Ufz, I am trying to catch up with David, but this is quite hard work!!! So, where did I stop? Yes, we thought that traveling was so much fun in Laos that from Don Det we went right up North, back through Pakse and to a small city called Thakhek. There, our plan was to rend mopeds and go on a four-day tour into the Lao wilderness and backcountry.
After some info from other travelers, however, we figured that renting mopeds was maybe not the right thing to do in this region of the world: no real roads (see picture), lots of crazy drivers, dust everywhere and particularly in the eyes, mopeds that break down at least 3-4 times a day,... So, spontaneously, we decided that we had played the tough guys long enough, that we did not need all this and that we definitely did not need to spend so much extra money on moped repairs, and we took, yes, the bus again.
It took us into the backcountry region that we wanted to visit most and we stayed in a tiny village called Ban Na Hin (Michi, hier habe ich den verrueckten Deutschen getroffen, der seit den 70ern mit dem Fahrrad durch Asien reist, schau dir schon mal die Strassen an ;)) After a nice day hike in the forests, we attempted to visit a very famous grotto in the region, Konglor, actually, the second largest grotto in the world that you can cross in a boat (8km). But first we had to get there and as there were no sawngthaew-buses going (weekend) we ended up renting a moped after all. Yes, Gerrit, memories came up again concerning a certain moped and gravel roads in Greece and I can guarantee you that this was not the part of our travels that saw me the most at ease, especially wearing no helmets (we
couldn't get any) and only T-shirt and shorts...;) We had to drive for 24km and very soon, we were very convinced that it was a fabulous decision not to go on a tour for four days! Fortunately, David has his driver's license for motorbikes - his experience was needed in a couple of places. On our way back, we actually had some trouble, first with two little girls on a bike who suddenly lost control over it and drove into us - luckily David had anticipated it and we were almost stopped so that everybody got away with some scratches - and second, with some wet sand that mad us kiss the ground once more.
However, the whole trouble was worthwhile. When we got to the river that actually runs through the cave, we were welcomed by a wonderful, idyllic and
very Lao village where I could have spent hours and hours watching the local people living their tranquil life or simply doing nothing (their favorite activity). But on we went, now in a small local boat that leaked somewhere and the driver had to shovel out the water every 10-15 minutes... very reassuring and a lot of fun. The landscape was still amazing, sheer black karst cliffs, green forest, and the river winding through all of this.
When the cave entrance came into view, I felt a little strange. I had never realized before, that I am not too comfortable with closed spaces but this huge cave without any windows, well... However, once inside, I soon forgot to wonder about the tons of rock above and around me. There was much too much to marvel at. The rock formations were just breathtakingly beautiful, every glance revealed something new, some new forms, colors, glimmers,... Wherever the torchlight penetrated the
absolute dark, it revealed a completely different world. I guess Gimli would have liked being there. Particularly fun was also that our torch gave up working right when entering the cave. This was not much of a problem as long as we stayed in the boat together with our guides, however, a couple of time the water was too shallow and we had to get out of the boat and walk while our guides somehow managed to move the boat forwards. Walking in a riverbed in the absolute dark is definitely not that easy but it was a great adventure and a lot of fun! ;)After this trip into the Lao backcountry, it was already time for us to leave Laos again and I have to admit that I was not too sad about it. At first, Laos seemed to be a lot nicer than Thailand and some of its landscape is definitely worthwhile the visit, however, the people turned out to be a lot less nice than experienced at first. They were terribly after our money and, contrary to Thailand, here in Laos they build up their mafia-like groups and you just can't get around paying exorbitant tourist prices. This however, is not the worst. Worse is that they rip you off and afterwards they make fun of you right in front of you because you had to pay their price. This happened to us in buses a couple of time where people couldn't stop laughing about us and when we wanted to take the ferry to cross the border to Thailand the boat waited for us to climb down the river bank with our big backpacks only to take off right in front of us when we wanted to get on and everybody was laughing their heads off because they had played us such a nice trick. I can tell you, it does not feel good to be treated that way.
Even though I do not bear the same grudge against the people there as David, there were too many cute smiling children for that, I was definitely not unhappy to get back to Thailand and to leave the colorful but disappointing Laos behind. I don't think it'll see us again very soon.
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