UNESCO World Heritage site Luang Prabang

July, 2013

After the Vang Vieng adventures our next city, Luang Prabang, offered us culture and history in the North central Laos. The beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site with old French style buildings and the two rivers, Mekong and Nam Khan, crossing at the other end of the city center, is mainly a peaceful place. There's more to the city though than just its many Wats and French villas. If you have the time the nature also has a lot to offer and it's easy to keep fit here too.

The clean streets of LP with old buildings

Drying rice cakes on the streets

During our Laos trip we've seen the same tourists everywhere. People often travel the same routes here, either going from North to South or the other way round. That's how we made friends with our group, we all happened to travel the same way and our interests were the same, so it was easy to stick together.

Of the numerous hotels, guesthouses etc in the area we all eventually ended up staying at the same guesthouse in LP, as the other ones had some problems. One of them was very noisy due to the location close to the main street with most of the restaurants and bars. It was strange to notice some tourists partying in LP, as the city mostly attracts the culture and history buffs and not so much the younger crowd.

LP art

Beautiful door

One of the sights to see in LP is the Buddhist Alms Giving Ceremony, which is one of the most sacred Lao traditions. The idea of the alms giving is for the Buddhist monks to make merit and also to collect food for their one meal of a day. 200 monks depart daily at sunrise from their temples to gather their daily meal on the main street. The tradition dates back to the 14th century. Tourists bring their own offerings to the monks, which is usually food. We passed this, as we didn't feel like waking up so early. So far on most days of our travel we'd waken up at sunrise, which is the worst part of travelling. You always have to wake up early for a bus, a flight, for a dive, to be an early bird at an attraction...sometimes it just doesn't feel like a vacation when you're doing this.

The Dara night market is a nice place to go to if you want to buy souvenirs or eat. You find all sorts of local handicraft and good cheap food there, even veggie and vegetarian, and you can also taste some really good coconut cream filled little pancakes and chili filled dumplings. We had some tasty Indian food too.

Local handicraft. Angry Birds is a Finnish brand though.

The lovely owl bags. These are also sold in Thailand and Cambodia.

A funny sign in one restaurant

Night market's colourful veggie dishes

Night market's colourful veggie dishes

Coconut cream filled little pancakes

Fancy this in your dinner table?

Mt. Phousi, which rises some 150 meters above the city, offers great views over the city. The path up to the mountain starts from the main street, where the night market is held. The nearly 300 steps are pretty easy and fast to climb if you're fit. Again, it costs a bit to see the view, but it's worth it. From the mountain you can see the Nam Khan river and the surrounding mountains. A small stupa can be found at the top and the Buddhist temple Wat Tham Phou Si is on the way up.

View to LP from Mt. Phousi

View to LP from Mt. Phousi

Wat Chom Si stupa

Sightseeing in LP is really easy. The center is small and by following the main road Sisavangvong and the rivers you get to see a lot of the areas temples and French buildings. Walking in the city feels like travelling back in time, the city is like an open air museum.

Sightseeing next to the rivers. Young monks bathing in Mekong.

Serpentine Nam Khan river

Old cars of Laos

Haw Pha Bang temple at Royal Palace Museum area. The temple 
was built to house Laos’ most sacred Buddha image.

Surrounding views from the temple

Shrine inside the temple

Haw Pha Bang temple

Haw Pha Bang temple

Paintings inside Wat Pahowak, which lies at the base of Mt. Phousi. The paintings date back to 1860.

Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham (or Wat Mai/Wat May), built in the 18th century, has a large emerald Buddha statue inside.

Window detail

Coloured glass mosaic details

Wat Xieng Thong, a Buddhist temple, was built between 1559-1560 by the Lao King Setthathirath

In the back; Wat Xieng Thong main temple with the Tree of Life mosaic.
Red Chapel at front. Tripitaka library is just outside this picture. Just like the Red Chapel, Tripitaka Library (1828) is also covered with mosaic details
depicting scenes of local Lao daily life and traditions. The library
houses the three baskets of Theravada Buddhist scriptures.

Seventeen-element gilded Dok So Fa, which is believed to symbolize
the center of the universe, on the roof of Wat Xieng Thong

A gong inside Wat Xieng Thong

With so much temples in the area it's easy to get tired of them. You might want to have a break from them and head over to a massage from all the walking. We picked one massage place by the Mekong river on the second floor, which seemed nice with a very friendly staff. We went upstairs, changed clothes to what seemed like old mens pyjamas and waited for our masseuses. Sometimes you can pick your masseuse but here it wasn't possible, so we had to wait and see who was eventually going to take care of us.

