Journals

This was one of my favorites. In between two long winding bus trips, Vang Viang was a quaint little town situated neatly in a little mountain. My hostel cost a staggering $3 US a night, and the air was cool enough to sleep without the fan (a rare treat). It was here I was finally able to satisfy my urge, nay, need, to motorbike around a foreign country. I rented one for the day as soon as I stepped off the bus for another $4. As luck would have it, just as I was fiddling around trying to learn how to operate things, I met a pair of fellow New Yorkers, Danny and Zack. The two were traveling together and had spent the past few days in Vang Viang. They asked where I was heading (my vacant reply, "uh, around?") and generously offered to take me along on the trip they were taking to a local cave. Caves in Vang Viang are kind of the thing to do. The ride was grand - speeding along a dirt road looking at all the surrounding mountains, as the sun dipped slowly towards the horizon - one of the moments on my trip that really resonated. As we rode along little naked kids playing in the road and surrounding brooks would run out yelling "hallo!" and slap us moving high fives. Twice we had to stop to let cows meander across the path. The cave was a slightly different story. At the bottom a group of guides sat chatting. We declined their services and scrambled up the 100 or so meters to the refrigerator sized entrance (see the picture of the way up second to last). The cave itself was unbelievably hazardous. Like, expert hiker/climber/scrambler that I am (nearly 15 years experience jumping between rocks in the great western outdoors ;), I nearly plunged to my death (or significant injury) at least twice. My co-adventurers, in their flip flops, even more. The "directions" were barely visible, the entire "path" - literally everything, was covered in a slimy limestone soup and, oh yeah, little to no natural light. Our little flashlights did little to guide our way, tho they did have the eerie effect of casting distant cavern walls (one cavern could have housed, well, a large house) in shadowy splendor. A cool experience, no doubt, but I marvel at what the tourist death rate must surely be. We were in the thing alone, but most that came down after had a shocked, scared look on their face, like, 'what the hell was I thinking not getting a damned guide?' Okay, okay, I loved it. That night we sat and watched the sunset from cliffs overlooking a Mekong tributary (again, see pictures), and then drank the night away with fellow travelers at a local pub. A grand little one and half day visit. I highly recommend.