Day 24: Visiting the Smaller Temples at Angkor

I started my tour early today, at 7:30am.  My taxi driver, Mr. Lai, drove us north from Siem Reap and stopped at the ticket office so I could by my ticket. You can buy  one day ($20), three day ($40), and seven day tickets ($60) for Angkor Wat park (I got the 3 day ticket). Despite the crowd of folks at the ticket office, I was in and out of there within a few minutes.

The tour I’m doing builds up to Angkor Wat on the last day, so today being my first day, I saw a number of smaller temples. To get to the first temple, Mr. Lai drove us around the periphery of Angkor Wat and through the South Gate and North Gates of Angkor Thom (another huge temple complex here). We stopped to take a few photos at the Gates. We’ll be coming back tomorrow, but I couldn’t resist snapping a few shots now.

North Gate of Angkor Thom

The first temple I visited was Preah Khan. Mr Lai dropped me off at the East Gate of Preah Khan and I walked through the temple and met him at the West Gate where we continued onwards. Preah Khan was built in the 12th century under the reign of King Jayavarman VII and is located to the northeast of Angkor Thom and just west of the Jayatataka baray, with which it was associated (a “baray” I learned is an artificial body of water, and a common element in Khmer architecture). One of King Jayavarman’s largest temples, Preah Khan is thought to have been a city as well as a Buddhist university. The site is largely unrestored so there are many trees growing among the ruins.  It was the largest group of ruins I visited today.

Moat around Preah Khan

Preah Khan East Gate

Carved designs on the stone

Around the Preah Khan Ruins. There was a monk visiting the ruins.

Ruins at Preah Khan

Trees and vegetation growing around the ruins

Crossing the moat outside the West Gate

Next we went to Neak Pean to the east of Preah Khan.  Neak Pean is an artificial island with a Buddhist temple.  Similar to Preah Khan, Neak Pean was built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, in the late 12th century. The temple was originally designed for medicinal purposes and might have acted as  a type of hospital.  It is thought that the pools and waters at Neak Pean may represent Anavatapta, a mythical lake in the Himalayas where the waters are thought to cure illness.

This was a small series of ruins.  To get to the artificial island you cross over this swamp/marsh on a wooden bridge.  At the island, in the center of the pools you see the temple.

Wooden bridge/plank to get to Neak Pean

Neak Pean temple

Horse statue on the left coming out of the water

In this last photo you’ll notice there are some people in the water.  They work for the Angkor Wat park and were clearing out foliage and vegetation from the water.

Next we visited Ta Som, which is east of Neak Pean. Ta Som is a small temple that feels quite remote. It’s also overgrown with trees and vegetation, and features a few face-towers.  It’s a very charming miniature temple, built in the late 12th century under the reign of Jayavarman VII, and then was later enlarged by Indravarman II in the 13th century.

Face Towers at Ta Som. I’ll see more of these tomorrow

Ta Som ruins

Overgrown tree on the ruins with face tower

After visiting Ta Som, we made our way south east to East Mebon, in the East Baray.   East Mebon was built in the middle of the 10th century under the reign of Rajendravarman. East Mebon is located within the massive East Baray, which was built about half a century before the temple as the water source for the city here.

Main Temple at East Mebon

Guardian Elephant at East Mebon on the south east corner

East Mebon

We continued a little further south of the East Baray to Pre Rup. This temple was also built in the middle of the 10th century during the reign of Rajendravarman.  This temple looks a lot like East Mebon, but apparently Pre Rup is a “temple-mountain” (the structure is meant to look symbolically like a mountain) whereas East Mebon is not.  You can tell the difference when hiking up to the top.  Pre Rup is crazy steep and has a lot of steps to go up, whereas East Mebon has a series of terraces but really isn’t that high up.

Pre Rup

View from the top of Pre Rup

After Pre Rup, we went quite a ways south east to see a group of temples called the Roluos Group, which consists of three sites: Bakong, Preah Ko, and Lolei.  These temples were the oldest that we visited today, dating from the 9th century. We first visited Bakong, the first significant temple-mountain built in the area.  It  was constructed in the late 9th century during the reign of Indravarman I.

Bakong pyramid

One of my favorite aspects of the temples I saw today were all the gorgeous high relief carvings and sculptures like these.

High relief carvings at Bakong

Next we stopped a short ways away at Preah Ko, a 9th century temple with 6 towers featuring some very beautiful carvings on the doorway lintels.

Preah Ko

Detail of lintel carving at Preah Ko

Another detail of lintel carving at Preah Ko

Carved writing on a wall at Preah Ko

The last temple of the Roluos group is Lolei, a tiny 9th century temple formerly on an island and now undergoing some heavy restoration.

Lolei

It was 1pm by the time we finished visiting all these sites–almost 6 hours of touring.  It was pretty exhausting, but luckily it was lunch time. Mr. Lai dropped me off at Pub Street in town and I had a little lunch in the area.  After a bit of post-lunch shopping and wandering through the boutiques and galleries near Pub Street, I made my way back to the hotel to relax for an hour before Mr. Lai picked me up to go to a smaller temple called Phnom Bakheng to see the sunset.  We headed up at 4:30pm since this temple in particular gets pretty filled up with tourists for the sunset.

Phnom Bakheng is a 9th century temple on top of a hill about 1.5 kilometers away from Angkor Wat.  The reason for its popularity among tourists is that it provides a nice vantage point for the sunset over the West Baray, as well as a view of Angkor Wat.

View of Angkor Wat through the trees from Phnom Bakheng

A little closer view of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng

Carvings on a doorway on Phnom Bakheng main temple

Sunset over the West Baray

Sunset through the towers of Phnom Bakheng

Once night fell, Mr. Lai picked me up and I went to dinner at a lovely local restaurant called Viroth.

Tomorrow I continue my touring early, once again, so off to bed for me!

Day 23: Transit to Siem Reap

I made it to Siem Reap today. I took the 11:30am flight out of Phnom Penh. As with the past two days, my new friend and taxi driver Sva picked me up and drove me to the airport.

In case you find yourself in Phnom Penh and you’re looking for a good, reliable driver, I would recommend Sva. Here’s his number: 017 56 31 87 (or add 855 and remove the 0 if dialing from abroad).  He drives around a number of expats, including some Americans working at the US Embassy.  His English is very good.  He takes classes for one hour every day 6 days a week.  He’s knowledgeable, polite, and very reliable.  I spent most of my time outside my hotel room with him, and he really made a difference in my experience in Phnom Penh.