Finally the masseuses arrived and we met an older woman with a young boy, who seemed like 12 years old. We were puzzled if he was one of the masseuses, as we'd never seen anyone that young working as a masseuse. We asked him and after he confirmed he worked here we found out he was going to massage me. I wasn't too comfortable with having a young boy massage me and even working, but they said it was ok. I asked the boy if he can do powerful massage, as I really needed one now. Again he confirmed, so they started working.

The boy gradually increased the massage strength and finally he was massaging me like he was a polar bear, throwing his crushing weight on me like a seal he was hunting. I thought about telling him to take it more easy, but then let him just crush me. I'm pretty good at handling bruising and pain, although it might not be a good idea to cope with pain in a massage, where a wrong technique can do serious damage to your body. I was overwhelmed by the strength this young boy had. He was like a baby on steroids. After he was done I had to ask him how old he is. We nearly dropped our jaws as he said he is sixteen! Well, he was still very young and very strong for his age, but needed to work on his technique though. I still prefer to have an older lady with years of practice behind her to work on my muscles. The next day I had some bruises all over my body, but felt otherwise better.

One of the best things to see in LP is the Kuang Si waterfalls, which we also wanted to see. It takes about 30 minutes to reach from the city. There are many waterfalls, ponds and nice paths to walk at and a Bear Rescue Centre is in the same area. We spent about half a day in the area.

Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre
http://www.freethebears.org.au/web/Projects/Laos/

There were about five bears in the large encloser,
all energetic, playful and looking healthy

Playing with a log

Small part of the encloser seen here

Curious of tourists

Relaxing with a twig

A large, one meter tall fern

The ponds in Kuang Si area

Main pond area

Main pond

The ponds

Kuang Si waterfall. There are many different
sized waterfalls in the area

Kuang Si waterfall

Huge palm plant in the area

A huge banyan tree with a strangler fig around it

Our time in Laos was soon coming to an end. We had spent nearly a month here and the time had gone really fast. The few days in LP weren't enough to explore the city, but we couldn't stay here any longer, as we needed to continue onward to Luang Namtha and to China. Here our group again got smaller, as Tom and Florrie were the second ones to leave us after Tomoko. They continued to Chiang Mai, Thailand, and the next day me, Kari, Steve and Jemma travelled to Luang Namtha. We also had to say goodbye to Julie that day, as she travelled to Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was strange to continue with just the four of us, as we'd grown into such a tight group during that month.

There aren't many beggars in LP

Star fruit growing wild

Next blog; Luang Namtha

Thakhek cave adventures!

26.6.2013

A full day in Pakse again after Don Det, not doing much. We went to Pizza Boy close to our hotel and booked a local bus to Thakhek for the next morning. Donna from Don Det had tipped us about an endangered Asian bearcat (binturong) in Pakse, so we went to see it closeby. A few of them were packed in a small cage built around a big tree. They were either tired or depressed as they didn't move at all, but it was hot too. The binturongs are related to civet cats and look a bit like wolverines and are the same size. (Click on the pics to enlarge them)
Binturong info

Binturong or Asian bearcat

They have strong claws

The binturong cage was on a pedestrian path between the local mall and outside market close to the bus station, where we arrived from Vientiane. These creatures can also be seen in the zoos of San Diego, London and Berlin.

Area close to the mall. A small amusement park was here.

The mall inside

Surprisingly the Jersey couple we first met in Pakse and then Don Det arrived to the city today and stayed at the same hotel as we. They booked the same bus out of Pakse. How cool that we bumped into each other again so soon and were now heading the same way!

Selling fruits etc in the bus

Ricefield view from the bus on the way to Thakhek

27.6
The bus trip took many hours. It was good that they were selling food in the bus, but we had our own snacks for the trip. Thakhek is the capital of Khammouane province in central Laos and the population is about 85,000. Many tourists come there for the nature and its many caves. We were also planning to see some caves.

