Ban Xang Khong, Ban Xang Hai and Pak Ou Caves

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Today we met our ‘Green Discovery’ guide at their office in town - much easier than being told to meet at a cafe that no longer goes by the name that you have been given!!! Our guide for today was Kia who took us down to the Mekong River where we boarded our boat. A much bigger boat than yesterday!! Although this one didn’t wobble about so much when boarding and disembarking it was something of a challenge having to board the boat via two, three or four other boats - depending on how many other boats were already tied up before it at our various stops along the river??!

Our first stop was at Ban Xang Khong, a village not far from Luang Prabang that is known for its weaving and textile artisans. We could have watched the young women weaving all morning!! It is so fascinating to watch someone perform work such as this and see the pattern take shape in front of you as the weaver exercises her skills. There are also a number of paper makers in this village and we were able to watch a sheet of paper being prepared from mulberry bark with bougainvillea ‘highlights’. We purchased some cards made from the hand-made paper.

After a fuel stop on the river we motored along to Ban Xang Hai - the ‘Jar-Maker Village’ - because this was traditionally the cottage industry performed in this village. These days the villagers source the jars from elsewhere and fill them with the lao-lao (rice whiskey) that they brew. A sniff was enough for me, but Bernie was game to sample a shot each of the extremely potent white/clear lao-lao and the slightly less potent and sweeter red lao-lao!!! He wasn’t tempted to buy any though!

As we travelled along the river we were able to see many, many families out on the sand bars - revealed when the Mekong River is at its lowest between February and April - panning for gold. Judging by the number of people out in the river panning, it must be worthwhile. Apparently the gold is washed down into the river during the wet season from one of the mountains. I asked Kia whether families had to file a claim or have a licence to pan a section of the river, but I don’t think the question meant anything to him. I suspect the whole thing may be on a first come, first served sort of basis???

Some 25kms along the Mekong River from Luang Prabang we reached the mouth of the Nam Ou which is where the famous Pak Ou caves are situated. Kia took us to the village opposite the caves for some lunch first where we enjoyed some very good stir-fried noodles. There were children pestering us all the way from the boat to the restaurant to buy caged birds to set them free. Despite feeling quite sorry for the little birds cooped up in their bamboo cages we resisted their pleas because we have read that the birds are trained to return once they have been released so it really is just a bit of a gimmick to extract cash from gullible tourists. Kia confirmed that the birds are trained to return after they have been released. I don’t think the kids were having a very good day of it - we didn’t see anyone buy a bird to release it. After lunch we had to run the gauntlet again and keep ignoring the children imploring us to buy a bird and sit it free.

Across the river we were actually able to disembark from our boat straight onto the dock rather than do the multi-boat walk through to reach the shore!! We entered the lower cave, Tham Ting, first which is crammed full of hundreds of Buddha images. The high water marks for 1966 and 2008 indicate that the lower cave would have been inundated with water in each of these years when the Mekong River reached record heights during the wet season!!

Of course we had to see the upper cave, Tham Phum, too which involved climbing up some 228 stairs. As if it is not bad enough climbing up 228 stairs, these had to be negotiated in the extreme heat and they are not evenly spaced!!! Some steps are much bigger than others and some are much wider than others which makes for an added degree of difficulty when negotiating them. Dripping in sweat, it was a relief to enter the cool and dark (we had to make a donation to ‘hire’ a torch) upper cave which contains many more Buddha images.

Back down at the river it took us an hour and a half to motor back to Luang Prabang. I think we both dozed a bit on the way as the gently rolling motion of the boat chugging along was quite soporific!!! As we travelled along the river we saw some 'slash and burn' agriculture being practiced along the riverbank so we arrived back in Luang Prabang more smoke-affected than we have been since we arrived. We may have been on the slowest boat on the river as there were quite a few boats that passed us on the way between Pak Ou Caves and Luang Prabang. No problem - it wasn’t like we were in a rush!!

Back at the Lotus Villa we liberated our feet - you can only wear sensible shoes for so long when it is as hot as it is here - and then walked along the Nam Khan and around the back of Phousi Hill to try out the ‘Dhammada Massage Place’. Today we just went for a ‘Relaxing Break’ - foot wash, followed by head, face and shoulder massage to relieve stress and ending with arms, hands and upper back massage. Very good! So good, that we booked to go back tomorrow for 1 ½ hour aromatherapy massages.

We walked back via the night market where I found a sinh (traditional Laotian skirt) that fitted me. Even I am quite a bit bigger than the average Laotian woman so I was surprised to find a sinh that would fit me without being tailored. I suspect that the night market vendors are savvy enough to make their stock to suit the tourists who probably buy most of it??! The stall holders go through a ritual after you have made your purchase where they tap your money over all their merchandise. We are not sure if they do it after every sale or maybe it is for the first sale of the night and is meant to bestow luck on the rest of their stock???

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Comments

[Janet]

enjoying your travels
Keep up the excellent commentary on your trip, I am so enjoying the ride! Loving the photos too! Janet xx