We started the day off with a wander through the small town of Pak Beng in order to purchase some snacks for the boat ride ahead. We then boarded the long boat and began the second leg of our voyage to Luang Prabang.
We made one stop on our journey at the Pak Ou caves, limestone caves on the banks of the Mekong river. The caves had two other names as well: Buddha caves and Thing caves. As we left our boat and stepped onto the floating bamboo path towards the temple, we were stunned by the amazing views around us. Our guide, Joy, explained to us about how the Mekong river flooded back in 2008 and we were shown the markings on the limestone high above the current water level where the flooding reached. We had a bit of a talk in front of the cave entrance, and then we climbed up the stairs into the cave. In the cave, there were numerous Buddha statues in various sizes stacked all around the cave, put there by the locals as prayers for good fortune or health. We spent about 15 minutes in the lower cave before commencing our ascent to the upper cave. The climb up to the upper cave was quite gruelling despite the stone stairs and certainly worked up a sweat for everybody. The upper cave was much larger and deeper into the mountain, so deep that we needed our torches to see the inside of the cave. The inside of the upper cave did not have as many Buddha statues as the lower cave but the views made the long climb to the top well worth it.
The boat ride itself was very relaxing listening to the sound of the water lapping against the side of the boat. At the back of the boat, there were mostly students playing cards, in the middle the quiet bunch sat and pondered the views that the Mekong had to offer, and the front of the boat was taken up by the teachers and the readers and sleepier students. But everyone seemed to have a really great day wherever they were sitting.
Once we arrived at the port of Luang Prabang and had to lug our suitcases up a very steep hill to the mini buses. Once we checked in to our hotel, we had some time to go through our luggage and finally sort through our clothes after the village and lots of single night stays. We were able to drop our washing and shoes at a local laundromat and we are looking forward to getting some more clean t-shirts back. We then travelled to a restaurant were the food was enjoyable.
After dinner and a quick pep talk from Billy our tour guide, we walked to the night market to buy presents for ourselves and for our families. Popular items were elephant slippers, genie pants, headbands and…salt. After the market, we returned to the hotel and gathered around to listen to Mr Daniel’s substitute, Zach, give the nightly debrief reminding us of the “non-negotiables” and to keep your fluids up. After the pep talk we were sent back to our rooms to get a good night’s sleep listening to the soothing sounds of the rain on the roof.
By Jack and Chelsea.