After arriving to Thakhek bus station we gathered some crowd to fill our songthaew (local pick-up taxi/bus with two seat rows) for the short transport to the city. None from our crew had booked a hotel, so we decided to check out Thakhek Travel Lodge, which Kari had found from the internet and our new friends had also spotted from their travel book. It was near the main road that lead to the Mekong river and city center and it was cheap, around 11 USD per night, so we decided to stay there. Our room was the cheapest with only a fan in the ceiling, a shower and a bed.

Thakhek Travel Lodge restaurant

After the check-in we decided to see the city center. It was small and easy to walk to many places. Many of the buildings and the city had seen their best days and in some places the nature was starting to take over the city again. 

Nature starting to take over the city

Mekong river is always near. Nakhon Phanom
(Thailand) lies on the other side of the river.

Thakhek city

Stairway to heaven (or just coconuts)

Mekong banks

Nabo temple

Souksomboun Hotel at the Mekong banks

Mekong banks

We had an early dinner at the city center serving local dishes. I'm not sure what we had, but it seemed purely vegetarian and it was good. The owner of the restaurant was nice, as was our lodge staff too. We spent the rest of the day at the lodge with our new friends; Tomoko from Japan, Steve and Jemma from Jersey island and Julie from China.

28.6
Kari Tarzan, me Jane. Today we were heading to the jungle to see some caves with our friends. If I had known better what we were getting into I might've thought twice about this trip (not).
The ride to the caves was short, we were gonna do the close caves today and see more later. So far the weather seemed very good, but soon it was about to change. It was rainy season after all.

All packed in and ready to go

Scenery in the trekking area

Scenery in the trekking area

Local people fishing

Beautiful karst formations everywhere

Our ride

Jungle creatures; hairy caterpillar

Jungle creatures; millipede

Jungle fruit; here today, gone tomorrow

Our trek started with just a little mud on our path. Although everyone had put on their trekking shoes the women were still worried about getting their shoes wet and dirty. It didn't take long to get them soaked in mud and the socks also turned very juicy. Oh well, we weren't too worried about them shoes anymore! 

It had rained quite a bit earlier and as we continued deeper into the jungle the path disappeared deeper and deeper into the rain water. As they say "when the going gets tough, the tough get going", we continued no matter what. We ended up trekking WAIST high in the jungle puddles in thick mud, occasionally getting our feet stuck. On the trek we saw poisonous creatures and leeches lurking after your blood! On a rainy season it can flood hard and later it started raining harder. This was only the beginning of our exciting journey. Our two guides did laugh at us about the "wet and dirty" tour we'd chosen and said most tourists don't choose this tour, but we aren't like most tourists and couldn't even imagine what we were getting into.

Just a little rain water on our muddy jungle path,
and this was only the beginning of our trek.

First cave Tham Pa Seuam, near Nong Thao Lake, is a walkthrough cave with light inside. We climbed on sharp and steep karst rocks, here climbing the last and easy part.

Inside the large cave was a big rock with local
inscription (not pictured). That was about it.

Fungi on a fallen tree

Giant tree on our path with a damaged bark

Beautiful rest spot at Nong Thao lake

Resting a bit before continuing to the second cave

Nong Thao lake. It had rained so much by now that the
lake had flooded the whole platform. Picture by Steve.

The second cave entering in the same area was in the middle of nowhere. It was probably the same mountain we entered earlier, but this one was a smaller cave. Tham Nong Paseum has been open since 2013, the year we were in Laos, and is 400 m long with stalactites and stalagmites.
We needed to canoe it to the other end. Some people even swim there. We put on life jackets and  helmets with headlights, because this cave was dark and as the stalactites (ceiling formations) were occasionally so low you could bang your head into them if you weren't careful. After such a rainfall the cave was barely accessible and sometimes the stalactites even went underwater. Because the water was so high now you couldn't reach all the corners of the cave. When the water is even higher you can't enter this cave.

Preparing the canoes for the group.

Entrance area

Getting tighter

Some of the stalactites were very thick

What a beautiful place it was, one of the best caves I've been to! As we'd canoed for a while we cut our lights at the cave and enjoyed the silence and darkness. As a cavediver I was wondering how well the tour operators lights worked, as finding a way out in the pitch-dark would be a terrifying thing for anyone. Kari and me had brought our own divelights as well, which were fully charged. On our way in I was still memorizing our path just in case of an accident. As we continued to the back of the cave we saw the tiniest bats really close, I could've even touched them. They were so cute! At the back of the cave we got off from the canoes and climbed into a tiny hole.

