It is our last full day in Luang Prabang before we head off to our next stop in Vang Vieng, and the last thing we have on our list to do here is go to see the Pak Ou Cave.

Before that story though, I have to give full credit to Mrs. Columbus for mustering herself at the crack of dawn this morning to go out and see the giving of the alms.  This gets a lot of reviews in the travel books, and the tourists get up early in the morning to see the monks make their way through the streets receiving their donations from the local worshipers.  It starts at around 6am, so I decided that a little extra sleep and then catching up on some work is in order, so for the full lowdown you will have to read about Mrs. Columbus’ experience.

After Mrs. Columbus’ triumphant return we are on to the next part of the day. Pak Ou cave is actually 2 separate caves eroded into the same limestone outcropping along the Mekong River about 2 hours up river from here by boat, or about an hour by tuk-tuk. Many people see the caves on the way here from Thailand if they take the slow boat down the Mekong, but since we flew here we needed to go from town.  I had seen some pictures of the caves before and thought it looked impressive as it rises basically straight up out of the riverbank, so wanted to see it before we left in case it is a long time before we ever make it out this way again.

We have been trying to decide for a couple of days now if we should go by boat or by car – they each have their own pros and cons and in the end we decide to go by car because it is a bit faster, and also we can stop along the way anywhere we want to if there is something worth seeing.  Of course the scenery along the way is spectacular!

I’d have to agree with Mrs. Columbus’ assessment that the caves were a bit of a let down compared to what we had visualized.  They were impressive in their own right and I suppose if you were encountering them on your way down river on the slow boat it would be a welcome distraction, but we have seen a few caves in Thailand and some of them set the bar pretty high.

I was glad we went, the short trip across the river was nice, and I can see why it gets mentioned in the guide books, but there are attractions we have done here that are rewarding enough to do them again, and this is probably not one of them.

On the way back to the city we stop at a couple of villages to do some shopping of course!  The first village they refer to as the ‘Whisky Village’ where people can stop to get some of the local spirits – Laos whisky (lao-laos), and red or white rice wine.  Given that it is a couple of dollars per bottle, I doubt that hand crafting for smoothness is part of their mantra, and I would guess that their criteria for aging is rated in days not years, we decide to give it a pass – well that and the snakes and scorpions in the various bottles is not an upsell feature to us!

Next we stop at a village where they make local crafts – weaving and paper goods in particular. We have seen a lot of silk and cloth weaving in our travels, but not a lot of paper making, so this is something new for us to see.  One of the shops we stop at is hand making sheets of paper with bamboo leaves embedded in the fibers.  The finished sheet has a rough artsy sort of texture and the leaves seem to be magically suspended in the middle of the sheets.  It is interesting to watch the ladies making the paper right from raw materials, in this case tree bark, boiled to break down the fibres and then hammered in an oversized mortar and pestle, dissolved into water and then finally strained onto screens to be placed into the sun to dry.  I’m sure if I were an artist this would be great material to paint or draw on!

Our last stop of the day takes us to the grave of Herni Mouhot.  Henri Mouhot was a French naturalist and explorer in the early 1800s that was perhaps over credited with re-discovering Angkor Wat – of course the Khmer people had not really misplaced it – but Mouhot stumbled upon the temples while exploring, and his writings of them when sent back to England and France was perhaps the launching point for the colonization of Indochina that followed.  On a subsequent expedition up the Mekong River Mouhot got as far as what is now Luang Prabang, and succumbed to Malaria in a tiny village about 20 miles from the city.  In a strange twist of irony Mouhot’s grave was consumed by the jungle and ‘lost’ until it was re-discovered in 1990 and there is now a permanent monument there to mark the spot.

As travelers/explorers ourselves it is a little inspiring to see the memorial and to think that we are treading some of the same ground.  The site is very tranquil, and I am glad we added this stop to the day’s journey.

