were about 2 hours from downtown via a slow boat on the Mekong. It sounded like good advice so we signed up with a tour company for a trip that left at 9am.

After breakfast in our hotel we headed up the street to the tour company where our day of travel was supposed to begin. We had to wait a little while because there were two other people coming on our tour and they were a few minutes behind us. It turns out that we were spending the day with 2 older German men who were traveling through the area for a couple of weeks to get away from the freezing weather back home.

Our new German friends, our tour guide and Kel and I jumped in a minivan for a quick trip over to the Mekong where we boarded a long tail boat. This one was a little more comfortable than the boat we took to the waterfall a couple of days earlier. It was two chairs wide and had a roof to shelter us from the sun - the other one had no chairs or roof, a big improvement.

Sa Paper Village

The first stop we made for the day was at a village just outside of town which was known for making Sa paper. Sa is a type of tall skinny tree that has bark which can be pulped to make paper. Basically the ladies in town harvest the bark, pound it into pulp with a hammer and then lay the paper out in rectangle boxes (in a water solution) which are used to dry the paper out after it has been laid out. Often they add leaves or flowers to the paper to add texture and designs. Think of the paper you see in boutique paper stores that is “naturally made.” This stuff was the real deal.

We walked around town for about a half and hour. Kel and I bought some paper lanterns and a small painting which came out to $5 US. We kept remarking that this would be a cool place to buy stuff for friends back home, unfortunately there is just no way we can carry more than the bare minimum. Sorry folks, no presents!

Lao Lao Whiskey Village

After getting back on our way in the boat we had to make a brief stop at a gas station, if you can call it that. The Germans with us thought it was extremely interesting and were taking pictures like Japanese tourists. The gas station was nothing more than a small barge with a gas pump. I have no idea how they get gas out on the river, but they do.

The trip to the next village took about an hour. We were heading against the current so the boat moved pretty slow. This allowed us to enjoy the scenery and take pictures of things as we traveled. Since it’s the dry season the scenery isn’t as lush as it could be, but it's still very pretty.

After arriving and climbing the steps up into town we were greeted by the usual sales people who ply their trades to tourists. It feels kinda strange to realize that most of these towns make almost all of their money from people like us who show up and buy their goods. Both Kel and I felt bad that we looked but never bought anything. The Laotians are not pushy in any way but you can still feel their excitement that you might buy something from them.

This town is renowned for the whiskey they make. The Lao Lao whiskey is some of the best in the country and only a couple of villages are sanctioned to make it. It comes in a couple of varieties, strong (100 proof), sweet white (about 24 proof) and sweet red (about 24 proof). The Lao Lao whiskey is all made from sticky rice which is a main staple of the Laotian diet.

Kel and I both tried the different varieties and found that the sweet white whiskey was the one we liked the most. The white versus red varieties come from white sticky rice or black sticky rice respectively. The red was a little too sweet while the white seemed just about right for our tastes.

We walked through town which was pretty big. Our guide informed us that about 500 people live in the town and that the main commerce is the tourist industry. There is some electricity in the town but it appears that there is no plumbing. It's very interesting to see how people prioritize their expenditures. It's obvious in this town it was often more important to have satellite TV than to have clean, modern homes. Their homes were not hovels but they certainly would not live up to the standard of cleanliness that we are accustomed to in the Western world.

As we got towards the end of town our guide had us try a different type of whiskey that he said was good. Of course it was a huge practical joke, the stuff tasted absolutely terrible. It was a whiskey with herbs that was supposed to be medicine for elderly people. He laughed and said it gave people energy but was not able to actually tell us what the herbs were. Either way it was foul!!

At this end of town the Lao Lao whiskey was being sold in bottles that had snakes and scorpions in them, similar to the worm in tequila bottles. Our guide told us that the animals were mostly caught during the wet season. During the dry season (right now) all of these animals seem to hide or die. It made us glad to not be around in the wet season - sounds like scorpions come out from all over the place. We watched a few women put the snakes and scorpions in the bottles to later add the whiskey to, they were very careful with the snakes even if they were already dead. Ugh.

On our way out of the village, there was a woman making crispy treats from cassava flour. They were kind of like sweet taco shells and were cooked over an open flame by tossing the shell across the heat back and forth on tongs. Kel got closer to see what she was making and the lady offered up the tongs to let her try. She wasn't quite as dextrous with the tongs but got a couple of good tosses in before handing them back. Always fun to play and try something new.

Lunch and the Pak Ou Caves

After another 30 minutes up the river we came to the caves and stopped across the river to have lunch. We had some fried rice with pork and the traditional Mekong seaweed dish that I had tried a few nights earlier. The seaweed is flash fried so that it crunches like potato chips. Kel’s not very fond of the taste (fishy), but I ate a whole bunch of them. I don’t think I would normally eat them as a snack but with them in front of me I still ate a bunch.

After lunch Kel and I walked through town while our German friends had coffee. Kel immediately made friends with a few small girls in town who liked the sparkles on the bag she was carrying with her. The bag, which we bought in Cordoba, has small mirrors sewed into the front. The girls were intrigued and stared at the bag like it was gold. Then as we walked more through town the girls played tag around us as we walked, using Kel as home base. It was pretty funny as they ran around and then collided with Kel’s legs and rear end.

As we headed back to the boat, the rest of the group had been waiting on us. So we immediately headed off to cross the river and see the caves. The Pak Ou caves are a sacred sight in Laos and the King of Lao comes once a year to visit the caves and pray. Between the caves there are many hundreds of Buddhas of different shapes and sizes thus making the caves a very religious place.

We spent about an hour walking around the caves admiring the Buddhas and taking pictures. There were two caves - a low one, only a couple of flights of stairs above the water level and another which was up a series of steps. The high cave was about 200 steps from the boat dock which meant that by time we got to the top we were pretty winded. On the way down multiple people stopped to ask us if it was worth going to the top. I didn’t want to lie so I told them it was “different” than the bottom cave. This didn’t seem encouraging to many of them so some of them turned around and went back down. One of our German friends gave me a hard time for talking people out of going up to the top but I didn’t want to tell them how great it was at the top considering I found it a let down. The bottom cave was much cooler.

From the caves we set off back down the river to go home. By this point it was 3:30 so it had been a pretty full day. I napped a bit on the way home because I was a little tired from all the activity. When we arrived home it was about 4:30 which was a great time to head back to the hotel and work on the blog.

For dinner we got Western food, spaghetti and other Italian foods, because Kel and I both needed a break from Asian food. While all of the food we’ve had in SE Asia has been great, it does get a bit monotonous. Back home we are used to having variety all the time and may not eat the same type of food but once a month. Thus, we feel the need every once in a while to have something different.

Well, enough from this end, hope you are all well and having a great day. On Wednesday we head off to Vientiane (the capital of Laos) so it may be a while before you hear from us again as we get ourselves acclimated to yet another place.

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Photos

Mountains Near the Town
Near where we had lunch