Entering the cave end from a tiny hole

Kari at the slippery muddy entrance

We climbed up to see loads more stalactites and stalagmites. We were very wet from the rain and wading in the high puddles earlier, so walking around with clothes glued into your body the whole time wasn't the best feeling. The path was very slippery and wet and you had to be careful not to fall down, as we were surrounded by very sharp rocks.

What we first saw with our little lights

The surrounding darkness tricks you into believing
you're entering a void...

...a void, which has the mouth of a monster with sharp teeth!
What a beautiful, yet horrifying sight!

At first we didn't see much with our small headlights and torches, but when our guides turned on their bigger lights we saw one huge formation at the back of the cave. How amazing, that there was something as big as this in the cramped cave we just passed through.

The huge formation at the back of the cave.
The stalactites and stalagmites have grown together.

"Cave jail". Someone has broken free.

When we started the trip back our guides told us we can either canoe or swim back! It sounded like a cool experience to swim back, but we decided not to. Catching a bacteria from the bat guano filled water wasn't a tempting idea. Tomoko was brave and curious enough to take that swim back though, so we were excited for her.

One of our guides and Tomoko swimming in the back

Nightmarish sharp formations

Tomoko swimming in the cave

Beautiful formations

Into the monsters mouth we go

Like an iceberg

Beautiful reflections and light

Back at the entrance, muddy and still wet

We ate lunch near the lake, all soaked up. A huge thunderstorm had began earlier and we continued the last leg of the tour in heavy rain. Soon it had rained so much that the bridge and path we were following disappeared completely from under my feet, I went neck deep in the water! While the others were still able to walk on the path I had no other choice but to start swimming as I'm short. As soon as I started swimming we were surprised by a few POISONOUS SNAKES that swam close to us! Luckily they disappeared fast into the bushes.

While swimming in the water I could feel the sticks, leafs and other dirt floating around in my loose pant legs and I couldn't help thinking what will I find from there when I finally get my clothes off. We literally had the jungle inside our pants! Hopefully no snakes found their way in though...

It was raining so hard that we didn't get video or photos of this part, but here's a couple of bad screenshots taken from Steve's waterproof video.

Bridge under (troubled?) water

Our guide is still walking on the path...

...while I had to start swimming.
I'm the third person on the line.

After the short swim, lucky to have no snakes inside my pants

We took another short rest soon under a roofed building, where the locals offered us pig stomach and grilled frog! As vegetarians Kari and me had to pass on those.

Grilled fish, frog and chicken

Next we decided to do a leech check and Steve had two! One was even inside his sock! He managed to burn them before I had a chance to take pictures of them. Kari and me were fine, as far as we checked. Didn't check our pants or anything private on this spot, but the leeches can be anywhere really, even inside your underpants.

After the rain had nearly stopped we continued to the easy Buddha Cave (Tham Pa Fa) at the Tha Falang lake closeby and ended our trip there. A local farmer accidentally found the Buddha Cave in 2004 with 229 bronze Buddha statues inside it, which are believed to be more than 450 years old. There was also ancient palm leaf scripts. The statues were part of a royal collection hidden here, when Thais invaded Vientiane. Photographing in the cave is prohibited, so there are no photos here from inside the cave.

Normally just a sandy area was now under water

Bridge to the Buddha Cave stairs

The old path to the Buddha Cave stairs was at least
one meter under water, so we took the new path.

The lake area scenery

Putting a skirt on before entering the Buddha Cave

View from the top of the stairs

After taking the stairs up you still had to take other stairs down to the cave. The cave itself was very small with beautiful Buddha statues everywhere. A few monks were praying inside in candle light. It was a short visit inside. After this we headed back to the city. We were all still soaking wet with muddy feet and shoes, but it was a trip worth making, one of my best experiences. Someday I might try even more challenging caving, I've always wanted to do that. Oh yeah, we found nothing from our pants, what a big relief! No leeches or any other creepy things there, wheeew!

That evening we made two more new friends in our hotel, Tom and Florrie from England. As the others from our trek crew didn't feel like going out for dinner Kari and me got company from our new friends. The Kitchen restaurant at the ground floor of Inthira hotel in the city center served really nice food and seemed to be popular among travellers. Our pizza was really good!

Good pizza at The Kitchen

Nicely set rice

The next morning we continued to the Konglor cave. The ride there took about three hours. More on that in the next blog.