Our last night here and we need to pack up, tomorrow we are taking a bus to Vang Vieng and I suspect it may be a big day.  The trip is only 275km but apparently takes 5 or 6 hours on the bus because of the winding nature of the road – hopefully I will not have to sit next to any livestock…. 😉

So far we have not found much that is compelling in the way of traditional Laos food.  I suspect that our view may be a bit clouded by our love of Thai food and that some of the dishes that we give the Thais credit for may have come from or are influenced by Laos food.  Either way, excluding the things that we would have considered Thai food, nothing here has really encouraged me to go and seek out a Laos food restaurant back home.

On the other hand we have found some things that we would have not expected to find here that have been worth talking about.  First is the Indian food – I guess that they must get a fair number of travelers from India throughout SE Asis, as we have seen Indian restaurants I think in every place we have been, but we usually have something else in mind, so have not ever stopped at one.  This time a place was recommended to us so we gave it a try and are sure happy we did, tasty enough in fact that we went back a 2nd night.

The other thing that was a complete surprise to us was the sandwiches!?! In reading up on traveling to Asia I had heard people refer to having sandwiches particularly in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, but really, who goes to SE Asia to have a sandwich?  I turns out that one thing to give the French full credit for when they were colonizing this area is teaching the people how to make good bread.  The street vendors here all sell made to order sandwiches (sort of like the Laos Subway I guess) that are made on these delicious fresh made baguettes.  I can honestly say that it is one of the better sammiches I have had – BBQ chicken and mayo with a veggies and a little sweet chili sauce – nom nom nom!!!

Today we decided to cross one more thing of Mrs. Columbus’ list – riding bicycles around the city.  On the surface this would seem like a fairly straight forward activity as we have seen lots of people doing it over the last few days, and it seems like every guesthouse, tour shop, and restaurant has bikes for rent.  As it turns out renting a bike that is likely worth about $50US is more complicated than renting a car where we are from!

We wander up the street from our hotel to select a place to rent the bikes from and after looking at a few we pick one that has bikes available, and at reasonable price (20,000 kip – about $2.50 for the day). Then it gets tricky – they will not rent the bikes out without us leaving our passport for security.  I have a lot of things that I would be prepared to hand over in a jam or for some sort of security, in fact I could just leave a deposit equal to it’s value, but we are pretty protective of our passports because losing one would be a major headache in terms of getting home, so that’s a no-go for us.

At any rate, we walk away and decide to try another shop hoping that they will have some different rules, but again are denied without leaving our passport.  Finally, we circle back to the first shop and cajole them into accepting our driver’s license as a deposit, but of course that is back at the hotel so after a quick walk back for that we are finally able to get our bikes for the afternoon after about an hour of fussing around.

Most of the bikes around here are pretty much the same, sort of like what we might call a cruiser back home now that they are cool, or when I was a kid we called them old people bikes 🙂  A key difference though is that here they are not very adjustable, and I find myself riding around on a bike that was perhaps sized for someone who was 12.  We decide to just make the best of it as I doubt they are returning our money, and off we ride, me getting much more acquainted with my knees because in the crouched position they are now much closer to my head.

Thankfully there are two things working in our favor: 1) the skies are a bit overcast so the hot sun is not blazing down on our backs (even though it is still 35C out, it is nice to not have the direct sun), and 2) most of the town is quite flat so the riding on a bike with only one gear is made a little easier without having to go up a bunch of hills.  As I soon discover that the brakes on my bike were possibly world war 2 surplus I am even more thankful for the 2nd point because I only need to rely on them a couple of times during the day.

After a few hours on the bikes my body starts to remind me that I am not a teenager anymore, and that if I don’t call it a day soon there will be serious repercussions in the morning, so we head back to the place we rented them from and then spend the rest of the afternoon walking around some of the streets and lanes of the old city.  After a bite to eat we stop in for a massage – because we can – and then back to our room for the night.

Next time – yes there will likely be a next time – we will look for bikes in a little better condition, and properly sized!  I think there is a lot you could explore in a place like this if you had the right equipment.

After the workout we got yesterday, today’s change of pace was quite welcomed 🙂  We took our time getting going in the morning catching up on some emails and and talking to Rachael over Face Time.

We took a walk through the town a little and gathered some information about the cost and options for getting to our next location – Vang Vieng.  And I even managed to sneak in a short nap!

