Slow boat, Great rope swing

Today was designated to see some of the areas around Luang Prabang. And enjoy my last full day in Laos. First stop: the Pak Ou caves. There is only one way to get here. That's on a slow boat up the Mekong. And they do mean slow. Now I understand that we are "sailing" against the current, but still. The boats are these long shallow contraptions, that seem to go all over the river on someones whim.

A few people I met chartered a boat to take us. Only it was actually two boats. How that happened, none of us are sure, but there were two boats that took the eight of us up the river. Four people were on the faster "slow boat" and the. Fry were on the slow "slow boat". I of course was on the slower of the slow boats. And they werent kidding. Besides cutting the motor for cell phone calls, we also picked up people along the river, much like the taxis and buses do...so much for a chartered boat!

The river is a pretty amazing body of water. We are currently in the dry season and the river is very very low. From what I could tell, about 20 feet lower than in the high season. The rocks that protrude everywhere are obviously at times covered and all through the river there are pilings to show where the rocks are. I can only image what this area is like when the river is high.

To be honest, the best art of the trip was the two hours boat ride. We stopped at the "whiskey village" which was nothing more than a twenty minute souvenir shopping stop. Although they do sell whiskey with snakes and scorpions in the bottle. The caves house over four thousand Buddha statues and may people come here to pray, but as a destination to travel two hours by boat to? A bit disappointing. After another 90 minutes back down the river, we we're back in Luang Prabang and ready to hit then water falls!

These falls are pretty famous (in Laos) and it is easy to see why. They are truly beautiful. It is a series of falls and pools all which are nice and unique and all the pools of water are this most amazing turquoise color. The main falls are about 100 feet high in a multi-tiered drop. The best part of it is that this is a swimming destination! There were people all over, jumping in,swimming, cooling off. And it felt great to do the same. The main (and favorite) pool had a rope swing. You can't go wrong with a rope swing! Other than jacking up my shoulder a bit, it was a blast! And what a break from the hot and hazy days in town. A couple of hours at the falls, was perfect.