Brief post, more to come
1 Crossing water
The bamboo bridges in Laos are temporary structures for a good reason. The water here, for instance, will be 15′ higher when the rainy season gets underway. Then the bridges wash away and they’ll rebuild them months later
A monk crosses
Then me
Sketchy, beautiful
2 Falling water
Took a tuk tuk out of town one day
On the way we stopped at a butterfly farm
Hard to photograph
This is our destination. We walk up the river
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To the Kuang Si falls. Hard to see from the pic, but they’re 200′ tall. Worth the visit
3 Up water
Up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves. What a treat
I was disappointed to find out the lovely boats for the 2 hour ride up the Mekong sat about 10 people. I really didn’t want to spend all day with a crowd. So I sprung 350,000 Laos ($42 US) for a private boat. A huge amount here, but the alternative was hell
The benefits
Open air. Spot the Reefs
Happy
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It looks like farming moves onto the river flats at this time of year. Lots of activity: crops, cattle, fishing
A fellow rows two sleeping friends downstream on a bamboo raft
We pull up at one of those tourist traps specifically set up for farangs (whites)
Distilled hooch. Poisonous snakes and scorpions inside. The King Cobra is all over the place here, plus the feared green tree snake and two sorts of viper. I don’t buy one but I have a sip of a cobra sample. Not bad
Only one patch of rapids on the river
Approaching limestone crags, we didn’t know lots more of this was a few days ahead
Two hours later, this
It’s the cave
Pull up to a float
Up the steps
The cave entrance
I did a little Googling and couldn’t find out how old this is
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Hundreds of Buddhas anywhere they can be rested
Looking out
Up some more steps
A long way, man
To a second cave
Inside
Then back to my private launch, yay
A bee colony high in the trees, that white dot
Flashes of monk-orange
Back at dusk. Just perfect
This was on the Napo in the Ecuadorian Amazon, similar