Now that I’m out of the capital, I’d like to share a few additional notes about Phnom Penh.  It was one of the cities I was least looking forward to visiting.  I had read that it was dangerous, that there are a lot of purse snatchers, that there is a huge drug/gun problem, that the tuk tuk drivers and taxis try and scam you left and right, and all sorts of other things.  As I mentioned previously, walking around the area near my hotel I never felt unsafe but I did feel very uneasy.  Even walking the one block to the Black Bambu last night for dinner put me a little on edge. Part of this was because the city isn’t pedestrian-friendly (as I’ve mentioned before), but in part the city also has that grittiness that I’ve only encountered in Bangkok up until now.  From what I’ve read, there is indeed a big drug problem in the city and there are guns everywhere.  None of this affected me where I was staying in the expat neighborhood, but it certainly did make me overly cautious in this city compared to others.  To me, Cambodia seems to have the greatest disparity between the rich and poor.  I’m not sure if this is actually true, but certainly it’s the sense that I had.  In Phnom Penh there are clearly expat neighborhoods where the security for the wealthy is intense–there are big compounds with villas and lots of security guards with big guns in front.  I didn’t see this in Vientiane or even in Bangkok. Also, coming back from dinner my first night in my tuk tuk, we passed a massive police raid on one of the streets, which my tuk tuk driver said was probably drug related.  This is apparently normal in Phnom Penh. I’m glad I went and saw the capital city in the end, but I’m also glad I was only there for 2 nights.

Siem Reap feels very different.  The town really caters to the tourist set, so everything feels a little fake and staged.  There’s even a street by the Old Market called “Pub Street” lined with cafes and pubs and restaurants.  US dollars are the currency used here exclusively.  It’s definitely not real Cambodia, but it’s safe and pedestrian-tolerant.  There are also a lot more tourists here than I saw in Phnom Penh, and I feel totally fine walking around on my own.

Notes on Cambodian Riel (KHR):  For Cambodia, don’t bother changing any money into Cambodian Riel.  It’s a waste of the exchange rate.  Everyone takes US dollars here.  It’s surprising.  Laos was kind of like that–you could pay in Lao Kip, Thai Baht, and USD–but here every price is quoted to foreigners directly in USD, and no other currency.  Most people seem surprised that I even have Cambodian Riel, which really only happened by accident.  When I arrived at the airport in Phnom Penh two days ago, I decided to change my remaining Lao Kip into Cambodian Riel and figured I would change some USD as well to hold me over until I got to Siem Reap (I didn’t want to hunt around Phnom Penh for an ATM and I figured that I needed local currency as one does).  That was a waste.  Every single thing I have paid for has been quoted to me in USD, and then I have to be the idiot calculating the exchange rate (it’s 1 USD to 4,000 KHR so it’s easy enough to figure out) so I can use up these Riels.  Also, the largest denomination of KHR that the exchange desk gave me at the airport was 10,000 KHR. This amounts to around $2.50 USD.  Notes of 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 do exist, but for some reason, I was only given 10,000 and 5,000 KHR notes. So when I exchanged $200 USD at the airport, I received an enormous stack of bills in return. A brick of bills.  I could have easily “made it rain” in that airport.  It was ridiculous.  I can’t understand why they didn’t give me larger denominations. It was strange.  Anyways, I hate being culturally insensitive, but if you’ve got USD in your pocket, then you’re better off just using that in Cambodia and not bothering with the local currency.

Moving along…

I’ll admit I didn’t do much today.  I’m a bit anxious that I have 3 full days ahead of me visiting Angkor Wat and other temple ruins in the area, so I wanted to chill out.  Also, the heat here is crazy intense, which means that I’ll start my touring at the wee hours of the morning to avoid some of the heat.  My car picks me up at 7:30am tomorrow morning for my first temple visit.

I am staying at a hotel called the Golden Temple Hotel.  You get a lot of bang for your buck here.  I had a free transfer from the airport with a driver and a staff person to take me to the hotel.  I was given tea and lots of goodies on arrival.  I also have vouchers for 1 free meal in the hotel restaurant as well as a free hour long massage.  I also get a free “picnic basket” during my stay–I’m not sure what that means, but I think they’ll give me a basket with food to take on one of my tours.  So when I see the sunrise over Angkor Wat in a couple of days, I will have my little picnic basket with me so I can have breakfast after at or near the temple. There are happy hour specials at the pool and free snacks.  It’s not bad at all, and I see why It’s so highly rated on Trip Advisor. The decor can only be characterized as “Lara Croft meets Indiana Jones” which I don’t mind because, well, as a fan of both I can get on board with that despite the slight cheesiness.  The staff is very willing, and I feel that I’ll be well looked after here.

Upon arrival I figured out my touring schedule.  I’m here for 3 full days and 4 nights, so I’ll do the 3 day temple tour starting tomorrow.  Today I decided to do my usual thing and walk around, but then it started pouring.  It’s not the rainy season yet, but the forecast is very cloudy and humid.  The rain helps break the heat, but the humidity is pretty brutal as well. After the down pour I went out for a late lunch to the Pub Street and had a burger (I was craving a burger!) at the Red Piano bar, which I heard was a nice spot.  It’s across the street from the Old Market, so after my lunch I rolled through the shops in the alleyways and the market stalls.  There’s not a whole lot to do in Siem Reap from what I understand, and I’m really here to see the temples, so I headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon by the pool in a little hammock.

It’s pouring again, so I decided to get some room service and hang around here.  Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day!

I didn’t take many photos today walking around Siem Reap town, but for what it’s worth…

Water Wheel in the Siem Reap River with swimmers nearby

Foot bridge crossing the Siem Reap River

Day 20: Buddha Park, Around Vientiane, and Last Day in Laos

One of the things I wanted to do while in Vientiane was visit the Buddha Park. The park is located about 25-30 km outside Vientiane and takes a 40 minute car ride to get there.  Last night I stopped at a hostel nearby that was advertising rides to the Buddha Park.  The proprietor said that the a mini van would leave twice a day to go there, at 10am and 2pm.  As long as there were at least 4 people willing to go, it would cost 70,000 kip (about $9 USD).  He said he didn’t know yet how many people might be going but that in the morning he would have a better idea of the head count. So this morning I went by the hostel at 10am to see if there was in fact a mini van leaving for the park, and indeed there was.  I guess the Buddha Park is a pretty popular attraction.  The experience took less than 2.5 hours including transport.  We arrived at 10:40am, spent an hour in the park, and got back to Vientiane around 12:15pm.

The Buddha Park (also known as Xieng Khuan) is exactly what it sounds like: a park full of Buddhas.  In this case, yes, there are several Buddhas as well as several Hindu deities and other mythical creatures.  The park is littered with sculptures depicting stories from both Buddhism and Hinduism.  The creator of the park was Luang Pou Bounlua Soulilat, a monk-priest-shaman with a very specific vision integrating Hinduism and Buddhism.  He started building this sculpture garden in 1958 and created all the sculptures out of cement.  While this meant that the sculptures were built quickly, cement isn’t the best material longterm so many of the sculptures appear to be crumbling to the ground.  It kind of gives the park this mysterious air.  After the revolution in 1975 Luang Pou fled to Thailand just across the river (yes, Thailand is across the river from here!) where he built another similar park.

There are a lot of sculptures in the park as I’ve mentioned.  Many are Buddhas, and many are related to stories and tales taken from Buddhism and Hinduism.  It would probably help to have some knowledge of these stories before going to this park, otherwise it feels like you’re walking through a jumble of cement statues. There’s a little hut near the entrance of the park with photos of some of the different statues with a description of what’s going on there, but again, this would really only mean anything to someone who is already familiar with the stories.  The place is still quite nice and interesting though (notwithstanding the heat).

