Spelunking and the Rock Slalom to get there

The Thakhek loop, a garden of limestone caves that speckle the countryside. I keep asking myself, how many are undiscovered? Only recently, a local hunter looking for bats found one in which he found hundreds of centuries-old Buddha statues. To say that I saw a cave would be an understatement. The size of some of these things is just mindblowing. Easily, a 10 story apartment building could probably fit inside a handful, a few buildings for that matter. And then, there is Konglor. I saw a cave today. I took a boat ride through that cave. It was a 7km trip. That is a 7km river running through a 7km long cave. I saw a cave that day.

Perhaps the best part, the ride there. Technically challenging, I was hauling ass at 40km/hr in one sector, dodging craters, rocks big and small, and the occasional section of cerrucha (that is washboard on the road). I'm surprised, but proud of myself that I kept the rubber side down and didn't bin the bike! Georg, a German medical student halfway through his training, joined me for the first day. Had a blast heading through the countryside. Later, Nick and Steffen would fill my boat through Konglor. And an interesting thing, when I took Steff onto the back of my moto to explore another cave off the map. First, we saw a snake which I thought I would pick up. This got quite the reaction from a few locals who saw me do it as they came out of the cave, on their lunch break I suppose. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdophis_subminiatus > Now I know why! I tossed it when its head started looking back up at my arm. And then, we found ourselves with an entourage. A group of younger kids also on their lunch break first watched us from a distance, and soon were posing for pictures and sharing laughs when we showed the results. In certain lighting, it was like a moonscape! Might as well have been on the moon, for this is a different world!

Tad Lo waterfalls and the Evil laolao

From Wikipedia - Lao-Lao (Lao: ເຫລົ້າລາວ) is a Laotian rice whisky produced in Laos. Along with Beer Lao, lao-Lao is a staple for the people of Laos

Oh god, a bottle of laolao 650ml costs 10,000 kip (almost 8000 for $1). This god awful rice whiskey was designed to kick ass and take names. Unfortunately, my stomach was a casualty at the midway point of Tad Lo along the waterfall loop. Backtracking a bit, I rented a scooter in Pakse and set off to explore some of the waterfalls in Southern Laos. A dime a dozen down there, Tad Lo offered a similar experience to that in Don Det. I met people who stayed there for days, weeks at a time. There was no reason to leave. Just find a rock by the waterfall, take a nap, and ponder life. Maybe the elephants will come out for a bath. Maybe there will be a campfire by the water at night. Whatever happens, life is good.

On my return to Pakse, I met up with an Israeli Sailor, Neal. From Pakse, we decided to try our luck at hitchhiking north. That didn't work out so well, so instead we were invited to dinner with some locals working the bus check station (I'm still not sure what they were doing). In any case, we found peace and solitude camping outside in a Chinese graveyard. Far from spooky, it was a night to remember under the starts. Speaking of which, from his nautical training, Neal could tell the time from the position of the stars in the sky, wow! A dying art for sure. The next morning, we headed up to Savannakhet, yet another sleepy town on the Mekong full of old French colonial buildings in various states of disrepair. The monks were exceptionally friendly, and the sunset spectacular again. We would part as we met, in the middle of the street. It was time for me to go play in Laotian caves.