Saturday, May 11, 2013

Southern Laos - long bus rides, new year water festival and the best cave experience in the world.

12 - 15 April

Sam and I didn't want to leave Don Det at all. It was the perfect chill out place we didn't even know existed the week before. I only found out about it when we were looking at leaving Siam Reap and trying to find if we can head South of Laos first. It became one of our 3 highlights of Laos - a must do!

Pakse bars along the Mekong

We decided to break up our trip a little instead of jumping straight into 10-12hr bus trips like our fellow Don Det friends. So we took a nice and easy 3hr bus to Pakse. A lovely town that is only really visited by tourists who are heading to Don Det. Because of no tourists there were also no tuk tuks. We had to walk everywhere. We decided to head down to the mekong where there were a bunch of restaurants and bars built over the edge of the water looking out at the mountains on the other side. Quite a picturesque town really, and it was so peaceful. Just as we reached the river this group of locals grabbed us and threw a glass of beer Lao in our hands with ice. Ice in beer is very common in Laos as it is rarely refrigerated.Tthese guys were taking them straight out of cartons and putting ice in to cool it down. Strangely it worked.. It was almost the Laos new year so the locals were very merry and drinking many many beer Laos. They wanted us to sit and join them I think but after they made us skull one beer each we politely moved on to try find somewhere to eat dinner.

The merry locals who gave us beer along the riverfront
We met this really enthusiastic Italian guy who we originally thought was very drunk the way he was talking and throwing his arms everywhere. He was hilarious! We ended up hanging out with him for a beer or two before walking back to our guesthouse for an early night. I booked myself in for a day tour of the Bolaven Plateau - an area around Pakse of lush rainforest, waterfalls and their tea and coffee plantations. Sam wasn't interested and decided to spend the day in bed instead.

Me and a nice french girl I made friends with on the tour
On the tour we visited a couple of local villages which was really cool. Kids were running around naked wanting our attention. One boy looked severely malnourished as he had that big bloated stomach you normally see on those African documentaries. We visited some beautiful waterfalls and this one particular was a local swimming playground with locals everywhere smiling like crazy, they were in the best moods. I guess they were all excited for the new year which goes over 3 days and officially started the next day. I would think 3days of celebrations would be enough but they like to get in earlier then that and stretch it to 5 days.
Local kids in a village we visited
As we arrived back in Pakse one of the streets was full of locals with hoses, buckets and water guns soaking anyone that drove or walked past them. We were in a van nice and safe but I loved watching the craziness out the window and knew Sam and I had to walk this way to the river for dinner. Sure enough we did, and we didn't really think about it because we walked straight into the firing lane with our money, bags, bus ticket for the next day... haha stupid really. Of course we got completely drenched! This one family close to the Mekong pulled us in after drenching us and fed us beer after beer, yelling 'Mort' every time we had a new class which meant 'finish' and we'd literally have to scull only for them to fill it up again. We were there for maybe 15mins and the glasses were small but after sculling so many of them we made it to dinner realizing we were actually quite drunk!

Sam enjoying his 100th beer with the locals on the street
We had promised we'd return after eating so we did and of course this meant many more free beers and more buckets of water pouring over us. No one spoke much English at all but we still managed to have a great time with them laughing, sculling beer, yelling Mort and dancing. There was this girl who looked about 15 or 16 who was sculling beer like a champion. She really seemed to take a liking to me and kept close, constantly smiling and hugging me and holding my hand to drag me everywhere. Eventually she was too drunk so an older lady got the scooter out and she jumped on the back before they sped off. Both of them heavily drunk. On our walk home we had to dodge all the drunk locals on scooters who were playing chicken with us as they sped full speed for us then swerved at the last minute laughing like crazy. Sam informed me that Laos has the highest mortality rate in the world for bike crashes. I can totally believe that! We took a wrong street in our drunken state and found ourselves walking in the dark. This is where I managed to fall in an open drain which pulled my big toe nail back and scraped my shin up pretty good. Not to mention the filth that now covered my foot and leg! lol

The young girl who took a serious liking to me
The next day we were up bright and early ready for our long local bus trip to Kong Lor (slightly south of the centre where the famous cave is). The travel agent said our ticket took us all the way to the village and we'd arrive about 4pm. It was the slowest bus in the world. I don't think I have ever been on anything more slow in my life. It stopped a million times throughout the day. Sam and I never ate because we never knew how long it was stopping for. It was the first official day of the new year water festival so I kept looking out the window and watching the different groups of locals bomb the bus with water along the way. At some points the bus had to stop as there were so many locals on the road and they all swarmed the bus, banging the windscreen, desperate to get water inside. The driver's assistant would occasionally open the door to tease them as they ran to throw buckets of water inside but he'd close it a the last second. He failed a couple of times and as I was sitting at the front I would feel the spray all over my legs.
Groups of locals dancing and drenching the bus as we drove past
It was a long long long day and finally around 9pm we stop in the middle of nowhere. No one on our bus spokes English. Sam asks "Kong Lor?" It's now they gesture us to get off, grab our luggage from below and take off, leaving us there in the dark in this small town in the middle of nowhere. We have no idea where we are and we soon realize we're not in Kong Lor. There are some locals outside drinking so we ask one after the other until we find someone who speaks little English, he points down the rd and says 'Guesthouse'. It's the only guesthouse here it seems and the owner speaks no English. The bathroom has a squat toilet and there is no sink. So weird for a bathroom to not have a sink! This town obviously doesn't see any tourists and is purely for the locals. We find this German guy sitting alone at the restaurant of the guesthouse eating some noodle soup - the only dish they serve. He had been through a similar day to us and knew the name of the town we were in. He'd obviously found someone who spoke English. Turns out we were still 80kms from Kong Lor which off the main rd in the middle of nowhere. So in the morning we'd have to get another bus about 8am, hopefully arrive before lunch, do the cave and beeline it out of there the same day. Wishful thinking in Laos.

