I was pretty tired from the overnight bus but luckily I managed to get a room in a hostel straight away and they only charged me for 1 night. Result! Im such a skank these days... ok not just these days!! Anyway, I had a snooze & decided to go for a wander. I visited the COPE centre which is a charity that supports the victims of unexploded bombs. God, it was heartbreaking. These poor Laos people are getting money to collect the scrap metal from bombs or kids playing & out of curiosity are losing limbs, sight or even dying because of the amount of unexploded bombs that still exist here. The centre was really interesting but also really sad. I had a tear in my eye watching the videos and learning about it.
Afterwards I was feeling quite sad & still tired & emotional, I walked around but there wasn't much to do. So I booked a bus ticket to go to the Kong Lo Cave's the following day. I walked to find the food night market only to find stalls selling food but no seats. The locals drove past on their mopeds and collected food to take home & eat. I decided to head to a bar! A glass of red wine later, I'd made friends with 2 local ladies. Their English wasn't great (better than my Laos!) but we somehow got by with the power of alcohol! One of the ladies told me that it's really popular for Laos people to go to Bangkok for plastic surgery to flatten their noses. The things you learn! Later I popped back to the hostel and met a Korean girl who was sharing the dorm room with me. Her English wasn't great either and somehow I ended up agreeing to have my photo taken with her, doing bunny ears and faces. I have no idea how or why this happened! Anyway she left for her flight and I wandered around the night market which sold clothes & nic nacs. It was a bit dull so I headed to bed. Unfortunately there was an old, overweight Russian man in the dorm who had the loudest snoring I think I've ever heard. Even with my ear plugs in there was no escaping it. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night.
Next day I was off on my trip to Kong Lo Cave. I wasn't quite sure how it would pan out as I was alone & didn't have any accommodation booked. I was collected by a tuk tuk & that's when I met Andrew from Australia & Tore from Norway who were also travelling alone. We got dropped off at the bus station & transfered to a local bus. The journey to the village beside the caves (Kong Lo village) took about 7 hours & the scenery was breathtaking. No toilet on the bus but we did have a wee stop.... yes at the side of a road near some trees!! The village itself was really quiet with hardly any tourists. Cute local kids waving and saying hello. Myself & the 2 guys were up for trying a homestay so we wondered around asking a few locals. There was hardly anyone there but finally we found one at the Mouang family. The 3 of us would share a room with makeshift separate beds & mozzie nets. The family would sleep in the other room. Now I'm not quite sure where they all slept that night as there was the 2 grandparents, 2 parents and 2 little girls (I'm guessing they were about 4 and 7 years old) and the place wasn't big. Must have been cozy! We were told dinner would be served at 7.30pm so we went for a drink with all the other tourists who were on the bus. A group of 3 guys (Rik from the Netherlands, Sebastian from Germany and Jack from London), a Canadian couple (Kaela & Nate) and a Dutch couple (didn't get their names!). We had a beer and headed back for dinner. Sat on their living room floor we were served omelette, mushrooms and a mountain of sticky rice along with a spicy sauce. The family spoke very little English but we tried to converse as best we could. Then before we knew it was bed time. I didn't sleep great as you could hear any noise from outside but thankfully I didn't need to go to the loo in the night. It was a sqat toilet located downstairs & outside with no light.
Next day I was awoken by cockerels crowing. We had breakfast with the family & headed to the cave. We had to wait for a bit as the water level was too high. They hadn't actually taken anyone in the previous day. So finally we paid and were given our life vest and torch. We went on a small longtail boat, the 2 of us plus 2 locals, powered by 1 oar & 1 flip flop! Then we got to the entrance & were transferred to another boat of a similar size, this time with an engine. We entered the eerie caves & I started to get scared! It was pitch black, it was now raining outside & the water levels were really high. We stopped at one point to walk through the caves. Then back in the boat we came out the other side (it's 7.5km long). Now I could breathe. The scenery was stunning and I started to relax & enjoy it. I couldn't quite believe my eyes. It was like something from a film. We went back the same way & I felt more relaxed & enjoyed looking around & getting soaked occasionally from the rain coming into the cave. Pretty amazing trip.
We collected our bags & headed to the cafe to wait for the bus. A local kid had the cutest pet ever which I later found out was a slow loris. It was adorable! The group of us then tried to leave on the only bus out that (and every) day. It was a tuk tuk with us & the locals crammed in, some of the guys hanging off the back. Then another tuk tuk. Then we managed to find a night bus to take us down south. I jumped on with everyone (minus the Dutch couple) & we travelled to Pakse. The bus was interesting. They played music video's which were all love songs, all with exactly the same theme. I kept falling in and out of sleep thinking I was watching the same video! We arrived into Pakse at 4am. This was when I noticed all the large spare bus tyres randomly placed throughout the bus, along with massive industrial sized bags of chillies! No I wasn't still asleep!! Unfortunately once off the bus, it was now chucking it down & we were in the middle of nowhere. Nothing was open. We walked around trying to find somewhere to sleep. After what felt like forever, we found a hotel. I treated myself to a single room with air con & a tv. It couldn't have been more different to the previous night!
So glad I did the homestay. These people don't have much but they are so friendly & accommodating. Makes me realise just how lucky I am.
The pet-a pygmy lori-came there after they killed the mother-only for getting the young one, another traveller told me.
ReplyDelete