One of the most iconic sculptures in the park is known as the Giant Pumpkin (although I’m sure that’s not the formal name for it).  The sculpture looks like a pumpkin with a tree sticking out from the top.  There’s a crazy face at the bottom with it’s mouth open.  You can walk into the mouth and go inside the sculpture.  It’s three stories tall. There are a couple of very steep staircases inside (along with more sculptures and Buddha statues) that take you up to the roof of the sculpture with a nice view of the park.

Buddha Park from the top of the giant pumpkin

Giant pumpkin sculpture

Mouth entrance on the giant pumpkin

Buddha Park Sculptures (also taken from the top of the giant pumpkin)

Buddha Park

At the opposite side of the park from the giant pumpkin is a pagoda of sorts with very steep steps.  I tried climbing up these to get a better view, but they are so steep and narrow that I couldn’t get more than half way up.

Buddha Park from the pagoda

In my van cohort were two Canadians that I befriended in the park.  One of them, let’s call him J, I met briefly yesterday at COPE.  The other, let’s call him N, was someone J had just met a few days before in Vang Vieng, which is a laid back town about 5 hours north of Vientiane.  They weren’t exactly traveling together, but had sort of paired up to do some site seeing.  I mentioned to them that I was interested in walking to the Patuxay monument (i.e. the fake Arc de Triomphe) and then on to the golden stupa once we got back to town.  They liked the idea and agreed to come with me.

We got back to Vientiane, grabbed a quick lunch, and then set off for the golden stupa.  The Arc de Triomphe is on the way to the golden stupa.  It’s a good walk and probably took us 20 minutes to get to the Patuxay monument. The arch is quite lovely up close.  While the boulevard and arch does have this French colonial feel, the arch itself is in the Lao style.

Patuxay Monument

There’s this lovely park behind the monument with fountains.  We walked through it and continued on toward the golden stupa.

Taken from the park behind the Patuxay Monument

I would like to pause for a moment to say that it was blistering hot today in Vientiane.  When I woke up this morning it was already around 88 F.  By the time we walked to the golden stupa it was close to 100 F.  When we walked back to the center of town in the mid afternoon it reached 104 F. I went through bottle after bottle of water.  It’s unbelievable. They don’t call it the “hot dry season” for nothing.

Anyways, we pressed onward to the golden stupa.  After another 20 minutes we finally arrived.

Golden Stupa, Pha That Luang

At 45 meters tall, the golden stupa (or Pha That Luang) is the most important Buddhist monument in Laos. It is believed that a bone of the Buddha is enshrined there.  The original stupa was built in the 16th century.  In the the mid-19th century most of Vientiane was destroyed by Siamese invaders and the stupa was heavily damaged and abandoned. It’s been rebuilt a few times over the years.

Inside the cloister of the Golden Stupa

As is the case with most temples or stupas, there are several other temples within the complex.  We also went inside the recently constructed Hor Dhammasabha (or Buddhist convention hall) which happened to be open to visitors.  This building has beautiful tiered roofs.  The interior is all painted.  We stayed in the building for awhile, cooling off and enjoying the peace and quiet of the place (we were the only people there). The other temples around were closed off to the public, so we simply roamed around for awhile before heading back.

Hor Dhammasabha or Buddhist convention hall

We went back to the center of town mostly the same way we came.  It was a hot afternoon and we were getting tired.  I suggested a small detour at the the end of Avenue Lang Xang to see the That Dam (or Black Stupa).

That Dam, Black Stupa

Locals believe that the That Damn was once inhabited by a seven-headed dragon (now dormant) called the Naga that protected the city. Built in the 16th century, the stupa is one of the oldest stupas in the city and hasn’t been renovated so it has this ancient feel to it.  It’s located in a quiet roundabout near the US Embassy in a quiet residential neighborhood, which adds to its charm.

So that was my day! It was a nice way to end my time in Laos.  I’ve really enjoyed this leg of my trip and part of me is very sad to leave.

I fly to Cambodia tomorrow, directly to Phnom Penh (the capital) where I will spend a couple of days.  Third country on my itinerary!

 

Day 19: Vientiane and a taste of Colonialism

I woke up early to catch the one flight to Vientiane from Phonsavan.  The airport was more of an airstrip with a little waiting room than a proper airport.  But the flight was deliciously short–only half an hour!  We took off, the flight attendants did a sweep through the cabin passing out water and snacks, and then suddenly we were on the ground again.  I can’t express how happy I am that I didn’t take the sleeper bus. Flying is where it’s at.

I am staying at a lovely place here called the Dhavara Boutique Hotel Vientiane.  I feel like a 19th century ambassador.  The decor evokes the era.  My room is massive and the bed is doubly massive, with antique furnishings and everything. I love it.  And it looks like there is the cutest little french bakery downstairs next to the lobby of the hotel that also sells macarons.  The hotel staff even left a pair of sweets for me in my room this evening. Oh I like it here.

Since I’m right in the center of town, I thought I’d walk around a bit and get my bearings (per my usual habit).  It’s quite a lovely city.  There are lots of trees lining the streets and a few larger boulevards here and there with some big monuments–in other words, it feels very European.  There’s even an arch that travelers I’ve met call the “fake arc du triomphe”–this is the Patuxai monument on the Avenue Lane Xang.  I haven’t seen it up close yet, but saw it in the distance as I walked along the Avenue Setthathirath to see a few temples nearby.

Avenue Lane Xang with the Patuxai monument or Arc du Triomphe de Vientiane at the end

Behind me when I took the photo above is the Presidential Palace of Vientiane.

Presidential Palace

A lot of the architecture in Vientiane resembles the Presidential Palace, but obviously on a smaller scale.  It’s all in that same colonial style.

Across the street from the Presidential Palace is the That Sisaket, which is also a museum.  I paid my 5,000 kip and went in for a visit.  It’s Vientiane’s oldest surviving temple and monastery, although it’s only about 200 years old.

That Sisaket

There are a few things that set this temple apart from others.  First, the sim (ordination hall) is enclosed within a square cloister, similar to Thai temples but unusual for Lao temples.

Cloister around the ordination hall

Second, the temple doesn’t face east like most Buddhist temples, and unlike most Lao temples it isn’t aligned with the river either.  This is apparently unusual. Third, the wall on the cloister features thousands of niches with small images of Buddha inside them, behind rows of bigger Buddhas. These numerous small niches are apparently unusual for any Buddhist temple.

Buddhas in the cloister around temple Sisaket

The interior of the temple is quite lovely although unfortunately they do not allow visitors to take photos.  There are painted murals on the walls that are really interesting, but sadly, also deteriorating although there’s an effort underway to conserve these. The architectural elements of the buildings depicted in the murals are particularly spectacular. Above the murals are more tiny Buddha niches.

After I visited the temple, I rolled across the street to visit another important temple, the Ho Prakeo or Emerald Buddha Hall. Originally constructed in the 16th century, this temple is the only surviving building of the old Palace. The Emerald Buddha image (the one now in Bangkok) was housed here for nearly 250 years before the Siamese recaptured the image a took it back to Thailand in the late-18th century. Apparently this structure has beautifully carved wooden doors (just the sort of thing I love to admire) as well as some wonderful artifacts.  Unfortunately, I was unable to see any of these details as the temple is currently covered in scaffolding for conservation after the New Year holiday.  Just my luck.