Before dinner we decided that it was time to check out the massage.  We have been on a bit of a withdrawal here so it was time to get that corrected!  Like Thailand they have a fair number of massage shops here, and not to be outdone by their neighbors to the south they have their own massage – the Laos massage.  It turns out that it is fairly similar to the Thai massage, but with a few small variations.  I guess that makes sense as I recall someone that I talked to on our travels that told me during the high season in Thailand many of the massage girls in the south actually are imported from Laos – so even in Thailand they have outsourcing.

The massage was pretty good, and after the workout from all the climbing and stairs it was just what the Dr. ordered.  $5 later a much more relaxed individual emerges to find some dinner and then walk back to the hotel to wrap up the day.  Mrs. Columbus goes for the ‘footie’ and the dazed grin on her face says it all – we will be going back tomorrow.

Our first stop in Laos is in Luang Prabang, a city of about 50,000 people in northern Laos and is one of the larger cities in the country (the capital Vientiane has only 250,000 people).  Laos in total has only about 6.5 million people living here (about 10% of the population of neighboring Thailand) even though it is about 1.5 times the size of California.

During the height of French imperialism Laos like Cambodia and Vietnam became French colonies, and much of the construction and architecture up until recent years has a strong French colonial flavor.  This is very evident in Luang Prabang, and one of the reasons it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995.

The city is very charming and it did not take us long to see why it is so highly recommended by travelers as a ‘must see’ location.  It is fairly popular with young backpackers as either the start or end point of a trip through Vang Vieng and the legendary tubing that goes on there (which we will see first hand a few days from now), but Luang Prabang is also popular with the more ‘seasoned’ travelers like ourselves because of the scenery, good food, and small town feel.

For our first full day we had intended to just wander around the city and get ourselves oriented, but the skies are clear and it is going to be a beautiful (but hot) day here so we think maybe we should get some of our sightseeing done.  As we are walking down by the Mekong River there is a fairly constant stream of tuk-tuk drivers that keep approaching us to see if we want to go to one of the various attractions.  After rejecting most of the offers we finally decide that maybe we should go up to the Kuang Si Waterfall and start the discussion with one of the drivers.  Kuang Si is about 30km from the city and takes about an hour to get to by tuk-tuk because the road while paved is quite twisty.  The trip is very scenic and we get to see first hand some of the rugged country that we saw from the air on our way in.

The falls are inside a national park and the admission (30,000 kip or about $3.50US) includes access to the falls as well as the Bear Conservation Project.  It seems that the asian black bear is becoming endangered due to poachers that use the bears for body parts or as living dispensaries for bile that are all sold to the Chinese for medicinal purposes.  The conservation project rescues bears from the poachers and provides a safe, secure environment for them to live – many of the bears cannot be returned to the wild because they were captured so young that they do not have adequate survival skills to cope in the wild.  On our hike up to the waterfalls we go by the project and are able to see several bears, clearly in a much better situation than they were rescued from!

Onward and upward, we get back on the trail and head off for the waterfall – Kuang Si is the most common waterfall for tourists to visit because many of the other falls in the area do not have adequate water flow year round.  Even though it is currently the ‘rainy season’ here, I think the rains have been a little less than normal as most of the other falls are essentially dry, and from what we hear even the water flow at Kuang Si is off from it’s peak.  We are told that in about a month or so the water flow should be higher but even with the way it is, the falls provide some spectacular scenery.

There are 3 or 4 tiers of pools on the way up to the top and the pools are very popular for a place to cool down and catch some sun.  The water is fairly clear relative to most of the waterways we see in SE Asia (most rivers carry a lot of silt from the reddish brown soil that is everywhere) and the minerals it picks up as it weaves it’s way through the limestone give the water a sort of chalky blue-green look.  Either way it is very cool and refreshing to wade into after the walk up the path.

At the top of the official trail is the show piece waterfall.  A collection of falls that drop over 100 meters to feed the pools and smaller falls below.  There are a few lookouts for different views and a bridge crosses the river so there are several great places to take some pictures.

