Video of Riding Back to Town and Kids Waving
We went on a two day, one night trek, with a guide this time since there are land mines in the area. We hiked through jungle and also some quite beautiful open fields with limestone karsts in the background. We went through some very cool caves and even found a decapitated rat that the guide took home to eat. He thought that a dog probably killed it, but it was in the middle of the jungle on top of a tall tree stump, so I was skeptical. In the village where we spent the night, they had a ceremony for us that cleansed us and gave us good fortune in the future. Our guide asked if anyone had brought cards and I had, so I got mine out. He then asked if we knew how to play "Lao Game" and proceeded to teach it to us. I chuckled when I heard the rules and immediately realized that it was nearly the same as the card game called "Asshole" played by college students in the U.S. and probably other countries as well. I imagine that some college backpacker taught it to someone in Laos years ago because the rules are quite simple and it spread among the locals and was renamed. It seemed to be the only card game they knew.
The day after the trekking, we made our way to Kong Lo cave, which is a slight chore to reach, but quite worth it in the end. The cave is 17km long and the only way through it is by boat because it is flooded by the river that runs through it. The boat was actually more of a motor canoe and we were just inches above the water. We passed a couple of boats going the other direction, but the great majority of the time we had the whole place to ourselves. Every other tourist cave I've been to has been well lit, but in this case we had just our small flashlights to illuminate the vast darkness, which was both good and bad. It gave the cave a more natural and mysterious feeling, but I'm sure it also deprived us of seeing many of the stalactite and stalagmite formations. There was one portion that sits above the river that we were able to get out and walk around in and it was well lit, although unfortunately with colored lights. It took a total of two hours to make it through the cave, which passes all the way from one side of a mountain through the other, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
We made our way from the cave straight through to southern Laos after literally chasing down a night bus to Pakse, sitting in the aisle for the first couple of hours before being able to get seats, and then catching a jumbo (modified pickup truck) from the bustling Pakse market to Champasak. It ended up being over a 24 hour journey starting with our trip to the cave the day before.