I decided to continue down the Setthathirath road to see if I could find my next point of interest, the COPE Rehabilitation Center.  I heard about COPE from some of the folks in my 7 hour mini van ride from two days ago. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise.  It is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities to receive free access to quality rehabilitation services, including access to prosthetics for amputees who have lost limbs due to ordnance accidents.  COPE opened a Visitor Center in 2008 to increase awareness around disabilities in Laos particularly due to UXO (unexploded ordnance) accidents.  The Visitor Center aims to educate the public about the work of the organization as well as the tragedy of the UXOs in Laos.  It’s almost like a mini-Museum in this hospital compound.

COPE Visitor Center

I will say that finding COPE was a bit of an ordeal.  The map from Lonely Planet was wrong (yes, I will write them an email about this) and no other local map included COPE as a site of interest.  So I walked to the area where Lonely Planet said it was located and then tried asking around.  None of the locals seemed to know what I was asking about (which is sad, and illustrates how little awareness there is about COPE’s work among non-disabled communities in Laos) but I found a quirky Westerner who pointed me in the right direction. I was about a block away.  Google Maps seems to have a more accurate read on COPE’s location.  The Visitor Center is located off the side walk, within the Rehabilitation Center.  You walk through the gate and take a right at the Rehabilitation Stadium (I think that’s what it was called) and you’ll see it.

The COPE Visitor Center is definitely worth a visit.  There’s a small screening room that shows several different videos and documentaries on the UXO issues in Laos.  I watched a couple of them.  The exhibit itself is also telling.  There are a lot of personal stories of the victims of UXOs that are very moving.  There is also a substantial amount of information about the ordnances and bombs themselves.  I never quite understood what a “cluster bomb” was and why it was so deadly, but now I certainly do.  It’s worth a visit there, if anything, to see the amazing work that the organization is doing to help rural communities and their constituents with disabilities caused by UXO accidents.

At the COPE Visitor Center. A display explaining cluster bombs and their effects.

The process for creating a prosthetic limb

COPE Visitor Center

Statue outside the Visitor Center

I made my way back to my hotel thinking I would relax for a little while before dinner.  No time for that.  I decided to walk down by the river, where the night market is.  Since it’s the dry season, and also unbearably hot (and I mean UNBEARABLY hot), much of the river has dried up.  Many people have been going down into the banks of the river and it seems that someone built some sculptures out of sand.  I figured I’d go down into the riverbed and check them out for myself.

Looking down at the Mekong riverbed that is mostly dry.  By the way, Thailand is on the other side of the Mekong from Vientiane.

Sand sculptures on the riverbed

There were about five or six big sculptures there and they are quite detailed.

Sand sculpture on the Mekong riverbed

Eagle sand sculpture

Elephant sand sculpture at sunset

My guess is that these were created for the Lao New Year.  Of course I don’t know this for sure since very few people speak English or French here, so I haven’t been able to figure out what these are and why they’re there.

I climbed out of the riverbed and walked on the promenade along the river to the King Anouvong Park to see the statue there.

Statue at King Anouvong Park

At that point it was after 6pm so the night market was starting up, so I walked through for a half hour.  On my way back to my hotel, I decided to take a pit stop for an hour-long massage and then went strait to eat a little dinner at a restaurant/bar called Dresden, which felt like a speakeasy out of the 1920s.  It’s been a full day!

Day 18: The Plain of Jars

Today was one of the highlights of my trip.  I finally visited the Plain of Jars and it was simply awesome.

I organized a group tour yesterday with three other people in my van from Luang Prabang, an Indian couple and an Ozzie. We organized with our driver from Luang Prabang to take us today to the Plain of Jars sites 1, 2, and 3, and then to the War Spoon village Naphia and then a Hmong whiskey village.

I’ll start out by saying that it was an amazing day, but also longer than I expected.  I’ve read accounts where people say they can easily see all three jar sites in one afternoon but I don’t think that’s possible.  The roads outside of Phonsavan are absolutely terrible dirt and gravel roads and our van had difficulty going faster than 30 km/hr most of the time.  Even though these sites are between 10-35 kilometers away from Phonsavan (in the same direction), it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get to each one.  Additionally, the parking lot and “ticket office” of these sites is usually a good 10-15 minute walk from the site itself, so you need to add in time to actually hike up to the different sites.  But we’ll get to all that in a minute.

We started our tour at 9am.  We first went to the Phonsavan Visitor Center, which had a display of informational posters on visiting the jars sites and information on other local sites, like local villages and tribes, as well as commentary on ordnances and bombs in the area.  Behind the visitor center is a space that contains numerous deactivated bombs and artillery.  These were among the many weapons/bombs found by locals after the Second Indochina War and Secret War (i.e. the wars that the U.S. waged in Vietnam/Indochina and Laos between 1964-1973).

Display behind the Visitor Center of bombs and military weaponry

Cluster Bombs

More bombs and artillery

Ever stare down the barrel of a tank?

The map below is particularly telling. The red shows the areas in Laos that were bombed and where UXOs (unexploded ordnances) are still located. Note that on this map it says that the Xieng Khouang province was the second most bombed province in Laos between 1964-1973, the years during the Secret War and Vietnam/Second Indochina War.  Other accounts I’ve read said that Xieng Khouang was the most bombed province.  Either way, there are still thousands if not millions of UXOs in the countryside of this province alone.

Map showing UXOs in Laos

After the visitor center, we made our way to Site 1.  The entry fee was 15,000 kip (about $2 USD).  We walked up a road for about 10 minutes to arrive at the proper entry of the site.  Jar Site 1 is the largest of all the sites and the most visited.  Most tourists will just go to Site 1 and not bother with the other sites.  It is very impressive indeed.  One of the most stunning (and possibly most well preserved) jars is located here.

The impressive 2 meter high jar on the left at Site 1

The site has various clusters in a few different places.  We moved counterclockwise through Site 1. In the middle of the site is a cave with a small shrine, which we also visited.  It should be mentioned that Lao PDR military operated within this Jar site between 1964-1973, and created trenches for protection.  The photo below shows one of these trenches. There were several around the site. Because the U.S. knew there were operatives in this area, they dropped several bombs here and there are still many craters around the site.

Trench near the jars

Jar Site 1; there are over 300 jars in Site 1 alone

Though difficult to discern, this is a bomb crater

A bomb crater just beside this jar

After roaming the groups of jars, we visited the cave in the middle of the site.  This is thought to have been the crematorium for the dead who were then placed in the jars 3,000 years ago. Today there is what looks like an altar or shrine inside.

Cave at Jar Site 1

Interior of cave

We did an entire loop of the site, walking up a hill to see another cluster of jars before taking a scenic route back to the van.  The view was rather nice.

View from Jar Site 1

Next we made our way to Jar Site 2.  This took a little longer to get to.  We pulled into the parking lot and each paid our 10,000 kip ticket (about $1.25 USD).  From there we had to walk uphill along a dirt road.

Dirt road leading to Jar Site 2

This road was first built out by French colonialists over a hundred years ago, and apparently it has had detrimental affects to the jars at site 2, exacerbating the erosion there.  Because of how the road was built, there are two main clusters of jars at Site 2 separated by the road. We decided to visit the cluster on the right side first.

