Tee's home town and some caving adventures (Asia Trek Pt 18)

After leaving Pak Pong and back into the real world, my guide invited me back to his home which as described earlier was a ten minute walk then wade or canoe (this time canoe) acroos the river and then another ten minutes walk. This is where he lives with his parent in Law while he is saving and working to build his house, which is scheduled to start this year. Not much eventful happened here apart from meeting his family wife and seeing how he lived. His pig's, his ducks and kitchen which still consisted of cooking over a wood fire.

In the evening after I went to bed he and his wife went out to collect cicidas. The following morning when I got up and went downstait I could her ethe rattle of about 50 cicadas they had collected which would form the basis of breakfast along with and omelet. I bit like a crisp, except with eyes. I am surprised I was able to eat them so casually, but hey were nice. Shortly after breakfast we made our way back to Luang Prabang, picking up a few people on the way. Tee makes most of his money taking tourist to a local Waterfall but being a tuk-tuk driver will take any other offer he can get.

The next few days in Luang Prabang were not particularly pleasant as I got stuck into delaing with obtaining a china visa. Happily this was broken up with the arrival of Tanya and Damon back in Lunag after there adventure to the "Gibbon Experience" which turned out to be a little dissapointing. We spent a day together at the Kuangsi Waterfall which was similar to that of the Erewan waterfalls in Thailand only the actual waterfall is bigger. It is also a popular place for the locals with many holding family picnics there. You an also view a couple of rescued bear who revel in inactivity and a tiger that seems to be missing most of the time. Not sure where they put him.

Returning from the waterfall I booked a bus back to vientiene with Ta and Da in order to sort out the visa. The next was was then a very long journey followed by more frustrating days in Vientienne (as has already been explained). However once the visa was straightened out I could get back to holidaying and decided to head east to Tham Kong Long a 7km underground cave that is 100m wide at some points. After picking up my visa in the morning I headed to the bus station on an overpriced tuk-tuk drive only to realise there was no direct bus to the area I wanted to go until to tomorrow. So, I quickly got on another bus just as it was leaving to Tha Khaek, which was nearer but not really close to where I wanted to be. But the trip alongside the Mekong was pleasant enough with many river crossings indicating the extent of the water supply in Laos. In fact the feeder rivers into the Mekong from Laos supply the majority of its water and Laos is making quite a bit of money from hydro/electricity exports. And this is only increasing with more projects by Chinese and Thai companiese being approved recently.

Tha Khaek is a non eventful city that benefits from Vietnamese trade through the Thailand, hence there are many signs in Vietnamese throughout the city. After ending up at a different bus station than I thought I was at, I confidently walked to what I thought was a nearby hotel, trying to save some money. After walking a kilometer I started hoping someone would pick me up and as if on cue and motorcycle pulled over and asked if I wanted a lift. I tried very poorly to explain where I wanted to go. He drove me a fair way and dropped me on the side of the road near the centre of the city. While I could now gauge were I was, I was still a few kilometers from where I wanted to be. In facr we had driven straight passed it. So in the end I had to get a tuk/tuk, for a very good price as there are few tourists in the city, who took me to the hotel. Once that was sorted I went for a walk throught the town had dinner and obsserved a thunderstorm over thailand before heading to bed for an early start.

The next mroning a short walk to the bus station where I was promptly pointed to the bus I needed to take and off toward Ban Kong Lo (Kong Lo Village). After a five
hours bus station retracing much of what I had done the previous day I arrived at a small village, Ba Na Hin, wher eIwas to transfer to a tuk/tuk to take me the rest of the way. The tuk/tuk was waiting when arrived, but runs on schedule of, when it is full! So after 1hr and half of waiting there were suffcient customers to go, so we all got in and headed off. We got back on the main road and turned left (the wrongway) and travelled a few hundred meter before getting pertol at the pertol station (This heading to the petrol station after you get on the bus, for some reason is quite typical!. After we were filled up we headed back into the village where we just came from and stopped again. Ten minutes later we finally left with me hanging off the back getting a face full of dust and losing my hat once. Great!