So the 3 of us are waiting on this rd from 8am. Waiting for this 'bus' which ends up being a local pick up truck. ahh just like Burma! Not quite. Instead of there being a nice friendly guy at the back taking your bags and tying them to the roof there is only a driver who does not even acknowledge us at all. So we have to squish in the tray with our massive bags, trying not squash the poor locals. 2.5hrs later we hit this crossroad with 'Kong Lor cave 44km' pointing right and we drive left. I pointed this out but no one seemed to listen to me. We then stopped almost immediately, thinking we are in Kong Lor village. There is only one guesthouse in this small town so we head off looking for it. Instead we pass many guesthouses and soon I discover we're not actually in Kong Lor after all, but a town called Bahn Khoun Khan - still another 45km from Kong Lor.

Waiting in for our 'bus' to Kong Lor in the middle of nowhere
We go back to the small station we were dropped off at and see there is a pick up truck leaving in 1.5hr for Kong Lor. Hopefully this time we will actually get there! Well we do get there, but it takes over 2hrs to do 45km as our driver stops a million times and keeps turning around doing circles back and forth, stopping in random spots where no one gets in or out then drives off again. We think he was drunk. It's about 2.30pm when we finally make it to the tiny but stunning Kong Lor village. There is not much here at all, one guesthouse, one restaurant, some home stays but that's it. The town is surrounded by magnificent mountains and there are fields of luscious green crops which add to the beauty. We're all completely blown away. Our guesthouse is run by a sweet old man who of course, does not speak any English. Our room is clean, big, comfortable with hot water and everything you could ask for, for only 60,000Kip a night ($7.50). We decide we'll spend the night here, see the cave then catch the 7am local bus to Vientiane in the morning.


The walk to the cave is only 1.5km and with stunning surroundings and locals water bombing us as we walked. We reach the entrance to walk into a massive local festival. There are millions upon millions of bikes parked everywhere. Stalls of games and food like you would see at a carnival. Locals are everywhere, laughing, drinking, playing games. We could not see a single tourist. The river into the cave is filled with locals swimming with tubes and having the time of their lives. That's right it's the new year festival still!

The river at the cave entrance
We have to walk across the river and inside the impressive mouth of the cave to find the boats. We are given life jackets and as we walk to the boats we finally see some other tourists coming out. I notice their pants are sopping wet.. uh oh. This doesn't look good! haha.

We climb into the very low and rickety boat which has water at our feet and we set off, wobbling all over the place and feeling like we're going to capsize at any moment. I grip tightly onto my camera bag and wonder if I should've even bought it with me as it's not water proof. From this moment on we are constantly blown away. We fly through the cave in these motorized boats with the sound echoing spookily off the cave walls which are so high and far from us it feels as big as a chapel in some areas. About 10mins in we reach a sandy beach and clamber out to then climb some stairs and walk through a lit up area with lots of cool stalactites. We get back into the boat after a few minutes walk and keep heading up stream. I honestly thought we were heading back after that but no - there is so much more of this incredible cave! We hit some rapids and the boat suddenly floods while the guides motion us to get out of the boat so they can pull the boat up the rapid. We're walking through the freezing water which goes up to my knees and thighs in some area. Trying so hard to see with my dim flashlight as you step off a rock and you'll fall into a deep pool. Wearing thongs was not the brightest idea as I struggle to walk through, lifting my feet as I go. Eventually we reach the other side and we see an opening in the cave.

We burst out and are blown away by the towering mountains and lush forest all around us. It's magnificent. We head round a corner, reach a bank and jump out. Our guide says 'Go back?" And I'm like does it cost money? He then smiles and says no. We didn't quite understand that we weren't in the same area we started in. There is a massive dance party going on up the bank with locals going crazy dancing and drinking. We soon realize that we are a few kms away from Kong Lor village as we are on the complete other side of the mountain! haha... So back we go to our boat where our guides are waiting for us and we get to go all the way back through the cave but this time down stream which meant no getting out of the boat as we fly down all the rapids!

It was definitely the best cave experience I have ever had! And I have seen many caves. I don't think I ever want to see a cave again. Nothing will ever compare to Kong Lor. It's not the biggest or the longest, but it is totally the BEST in the world! The whole trip in and back took roughly 2.5hrs. This cave had everything, scary boat that flooded every time we stopped, rapids, walking through water, lit up stalactites, incredible scenery on both sides... I mean WOW!

Sunset over Kong Lor
We were all buzzing after our cave experience and as I raced back to our guesthouse to get some sunset shots over the field of crops, I met this English guy and his Lao wife who were visiting from Vientiane staying at the same place. We ended up all having dinner together and arranged to meet up in Vientiane the next night - the last day of the water festival. He told us about this crazy Beer Lao party on the Mekong which we were eager to check out. Kong Lor is one of our 3 highlights of Laos. EVERYONE who goes to Laos needs to experience this cave. You will not regret the long journey to get there because every minute will blow you away :)

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