Cluster of jars at site 2

A stone lid or marker with a carving in the center with concentric circles

There was a path leading away from the jars heading east.  We decided to follow this path for awhile to see if it led to another cluster of jars.  We ended up amidst trees, and though the view was nice, we didn’t find any other jars. We turned back before getting to the end of the path, and apparently there is an abandoned and eroded stupa at the end.

View from the path to the stupa

Path through the trees

As I mentioned, we didn’t see the abandoned stupa since we decided to turn back and visit the other cluster of jars on the opposite side of the dirt road. These jars are hidden amidst beautiful trees.  The whole place felt very mysterious.

Jar Site 2

This tree grew underneath a jar, and broke it in half.  You can see the fragments of the jar embedded within the trunk.

I love this massive tree and the jars around it

Throughout all of the Jar sites, there are markers on the ground showing you the path you should take to get to the site or to walk around the site.  Sometimes the markers show you the perimeter of the site so that visitors don’t go wandering off into the countryside and potentially encounter an UXO. The white markers are the ones indicating that the path is clear of UXOs.  Red markers indicate the area isn’t cleared.  We never encountered red markers at any of the three sites, but we also made sure to stay on the marked paths.

White marker on the path. MAG stands for Mines Advisory Group, which is a non-profit that clears mines and UXOs worldwide

Next we visited Jar Site 3.  Upon arrival, we paid our 10,000 kip ($1.25 USD) entry ticket and crossed a bridge over to a rice paddy.

Bridge to Site 3

Then we had to traverse a series of rice paddies and walk up a gentle slope to Jar Site 3.

Rice paddies to Jar Site 3

More rice paddies near Site 3

Jar Site 3 was probably the smallest of the site we visited, and it also had the least number of tourists. There was only one cluster of jars, as opposed to two or three at the other sites.  But there were a lot of jars crammed close to one another in this one site.  It felt more claustrophobic than the other sites.  Even so, it was very remote and peaceful.

Jar Site 3

Overturned jar in Site 3

Jar Site 3

After Site 3, we made our way to Ban Naphia, which is a War Spoon village.  Since the 1980s villagers from Naphia and other villages started making spoons from the aluminum UXO scrap metal. In fact, several of the eateries and restaurants in town use these spoons. At a family home in Naphia, we saw the process of how these spoons are made.  They break down the UXO aluminum metal and melt it, then pour it into a mould. In the photo below, you can see the “kiln” in the middle where they melt the metal.  The box on the right wrapped with an orange rope is the mould used to create the spoon.  There is a hole on the side where the liquid metal is poured into the mould.

At the War Spoon Village, Naphia

The family also had a series of deactivated/defunct artillery shells and ordnances in their backyard on display.  These were all found near their home and village.

Scrap ordnances at the War Spoon villager home

We bought a few souvenirs from the War Spoon village, and then moved along to a Hmong village that makes Lao Lao whiskey.  On the way, our driver pulled over on the side of the road to point out a tank from the war.  This one is sitting half buried in someone’s backyard.

Tank across the road

We arrived at the Hmong village to taste our whiskey. I had already tasted the Lao Lao whiskey during the Mekong cruise at one of the villages we visited, so I knew what to expect.  We each took a little taste and decided we were all set.

Our host: Hmong woman who let us taste her whiskey

After that we came back to Phonsavan.  It was a little after 5pm.  I decided to take a stroll around the local market thinking that I might buy some more souvenirs.  This was, truly, a local market so there were absolutely no tourists around.  So no souvenirs.  Mostly it was a food market.  There were all sorts of things going on there.  Fruits and curries were on the simple end of the spectrum.  I also saw live chickens and ducks getting suffocated and sold to customers, dead and live guinea pigs, and fried rats. It was rather a lot for one day so I decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

Tomorrow I head off to Vientiane. And yet I still can’t believe that my Phonsavan adventure is over and I’ve finally seen the Plain of Jars!

Day 17: Going to Phonsavan

Today was a forgettable day for me. Absolutely nothing happened. Well, with the exception of a 7 hour mini van ride to Phonsavan from Luang Prabang.

To be transparent, over the past couple of days I haven’t been feeling 100% terrific.  Some of the Lao food has disagreed with me, and while I haven’t felt sick, I did have some semi-minor tummy troubles.  This is normal for me when I travel, but it was exacerbated today by a horrendous 7 hour mini van ride to Phonsavan.

The primary ways to get from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan is either to fly or take a bus/mini van of some kind.  Unfortunately, flights between the two cities only run during the high tourist season.  Since it’s off season now, the flights are not currently running.  This left only one real option to get to Phonsavan: bus.  Yesterday I went to a travel agency near my hotel (they are everywhere in Laos, like Thailand) and booked a ticket on what they call the “VIP Mini Van.”  The other option is to ride on a huge bus with lots of Lao people, which stops numerous times along the route.  There was no way in hell I was going to stick out a 9 hour bus ride with a bunch of locals when I wasn’t feeling terrific.  I had heard horror stories about these long bus rides to Phonsavan and had no interest in getting the experience first hand.

No, instead I booked the “VIP Mini Van”.  It cost a bit under $20.  I will start out by saying that there is nothing VIP about this van.  It is a van with several rows of seats.  There were 7 other passengers inside, including me, plus the driver.  The air conditioning on the bus did not work, even though they advertise these vans as having AC.  We had to open the windows, but because there are ass holes throwing water from the side of the road to celebrate the new year, we didn’t keep the windows all the way open.  And I get car sick, particularly when it’s hot.  Luckily, I decided to lay out on the back seat, which I had all to myself.  Oddly enough, lying down actually helps me with the car sickness.  Even so, it was a pretty dreadful ride.

The mini vans were supposed to leave at 9am.  We left closer to 9:30am for whatever reason.  We stopped after about 2 hours for lunch.  Because my tummy wasn’t feeling great from the ride, I decided to skip lunch.  No need to introduce more Lao food to an already delicate situation.  It’s a real pity that I was feeling so gross.  The scenery was actually quite lovely on the drive and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have on a shorter ride.  The road from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan is crazy: all hair pin turns through the mountains.  Just hundreds and hundreds of turns.  The road is somewhat paved, but not great.  Definitely not as good as Thailand.  But it makes for some stunning scenery. The place we stopped for lunch, for example, was at the top of this mountain overlooking other mountains and a deep valley.  It was really beautiful.  Because I was so sick I didn’t even think to snap a photo, which I’m sad about.  Ah well.  I think I’ve got plenty already from other days.

The last 4 hours of the trip we did in one stretch without stopping.  We arrived in Phonsavan around 4pm.  I am staying at what is supposed to be the best hotel in Phonsavan, but it’s very basic and I’d say only a 2 star establishment.  At least there’s wifi in the rooms.  It’s called the Anoulak Khen Lao Hotel. I had heard that Phonsavan has sub-standard lodging, considering the attractions that are here (we’ll get to that in a minute).

