Luang Prabang - Day 3

I had to get up bright and early this morning to be picked up at 7:30 to go on a boat cruise up to the Pak Ou caves. I had an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, and a tuk-tuk picked me up at 7:40. The tuk-tuk went around town to pick up two more couples before finishing at the riverside. I could've just walked. My boat had around fifteen people on it, including a couple from the horrible bus ride. Those of us who partook in that experience share a particular bond and thus I ended up talkintg to them while on the boat. They were from England and doing an around-the-world. They had been to Vancouver late last year.

The cruise made up for the boat trip that was missed by taking the bus. The scenery up the Mekong is lovely, but after a while is quite similar. There are no stunning karst formations here. Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed about the river was the near total lack of visible human activity. There were almost no boats using the river, apart from those containing tourists, and few signs of human habitation along the river front. Most of the river bank was dense jungle, and I only saw a few signs of logging going on. About an hour up the river, we stopped at a village known as 'whisky village' for the potent liquor made by the locals. Many of hte bottles contained a scorpion or cobra. The village had a quite interesting antique sort-of shop, where they actually had some genuine antiques, with the most interesting being books made from bamboo. I didn't buy anything. Fifteen minutes later we were back on the boat for another hour before finally arriving at the caves. Carved in a sheer cliff rising from the bank of the Mekong, the cliffs contain thousands of Buddha statues. The first cave was right near the river, but the second involved an arduous (due to the heat) trip up a lot of stairs. The second cave was much bigger than the first was too dark to see anything. I had to use the flash on my camera to see what was inside (more buddhas). Many children were attempting to sell bananas to all the tourists walking by. Back on the boat, I used the smallest bathroom I've ever seen in my life (still clean though!), before cruising back to Luang Prabang.

For lunch, I wanted Lao food, so I went to a Lao restaurant and ordered 'Luang Prabang Stew' which was delicious and unique. It was a stew of meat, and strange vegetables, including spicy wood and a weird green vegetable I've never seen before. I also booked my bus to Phonsavan tomorrow, although I am concerned that it is supposedly ten hours but only about 150 KM away. The roads must be truly horrendous!