Taken For a Ride...

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So we spent our last day in Laos doing one of the most populat touristy things, we went to the Pak Ou caves. It is basically two caves on the edge of the Mekokg River and they are only accessible by boat. It is some kind of shrine and there are hundreds of buddah images everywhere. We got the mini-bus early in the morning with only two other people on our tour and headed foir the caves. On the way we stopped at a paper making willage where they made paper the old fashioned way and put petals ect in it. We then carried on th the cave and got a boat across the river.

We saw the upper cave first for which you had to use a torch. It was a large chamber with shelves carved into the rock and hundreds of little statues everywhere and a large altar in the centre where people pray. We then walked down to the waterfront again and went into the lower cave. This is the main one and has many more statues and is open so we could see everything well. We then took the boat back across the river.

The next part was slightly bizzare because after we got off the boat, the driver started chasing us shouting about money. We all thought we had paid the company to get us to the caves so were a bit baffled, especially after we were told that we had to pay the cave entry fee ourselves. Anyway, I left Vicky trying to placate the driver whilst I went to find out bus driver in the village. It took forever but we eventually got it sorted and didn't have to pay the driver, though it was only the two of us who bothered to fight our corner, one guy with us went off taking pictures and the other sat in the bus. It wasn't much fun though and we had random villagers heckling the price of the boat at us as if we hadn't already been told. Thankfully Laos has mobile phones and our driver phoned the company to find out what was going on. We set off again thankfully but due to all of the confusion, we missed our main reason for the trip, the 'Whisky Village' where the locals brew 50% rice whisky (sorry dad, that was going to be your present!!!)

After that adventure we spent the rest of the day relaxing before Bangkok...

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Photos

Dinner at sunset
One of our last meals here was on the banks of the Mekong.

The Upper Cave
It had no light so we went armed with torches.

Comments

[Diane]

Paradise (almost)?
That sunset over the Mekong looks so romantic! You're both diplomatic experts now, too! Love the all the photos, Aaron. See you soon, love Diane xxx

[Mum]

Way to go Aaron
Who said the art of chivalry was dead - did I hear right - you left Vicky to placate the driver - he could have sold her by the time you got back! Glad to hear you are both prepared to fight your corner though. If you had not been travelling on a budget you probably would have taken the easy route and paid him - that's probably what they hope for. See you soon. mumxx