Phousi Fever

We awoke on our third day in Laos to embark on our journey with Ta, our guide, who came highly recommended from one of Billy’s fellow Fodorites (the Fodor’s message board users that are nearly as obsessed with traveling Southeast Asia as he.)

Ta picked us up at around 8:30 at our hotel and we got about 10 minutes through town before we had to check to see if our laundry was ready. It wasn’t (but this leads to a funny story about going there 3 times that day.)

We had arranged with Ta to show us two of Luang Prabang’s most popular tourist destinations: Pak Ou Caves and and the Kouang Si Waterfalls. Pak Ou was a destination we could only get to via boat, so we headed down to the “marina” where all the river boats are stationed to eagerly snare up tourists.

The Mekong is a powerful and beautiful river that stretches all the way from Southern China to the tip of Vietnam and provides sustenance and life to the millions who live off its banks. It was a real pleasure to be on the river and a nice break from the heat…and, for us, it evoked an African Queen-like experience.

The caves are about 25 k north of Luang Prabang at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers (about a 2 hour journey on a VERY slow boat) and it is the home of over 4,000 Buddha statues. The lower cave, which is named Tham Ting, was absolutely stunning! Every available edifice was covered with statues of Buddha, both big and small, and there were two extremely elegant small stupa-shaped structures as well. After we got our fill of the lower cave, we trekked to the upper cave called Tham Phoum. The upper cave is extremely dark, and we had a rent little flashlights to see our way. The coolest thing about this place is people are allowed to bring old Buddha statues to leave here…ones that have lost their glory, whether they be tattered, torn or broken…and so there’s always a place for Buddha, and he never becomes useless. It’s very cool.

Once we left the caves, we traveled across the Mekong to a little village for lunch. They waiter didn’t really understand us, so when Mark kept confirming the same dishes we ordered, he accidentally ordered us multiples plates of noodles…which we scarfed anyway, along with grilled chicken and grilled Mekong river fish.

Once we finished lunch, we headed downriver to a Lao whiskey-making village and learned how the whiskey is made - that said, when you stare whiskey in the face that is flavored by snake and scorpion, it certainly takes on a whole new image for you. Any notions of doing shooters definitely got flushed down the toilet in that moment. We then went shopping in the same village and reveled in the amazing looming and handiwork the villagers were responsible for. We learned from Ta that these same crafts we saw are also the ones we saw the previous evening at the Night Market.

After arriving back in town, we hopped in the van to head out to Kouang Si waterfalls. The falls are directly southwest of Luang Prabang and it gave us a opportunity to drive through some Lao and Hmong villages. Of course, as luck would have it, our great weather streak was broken as soon as we arrived at the falls and a torrential downpour hit. That wasn’t going to stop us from seeing the falls, but all hopes Billy had of swimming in the crystal blue waters were dashed.

At the base of the trail to the falls, there is a Moon Bear (a really rare Asian bear) preserve set up by some really thoughtful and amazing Aussies. The bears, who were rescued from horrible torture and abuse all over Laos by people who use their bile for Chinese medicinal purposes. The Aussies and Laotians are cracking down on this practice and hopefully they put it to an end. The bears are really amazingly playful and, as we waited out the rain, we got an opportunity to watch them snack voraciously on bamboo. The Aussies have also saved a tiger they’ve named Phet, but he was hiding from us (and the rain).

The falls themselves were fantastic! Mark and Chris rated these the third best falls they had seen after Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls. The water that flows here is crystal clear and beautiful. The area for swimming encourages scary Euros to whip out their speedos in preparation for a quick dip. God, no, not more speedos—why do they follow us everywhere we go?!?

After this extremely full day, we headed back to town and we were finally able to get Mark’s laundry! Third time’s always a charm!

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