As we cross over the bridge we see a trail that branches off into the jungle that looks like a continuation of the main trail.  There are brick stairs, and after going up a flight or 2 there is a sign that indicates this is the way to the top of the falls.  The trail is not as well maintained as the lower trail, but there are actual brick steps in many places and we think that this may actually be a fairly decent trail to the top.  Here begins what I call the SE Asia bait and switch – the trail looks like it is reasonably passable until mentally you are committed, but then quickly deteriorates into something that is more like a climbing adventure. By the time we are half way up it is becoming a bit of a challenge, but given that we have come so far we are determined to make it to the top – full adventurer points to Mrs. Columbus for rallying us on.

Along the way we see other people making their way back down, and see that many of them started this adventure in flip-flops, but have now reverted to bare feet.  Given the shape of the trail it is easy to see how flip-flops would be a bad choice and in fact there are discarded blown out flip-flops along the trail side.

It is easily 35C (95F) in the jungle and coupled with the climb, I am certain that even my sweat is sweating, but we finally make it to the top!  The waterfall itself basically goes straight down, so while there is not much of a view of the waterfall, the view out over the valley and surrounding terrain is quite spectacular.  Additionally, at the top there is another series of pools, so we are able to stand in the waist deep water and cool down while looking out over the jungle.  We spend about 20 minutes or so just taking in the scenery before mustering the will to make the trek back down the trail.  As we have learned from a previous climb like this at Railay Beach, the climb down is actually a little more tricky than the climb up.

During the descent we meet a few other souls making their way up, but some have opted to stop about half way after realizing that the top half of the scramble is more difficult than what they have already seen. Overall I am glad we went up, but I am thankful that we had decent hiking sandals, and a good dip in the pools at the bottom was well earned!

After cooling off in the polls at the bottom of the falls we make the short walk back out the main trail to the entrance where we look around at a few shops, have a snack and re-hydrate, and it is back into our tuk-tuk for the trip back to town.  Along the way our driver makes a few stops for some photo-ops at some rice and vegetable farms, and a Hmong Village so that Mrs. Columbus can get her shop on.

We get back to our hotel at about 5pm and are feeling quite exhausted and I know that sleep will come easy, and that there will be some muscles that are going to be filing their complaints in the morning.

But wait, it is not over yet…..

One of the recommended things to do here is watch the sunset over the Mekong River and down behind the hills in the distance.  As the skies have been fairly clear all day we decide that we should probably do this today because it may be our best opportunity.

There is a ‘hill’ right in the middle of the city called Phou Si that rises almost straight up for about 100 meters – at some point in history some fellow decided that it would be a good idea to build a temple complex up there, so now up a total of 428 steps sits a temple with fantastic views out over all sides of the city – including across the river and where the sun will set.  So after waiting until all the afternoon’s sweat has dried we force ourselves to get back out there and tackle the steps to the viewpoint.  The trail is evil in it’s deception because the stairs are set in tiers, so just when you think you are nearing the top, the path flattens out for a bit only to reveal yet another set of stairs. At about the half way point there is a ticket booth where you have to pay 20,000 kip to go to the rest of the temple grounds and there is a sign that happily informs you that you have climbed about 30% of the total  stairs……

By the time we get to the top we are huffing and puffing, dripping again with sweat and cursing some of the Laos locals who seem to make a sport out of running – that’s right running – up the steps in the evening!!  The view from the top however is quite spectacular and ultimately worth the effort.  I am happy that the skies co-operated and we got a decent sunset because it is quite unlikely that I would have climbed the steps again.  The way down is much easier than the descent from the waterfall earlier in the day, but because stairs in many of these places are not built to any ruleset on spacing, it is still a bit of exercise even to go down.

By the time we get to the bottom we are truly done for the day.  The climb down has placed us right at the night market, but even Mrs. Columbus is sufficiently knackered that we decide to just go for dinner and then directly back to our hotel.  As we are walking back to our hotel we pass Nazim’s Indian food – it was recommended to us by Ian when he was giving us all the 411 on Laos, so we take our dinner here and it totally lived up to it’s recommendation!!

We both completely crash once we get back to our room – tomorrow will clearly be a ‘relax’ day 🙂