The town is very small.  There’s the main drag just outside my hotel, where there are some restaurants and shops and tour operators and things.  Pretty standard for a small town.  It’s annoying because there are a lot of people still throwing water by the side of the road late into the evening flanking my hotel on both sides along the main street.  I didn’t want to try and brave through the water-throwing bull shit, so instead just went to the local convenience store to buy some munchies and call it a day.  I figured I can take the day off from eating local food and just nosh on some packaged goods.  Breakfast is included with my hotel rate so I’ll have a big breakfast in the morning.

I must say that because of the water-throwing, I’m sort of thrilled I’m getting out of this little town after 2 nights–I’m hoping Vientiane will be more civilized since it’s a bigger city. The Lao kids are off from school all week, so even though the Lao new year technically ends today, there are apparently still some ass holes throwing water through the rest of the week.  Awesome.  Tomorrow I’ll spend the day site-seeing and probably grab a quick bite at the hotel and call it another early night.  I brought a thumbdrive with lots of TV shows and movies and I also have numerous books downloaded on Kindle, so I am more than happy to hole up in a hotel room for a couple of nights to read and watch some flicks.

I’ve made some hints at my feelings toward the Lao New Year, so I might as well go into it with some detail. I have some very strong feelings about this.  Here’s the thing with the Lao New Year: the symbolism of throwing water is fairly obvious–it’s about purification, and cleansing oneself (soul and body) for the start of a new year. That’s why there are a lot of ceremonies taking place at the temples. I get it.  I read the brochure at my hotel about the Lao New Year ceremonies, parade, etc. The concept is pretty strait forward.  The problem is that the local Lao teenagers as well as the idiot Western tourists (I’m just not going to hold back here) take the whole concept to an extreme and turn it into a drinking fest, an endless and outrageous party where they throw buckets of water ferociously and with impunity at strangers regardless of who they are.  I saw groups of teenagers, essentially gangs, just hosing down elderly folks trying to walk through the streets to get to their jobs or hotels or wherever.  What’s worse is they blast horrible music all day, starting early and through the night.  The noise pollution is simply unnecessary.  Traditionally, the music that would play through the city streets during the Lao New Year would be traditional Lao classical music played by bands in the streets.  This was 10 plus years ago, from what I’ve heard from older travelers I’ve encountered.  Instead today the revelers blast rock music on huge loud speakers. It’s inconsiderate and inappropriate when you consider the important religious ceremonies that are taking place in all the temples nearby.  The Wester idiots are as bad–in their case, they don’t even understand the significance of the ritual of Lao New Year.  They literally refer to it as “the water fight” and don’t even realize the significance of the water–I know because I’ve asked them. Also, they tend to target other westerners more because they think we’re “friends” because we’re foreigners together.  Hey jackass, you and I are not friends.

Ok so enough of my ranting on Lao New Year.  All I would say is: reconsider if you’re going to be in Laos for the Lao New Year, which falls in mid-April.  I don’t think it’s worth the experience unless you’re the sort of idiot who likes to spend their vacation walking around with a water gun in swim trunks/bikinis and drunk, rather than thoughtfully engaging with the local culture.  The parade was nice and the costumes were lovely, but in general the cities are too unruly and because the entire week is a school holiday it’s just very disruptive in terms of trying to visit and walk around any city.  I’m really glad it’s almost over.  It’s a pity because I’ve loved Laos otherwise, but this whole New Year mess has somewhat soured my experience here.

Hopefully that will change tomorrow when I do my tour of the Plain of Jars.

Here’s my secret with Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars: this was the entire reason for this five-week trip to South East Asia.  About a year and a half ago, on a typical Saturday morning, I was in bed pursuing one of my favorite hobbies: googling interesting places around the world with particular cultural or historical significance.  The plain of jars came up on one of my searches.  I couldn’t even believe this place when I saw photos and I became obsessed.  I made it my mission to come to Laos to see this mysterious place.

In a nutshell, the Plain of Jars is exactly what the name connotes: a plain, filled with jars. This plain, or series of plains, is located just outside of the small town of Phonsavan. These jars are massive, ranging from a few feet wide/tall to several meters.  The general belief is that they are neolithic funerary urns.

One of the reasons these jars don’t attract as many tourists as they should (which is why Phonsavan doesn’t have a particularly good hotel infrastructure for tourism) is because of the land mines and ordnances in the area.  There are three plains, or parts of plains, that have been cleared of land mines, which are the areas that tourists can visit to see the jars.  Until all the land mines are cleared from the area, however, UNESCO won’t designate the site as a World Heritage site.  Who knows how long it will take to find all those mines.  In the meantime, I’ve organized for a tour to take me to all 3 of the plains tomorrow to see the jars.  I think we are also going to see a Stupa that was exploded by a bomb and visit a Hmong village, which I hope is one of those War Spoon villages.  There are villages in the area called War Spoon villages, where they sell spoons, cutlery and other souvenirs made from scrap metal of unexploded bombs and ordnances found in the area. To give a little background, a surprising amount of the Vietnam War was fought around Laos.  The country essentially became a battleground between the US forces and North Vietnam in what was known as the Secret War.  Laos was massively bombed. Many of these ordnances have been dug up by local villagers and the material has been recycled and repurposed for other things, like spoons.  Hence, these are called War Spoon villages.  As the local saying goes: Make spoons, not war.

Anyways, I’m looking forward to my tour tomorrow and should get some rest since I have to get up early!

Day 16: Last day in Luang Prabang

Today I woke up early to the sound of a beating drum.  It was a quarter to 6am.  It was coming from the Xienthong temple nearby signaling the start of the alms-giving ceremony.

I had been meaning to get up early to see the alms-giving ceremony in town, called “tak bat”.  Tak bat is a morning ritual where the monks from the temples go out in a single file procession through the streets of Luang Prabang to receive offerings from the laypeople. These offerings typically include rice, food, flowers, incense and other gifts. This tradition is centuries old.  The monks are lined up by age, with the oldest leading the line. They walk in a meditative state receiving their alms. The ceremony is conducted in silence. I observed the ritual outside my hotel, watching from a respectful distance as an old man gave his offering of sticky rice to dozens of monks walking by. Not a word was exchanged between them.  Further down the street in front of the Xienthong temple a small group of faithful Buddhists were also handing out alms to the monks.  It was a beautiful and peaceful ritual to observe.

Alms-giving ceremony

Tak Bat, the alms-giving ceremony. The oldest monks lead the procession.

Tak Bat, alms-giving ceremony comes to an end and the monks file back into the temple.

I went back to sleep for a few hours and then got up for real to eat an early lunch nearby at a little French bakery (there are a few in the area and they are delightful).  After buying my bus ticket to Phonsavan for tomorrow, I decided to get out of the city before the madness of the the New Year festivities commenced for the day.  I walked east to the end of the Luang Prabang old town peninsula (past the Xienthong Temple) where I spied a bamboo bridge that crossed the Ou river (which brakes off of the Mekong to create the Luang Prabang peninsula).

Bamboo Bridge to cross the Mak Ou

After climbing up a hill on the other side, I found a dirt road and followed it.

Road past the bamboo bridge

I had heard that over the bamboo bridge and along this dirt road there are a series of little silk villages, where the villagers specialize in different types of weaving.  I, of course, wanted to check these out.