There hour and a half journey ended with me not being quite convinced I was in the right place but trusted the locals and got off and tentatvely walked in find a homestay in the village. Just as I walked in a elderly lady in spoke something I didn´t understand and intimated that I should walk into a the building next to me. So I obliged and found a smal room with a double bed under a mosuito net waiting for me!


Ban Kong Lo is a village near the entrance of the 7km underground cave and I set in a flat farming valley with limestone karst on either side and just oozes relaxation when you get there. The village promotes homestays to generate extra income and all you have to do is walk into the village and someone will offer you a bed. Amenities are simple as usual and showering is done in the local river. I got plenty of looks smiles and giggles from the girls as I cautiously bathed in the river and then wandered around the village and surrounding areas. In the evening the family supplied me with dinner and I went off to my room.

I though I would rest for a while and read before going to sleep. Leaving the light on after 45min I look up and through the mosquito net I could see that the whole room was filled with bugs. Not wanting to deal with it and not really having anything either, I quickly ducked out of my mosquito net, switched the light off and went back to bed. Waking up in the morning there wher no more bug flying around, instead they were all dead and my bags and its contents were covered in left over insects. Luckily a quick wipe dealt with most of them but it ways a few days before I got rid of all of them.

That day I went through the cave which is an awesome experience. After getting into a boat a steaming up the river with nothing but torch light. Occasionally you have
to get out and wade as the water gets to shallow. At the halfway mark you get off and walk up one side to see a collection of stalagtite and mites and while not impressive in themselves the location makes them rather unique. Afterwards the cave continues for while. I was fortunate enough that it rained just before I entered and so there were waterfalls in sid ethe cave , with water cascading from 20 meters above into the river which is a sustantial size. Some estimate say that the cave is 100 meters wide at it widest poitn though it probably averages around 20 to 30 meter in width and constantly varies in height and shape. They only down side of the whole trip is the fact that you travel in a motorboat that is never switched off so that you cannot enjoy the peace and quiet of the cave. I would recommend finding a way to do it with a kayak or row boat if possible.

Afterwards with little else to do I sat in the park just outside the cave and watched the local play cards, shared some food and talking to some of the tourists coming through. On my way back to the village I encoutered a truck stuck in the mud. No I would expect farming people who live in an area of unsealed roads to have some idea of how to get a truck out of a bog. But I couldn´t be more wrong! First they tried with a truck to pull it out. Reving the engine like crazy even though there was no traction. When that didn't work they brought a small tractor and tried the same process and when that didn't work they got a second small tractor. After a while I was fed up with just waiting and trying to explain to them what they needed to do and wnet and put some sticks and leave under the problem wheel and to the drive to accelarate slowly instead of full ball and, surprise, surprise it was out first time. Quite amusing really how clueless they were, though they were kind enough to gie me lift bakc to the village. If they knew what to do they could have saved themselves about three hours of effort! Hopefully they learn´t something that day!

That afternoon I tried to enlist the help of some kids to help me learn some Laos, but had no success, but a lot of fun. That evening I was given a simple basi ceremony to ensure that my shadow stayed with me (more on this in later editions)before another dinner of sticky rice and egg! The next morning I departed back to Vientienne. Though I thought I had missed the tuktuk which left at 0630 in the morning. resigned to the fact I might have to spend another day, when another tuk tuk made it way down the main road. After some frntic waving by me that the family I was staying with He turned around and picked me up, taking me back to Ban Na Hin, from which I caught the bus back to Vientienne. With little in Laos going exactly as planned, it was not unexpected that we had a flat tyre on the way. Initially the drivers thought they could continue diriving with the flat tyre but after a kilometer decided that was not possible and turned around and drove about 15km in the opposite direction, much to they confusion of us on the bus. But eventually it became clear that obviously the nearest truck repair was behinfd us. We waited 30min for the trucj to be repaired and then drove onto vientianne with no further complication. I found myself a hotel in Vientienne for the fifth time and prepared myself to travel to north east Laos, something which I had planned to do from the beginning but many other things had got in the way of doing it.