Sorry I haven't added a blog entry for some time! Ive been pretrty ill this week with a bad chest and only now starting to feel human again!! Had a day in bed on Thursday which did help quite a bit!

12/11/08

Morning trip to Pac Ou Caves and Afternoon to the Kuangsi Waterfall

The Pac Ou caves was one of the main attractions we all really wanted to see whilst staying here in Luang Prabang.

We met the van at 8am, and were to leave at 8:30am. We met a couple who were travelling from Prague and were spending a month in Asia. They said that they did this every year. They were interested to hear how I had enjoyed Prague when I went last year with Brettley. I said we'd both really liked the different styles of jazz music and the beer of course!

We were taken down to the pier at the bank of the Mekong river. It was a really cold morning which we hadnt realised seeing as our room doesnt have a proper window! So everyone was dressed in warm clothes (trousers and jumpers) and there was us in vest tops and shorts haha! We waited here along with other groups of people for over 45 minutes, not knowing what was happening - this is usual here in Laos. Eventually we were ushered onto a long tail boat and began our trip up the mekong river. We continued for 50 minutes and stopped at a local village. This village was one of a few which produce the Lao wine - a wine based on rice. There was a homemade picture stuck to a tree trunk of the process of how they made the wine. There was the opportunity to try the wine so Mel and I took one of the shots and tried it. It tasted very much of the rice used in the process with added fruitiness. We had a walk round the village and saw locals weaving baskets and containers with reed. They were also selling a lot of silk clothing, scalfs, pillow covers and blankets. It was really pretty - i would buy all of it if I had the room in my backpack!!

We returned to the boat and continued on to the pac ou caves. It is at this point where the Mekong and Nam Khan meet each other. There were about 100 steps to climb up. The main cave was huge but wasnt very deep. Inside, every cove and ledge were lined with statues of 13th and 14th century buddhas. It was really pretty and a good chance to take lots of pictures! It did however feel a little staged and a way of making money as one or two of the statues looked very much like those you can buy from a tourist shop haha!

We returned to the boat to be taken back to Luang Prabang. We were given 20 minutes to quickly get some lunch before getting on to the minibus for the afternoon. The Prague couple were also going on the afternoon trip and we were chatting to them some more.

After a 20 minute journey we arrived at the Kuangsi waterfall carpark. We walked up the hill towards the waterfall, the sound getting more intense with every step. When we got to the top the path opened up to show a beautiful waterfall. The water was cascading down over the limestone down into a turquoise pool. To the side of the waterfall, the water was falling with particular strength creating a lot of spray. It was gorgeous and very peaceful. I had a seat for 15 minutes or so to take the scene in. Unfortunately there were several signs up saying that swimming or dipping in the water was prohibited, probably because the water is used downstream by the village that we had passed on the way here.

We returned with everyone else to the minibus for the journey back to Luang Prabang. That evening I enjoyed a Lao dish of noodle soup with vegetables. Its definately better to stick to the local cuisine and it was very tasty. The presentation was really cute with chopsticks resting over the bowl and a slice of lime sitting on top. It was interesting too to try and eat the soup with chopsticks until i found a spoon hiding round the other side of the bowl oops!!