I made my way through the towns of Ban Xieng Leck and Ban Xangkhong.  There were plenty of little silk shops between the two.  Unfortunately many were closed due to the new year festivities.  I saw some of the looms in the shops, but no one was working them. Being here during Lao new year has been a bit frustrating.  The water fight gets old very quickly, and also a lot of activities that interest me are not running.  For example, I had been trying to find a silk weaving class but none are available during the New Year celebrations.  I guess I’ll have to leave that for next time.

Looms at one of the closed shops at the silk villages

After walking around the silk villages, I made my way back to the peninsula and crossed the precarious bamboo bridge again.  I seriously don’t understand how that thing is standing. It feels like it shouldn’t be able to support any weight!

View of Luang Prabang peninsula and bamboo bridge

The festivities were in full swing, and the parade was underway.  It seemed to end at the Xienthong Temple, right by my hotel, so I made my way through some back alleyways and slipped into the temple complex.  All the monks were lined up watching the parade. It was such an incredible sight.

Monks lined up at Xienthong temple watching the parade

And then all these different groups of folks paraded past.  Many were dressed in different outfits and costumes.

Boys dressed as monkeys; Girls dressed as princesses

Little boys dressed in costume, seated after walking through the parade

Young girls in traditional dress

Beautifully dressed ladies in traditional garb

They all seemed to be carrying offerings to leave at the temple.  It was quite a spectacle.  There were loads of tourists, monks, and Lao people everywhere.

Because the water fight continued for the rest of the day, I decided to take a few hours to rest at my hotel and read for a bit.  In the evening, I headed out again to the night market for the last time.  It’s a nice little market and I enjoy walking through it.

I had made a few French friends last night at a little restaurant I went to, and we agreed to meet again at the same restaurant at 8pm to have another meal together.  As it turns out, the owner of the restaurant (Dera) decided to close the restaurant early tonight because his staff had worked a very long shift that day.  He invited me and my french friends to join him and his staff at a local Lao eatery for dinner.  It’s hard to say no to such an offer.  We went with Dera and his family to a place a bit outside the city center that specializes in Seen Dat, Laotian-styled barbecue. Here traditional meats and vegetables are seared on a dome-shaped griddle. It made for a fun and unique experience having dinner with only locals! There were absolutely no tourists there, except for us, which made it a rather magical end to my stay in Luang Prabang.

Seen Dat, Laotian-style barbecue

Now I’m back at my hotel, packed and ready for a new adventure.  I’ve been in Luang Prabang about 5 days now, and tomorrow I head off to Phonsavan.

Day 15: Around Luang Prabang and the massive water fight

Today I took a rest day today, and spent a few hours roaming around the lovely city of Luang Prabang.  I walked first to the Royal Palace, which is now  a National Museum in the center of town.  The palace was built in 1904 and features a mix of Lao and French architectural styles.  It was the main residence of King Sisavang Vong and his family.  The interesting thing about this museum is that you cannot enter with your shoes on.  There is an area to leave your shoes and you can leave your belongings in a little locker as well.  This was the first time I’ve ever entered a museum barefoot!

Royal Palace / National Museum

The museum is quite nice actually.  There are several artifacts inside including personal belongings of the royal family.  Behind the palace is a small exhibition of the Royal Palace Car Collection, which includes a few Lincoln Continentals from the 1960s and a couple of other cars that were given as gifts to the King of Laos.

The most important item in the royal palace complex is the Pha Bang, the 83cm-tall Buddha statue for which the city of Luang Prabang is named.  The statue arrived in Luang Prabang in 1512, but it is believed to have been cast around the 1st century AD in Sri Lanka. However, stylistically speaking, the statue is crafted more in the style of the Khmer and probably dates from the 14th century. The statue was taken away to Thailand twice in its history but returned to Laos in 1867.

The Pha Bang used to live in the National Museum, but is now located in the new Wat Ho Pha Bang temple located inside in the Royal Palace complex and built in 2006 to house the Pha Bang statue.

Wat Ho Pha Bang temple

The guards don’t allow you to take photos of the Buddha, unfortunately.  After visiting the Pha Bang I decided to hike up to the top of Mount Phousi.  There are about 320 steps to the top, where there is a temple and chedi, as well as beautiful views of the city.

Climbing up the steps to Mount Phousi

View from Mount Phousi

View of Luang Prabang from the top of Mount Phousi

I decided to go down the mountain through a different path that passed by a number of small shrines and temples.

Shrine going down the south east side of Mount Phousi

A shrine inside a cave, coming down from Mount Phousi

There was a sign pointing to a little shrine where there is a footprint of the Buddha.  Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to follow the signs to check it out.  The alleged footprint is massive and sort of strange–kind of like a big hole in the ground.  It’s housed in a small building.

Shrine for the footprint of the Buddha

I decided to continue walking around for a bit and visit the Wat Visoun, which is supposed to be one of the oldest temples in the city, and one of the ones with the most religious importance.  However, this current building was built within the past 200 years since the previous one was destroyed.

Wat Visoun

Stupa behind the Wat Visoun

Inside the Wat Visoun

Inside the temple there are a lot of old buddhas dating back to the 16th century.

Buddhas in the Wat Visoun

I walked around for awhile after visiting the Wat Visoun.  The city is crazy right now.  The Lao new year has officially begun so everyone is out on the streets with water guns and buckets throwing water at anyone and everyone.  It’s pretty fun, although annoying because now my clothes are all wet.  Worse still, they sometimes throw water with food coloring, which can be a bit annoying.  I spent most of the day drenched, which is what I expected, but still kind of frustrating.

People throwing water at passerbys

The Lao New Year water fight

Lao New Year Water Fight Celebration

After walking around for awhile, poking into stores, taking in the water fights, I decided to come back and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing at my hotel.

I was hoping to take a weaving class tomorrow or a cooking class, but a lot of these specialty activities are closed right now because of the new year.  Oh well.

Day 14: Trekking in the Hills to Kuang Si Falls

I signed up for a one day trek today to see a couple of Hmong villages in the hills and then see the Kuang Si waterfall and a few other sites in the area.  No one else signed up for this particular tour so I took a private tour, though I was able to negotiate down the price to about half of asking price.  My guide, Guim, picked me up at the hotel with the driver at 9am.

Mountain view on the drive to the trek

We started our trek at a Hmong village called Ban LongLao high up in the hills. The Hmong are the high land villagers, who typically live 1,000 meters above sea level. The Hmong houses differ quite a bit from those in the Khmu and Lao villages, the main difference being that they are built on the ground and not on stilts (with the livestock and animals below). Similar to the Khmu, the Hmong are animists and believe in and worship spirits. Over most of the house doorways there are wood carvings or charms hanging to keep away the bad spirits.

A typical Hmong house in the Ban LongLao village

After we passed through Ban LongLao, we made our way along a dirt road for about 20 minutes, where we passed through groves of teak trees, corn and vegetable fields, and rubber trees.  On the rubber trees, the villagers make a deep cut in the tree’s bark and then attach a can to the tree to catch the rubber oil that drips out of the bark. They collect these cans every day, filled with rubber oil.

Rubber being collected from the rubber tree

We walked further through farm land with some nice views of the mountains and forrest.

View of mountains and farm land on the trek

We passed through this sliding door gate to get to the jungle trail.  I love this bamboo gate, and it slides open and closed so easily! The reason for this gate is to keep the villagers’ cows from roaming off their land.

