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Published: July 23rd 2008
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We took a flight from Luang Nam Tha in Northern Laos to the capital city of Laos, Vientaine. For a capital city it had a bustling but easy going atmosphere which is in keeping with the laid back lifestyle of Laos. After our overdose of sticky rice and eggplant up North we were happy to find some nice cafes serving western food delights that we haven't had in ages and so we indulged and washed it down with the complusory Beer Laos.
From Vientaine we made our way to Bah Na Hin, a very small town which serves as a good base to visit the nearby Kong Lo Cave, one of the natural wonders of Laos. The Kong Lo cave is fairly isolated and from Bah Na Hin we had to take a bus followed by a boat followed by a bus followed by yet another boat to get there. Konglo cave, which we travelled through by boat is over 7 km long from one entrance to the other. About 2 km inside the boat was docked and we got off and walked in the darkness to remote parts of the cave. It was cool. We were amazed when the
guide showed us insects crawling around this far inside the cave. There were many impressive stalactites and stalagmites and in general it had a very eerie feeling that far inside the cave. We felt a bit like the children from "The Goonies" in there and were happy enough to get out!
After visiting the cave we stayed in the Kong Lo village beside the cave for a night with a local family. At about 6 O'Clock all the local women headed off down to the river with their sarongs and bars of soap for the evening scrub. Most the local men went down too but preferred to just watch it seemed... I tried to persuade Maire to go in with the women for a dip but she was having none of it. We were really well looked after in the village and were well fed by our host family. Even though I did have to go through a good few animal imitations to establish what meat it was we were eating. When I turned my nose up and Oinked like a pig the family fell about in convulsions of laughter. Indeed, we had found it, pork soup it was.
In the morning the "man of the house" performed a small traditional "Baci" cermomy. Baci is an ancient Laos cermony of animist origin and is preformed on certain occasions in our case to wish us well on the rest of our journey. The cermony involves the placing of an an egg and sticky rice in your hand, some prayers are said and cotton strings are tied around the wrist.
Local transport in Laos is mainly by tuk-tuks and local buses which always makes for an interesting journey. We have often been the only 'falang' (tourists) packed in with the locals, big bags of rice, birds in cages, rabbits, people getting on selling strange birds grilled on skewers which the locals seems to love and often these journeys are accompained with the soundtrack of very soppy and cheesy Thai pop music turned up full blast. On our last journey we found ourselves sitting in the back of the bus with the local lady boys. I shoved Maire in beside him and took the window seat out of arm reach! The journey from Bah Na Hin to Tha Khaek, our next stop boasted some truely spectacular scenery and with its rice
fields, limestone karsts and many green fields it is strikingly green. We had planned to do some trekking in Tha Khaek but its rainy season here and thunder storms and heavy rain dominated our 3 days here so much so that we scarcely managed to see anything of the place.
After 3 days of constant rain we threw our hat at it and jumped on the first bus heading south to Pakse. Pakse is a fairly big town famous for being the place where the Segong and the Mekong rivers meet. Its a good place to explore the famous Bolaven Plateau. We found a good guest house in the centre of town and spent the first day in the town itself which had plenty of character with markets, bars by the river, french colonial buildings (mostly dilapidated) and plenty of friendly Laos people who seemed as interested in us as we were in them.
We have done a good few tours and treks at this stage and kinda prefer to DIY it and get off the beaten track ourselves these days. Most things of intersted are a good few miles from town so we decided to rent a
Moped. Neither of us had ever driven one before and Maire decided she wasnt about to start learning now so it was up to me. I went down to one of the Moped rental shops and asked them could I take it for a test run as I had never driven one before. They lads working in the shop were absolutely flabbergasted to hear that I didnt know how to drive one and a large group of locals seemed to be congregating for my maiden voyage test run. So, off I went up the road, rather shakely of course, plenty of wobbles but staying upright thankfully. I turned it round and came back towards the shop again and at this stage the lads from the shop were propping themselves up with laughter at my hilarious effort. I managed to stop at the shop and dismounted to pats on the back and shakes of the head. They were facinated by this non-moped driving creature. The owner of the shop was at pains to point out that there was no insurance, so if I broke it I had to pay for it to be fixed. I told him We'd be back in
the morning.
So early the following morning we set off on the moped. We were shaky enough for a while but once we got on the right road we settled into it very well. We travelled out to the Bolaven Plateau where there a a number of really nice waterfalls, some coffee plantations and local villages to explore. We spent the best part of a day in the area following a local map going from one waterfall to the other. The waterfalls are created by streams/rivers cascading from the Plateau to the valley below.
We headed back to Pakse in the evening and while we were going to take the bike out again the following day we decided against and booked our ticket to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We have enjoyed our time in Laos very much. After three and a half weeks here I think we both slightly preferred Northen Laos to Southern because it certainly felt like a more cultural experience. Where ever we found ourselved in Laos we were always greeted with the most friendly welcome and that will be one of the most lasting impressions for us of this great country.
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