Bamboo fence and sliding door gate to keep the cows in

We entered through the bamboo gate into the area where the cows graze, so we passed a number of cows in the forest through this stretch of land.

Cows grazing in the forest

For the next hour or so we walked along a shady path in the jungle.  We didn’t really have scenic views of mountains after awhile, but it was nice walking through the shade.  Since it had been raining on and off for three days, most of the path was still quite muddy, but the air smelled fresh and clean.

Path in the jungle

After about 2 hours of walking, we arrived at a cave.  Unfortunately I don’t know if this cave has a name, but at this point we were about 4-5 kilometers away from Kuang Si falls.  There was a road and some signs pointing down to the waterfall.  The cave is located at the top of a small hill, next to a big golden Buddha.  At the bottom of the hill is a man who rents flashlights for people to borrow to go into the cave.

Entrance to the cave with little Buddha figures nearby

My guide Guim in front of the cave showing me the snake sculpture over the entrance of the cave. This gave me quite a scare!

We grabbed our torches and went on up the hill into the cave.  The wonderful thing about caves I always seem to forget is how incredibly dark they are inside.  Within a few paces we were wrapped in darkness. Local villagers apparently used to hide in this cave during the second indochina war.  It’s quite a deep cave.  We walked inside for awhile to see some of the Buddha statues there.  We never reached the back of the cave.  There was a really detailed carving a man’s head that my guide pointed out.

Head of a man (a monk?) in the cave

Just at the bottom of the cave around the side of the hill is a spring, which is the water source for the Kuang Si Falls.  You don’t actually see a spring coming out of the ground–it’s really just an overflowing pool of water, but beneath is apparently a cave where the spring is located.

Spring, the source of the Kuang Si Waterfall

Now it was time to see where the waters flows down the mountain.  We followed a dirt road that led to a path that brought us to the pools at the top of the Kuang Si falls.

Peaceful pools at the top of the Kuang Si Falls

Looking over the edge of the Kuang Si Falls

The view over the falls was nice, but now it was time to go down a steep path to the bottom of the waterfall.  And by steep I am STEEP.  This is what we were navigating most of the time:

Path down to the Kuang Si Falls

And the view at the bottom was nothing but spectacular. It’s a beautiful place.  There are several layers of pools and smaller waterfalls leading away from the main one.

Kuang Si Falls

Kuang Si Falls pools

Even though you can’t really see it, there were a ton of people at the falls.  I’ve heard that going early in the morning is the way to avoid the tourists. We got there right at peak hour at around 2pm when everyone goes to the falls to eat lunch, drink, and hang out in the pools.  I myself took a quick 10 minute dip in one of the pools.

I took my dip in the pool just beyond the bridge. I had it all to myself too because it was hidden behind the bridge.

After my quick dip, we walked back to the entrance of the park where we passed the bears conservation center.  Twenty-seven Asiatic black bears were rescued and now live here.  It seems that some tribes hunt bears to use their bile and other parts of their bodies for medicinal purposes.  Since the early 2000s, local authorities have rescued several bears and brought them to live.

Asiatic Black Bears bathing

After visiting the Kuang Si falls and park we took our van back to Luang Prabang, stopping off first at another Hmong village on the way.

Hmong village on the way back to Luang Prabang

And we also stopped so I could take a photo of Luang Prabang from a hill on the road back to town.

View of Luang Prabang from afar

It has been an action-packed couple of weeks.  I’ve decided that tomorrow I will hang around town and visit the local Royal Palace/National museum and the other temples I haven’t seen yet.  I’m hoping that this won’t take more than a couple of hours so I can spend the rest of the day relaxing.

Day 13: Luang Prabang and Elephants

Today was a rainy day.  This is strange because it’s supposed to be the hot/dry season here.  And yet it poured all day.  I had organized a half day tour to the Elephant Village just outside of Luang Prabang, where all the elephants have been rescued from the logging industry. I wasn’t thrilled about riding around in the jungle on an elephant in the rain, but decided to do it anyway.  I’m glad I did.

The Elephant Village, with the elephant feeding station

I did the half day tour, which involved a 3 km elephant ride, part of which goes through a river and then through a local village.

Elephants from the Elephant Village walking through the river

We sat on the elephants on a little chair.  To get on the elephants, we used the loading station platform to climb into our seats.

Loading station at the Elephant Village

Elephant with mahout (trainer) in the Elephant Village

I decided to ride my elephant barefoot.  Their skin is really rough and their hairs brittle!

Our caravan crossing the river

Once we got to the river bed, where it was somewhat flat, the mahout let me ride on the elephants shoulders so I was right on top of his head.  It was actually quite scary because you’re quite high up off the ground.

Once we finished our elephant ride, we spent a little time with our elephants feeding them bananas.  It’s funny because they grab everything with their noses, which are quite strong!  I wanted to feed my elephant one or two bananas at a time but he kept reaching for anything he could get. I was worried he’d grab my phone if I wasn’t careful.

After we finished feeding our elephants, we took a long boat across the river to the other side to visit one of the Elephant Village’s baby elephants, a female who is only 3 years old.  She was adorable and also very hungry, so we fed her as well!

Little baby elephant

After we spent some time with the baby elephant, we continued on our long boat up the river to visit the Tad Sae Waterfall. This part of the tour was fairly anticlimactic as there is very little water right now because it’s the dry season.  Even though it’s been raining for about 3 days strait, the waterfall was still completely dry. I had been hoping to take a bath in the waterfall, but with most of the water dried up I didn’t feel so inclined to take a dip in a sad pool of muddy water.

We went back to the Elephant Village after the waterfall visit, and had lunch overlooking the river, watching the elephants walk around as well as watch as a group of folks doing the full day tour bathed the elephants in the river.  We returned to Luang Prabang in the mid-afternoon.

Pretty flowers by the river at the Elephant Village

I was really tired today–I think being on the move for 3 days to get to Luang Prabang finally hit me, so I took a little nap in the afternoon.  In the evening I went out to walk around the city again.  It’s so beautiful here.  The town is filled with trees and is so lovely. The rain also gave the city a nice fresh scent.

The very forested streets in Luang Prabang

Sunset over the Mekong. View from the Luang Prabang river front

After a little walk around the night market again, I ate dinner and then headed back to the hotel.  I’m still exhausted and want to sleep early tonight.

Luang Prabang by night

Traveler Tip:  Similar to Thailand, it’s super easy to book tours in and around Luang Prabang.  Along the main street in town are dozens of tour operators offering many of the same tours for trekking, bike riding, motor biking, elephant riding, water fall visiting, etc.  Some even offer 2,3, 5 or 7 day tours to different regions within the country–Luang Prabang is truly a central hub with access to most of the country.  Typically these tour offices are open quite late into the evening, so like in Thailand, I’ve been dropping by the tour offices on my way to the night market to set up tours for the next day.  So far it’s working out okay.  Because it’s the hot season and most of the people in town are Lao people visiting for the New Year celebrations, there are fewer folks signing up for trekking tours, but it is definitely easier to organize tours than in Chiang Rai I find. I think there may be more westerners here than in Chiang Rai because of the Lao New Year.