July 19,

We awoke, readied, and had our Javas. We loaded up on our red Honda Click, going on an adventure. But first, we stopped at Cranky T Cafe for a couple of yummy homemade bagel sandwiches of egg and cheese. It was 150,000 Kip, or $6.96. This will be our breakfast! Our takeaway in hand started to set off, but someone pointed out our back tire was low. That was very nice for him to tell us. We went to the scooter rental place and he exchanged bikes for us! It is a newer black Honda Click. Now, we truly set off.

Our destination was the other direction from yesterday and near the village of Pak Ou. It took us about 45 minutes to arrive. The road was mostly good, but there was some construction, of course. There was an area with an elephant crossing sign, but no elusive elephants. As we got closer a lady motioned us to a parking lot and there was signage… but it was not the right place. So we went a bit further and found the landing with boats to ferry us. We were where the Nam Ou River meets the mighty Mekong River, just near Pak Ou. We are going to cross the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves. We had passed these caves when we were cruising Mekong 11/12 days ago!

We got off the scooter and parked – it doesn’t cross. Jeff paid for a boat to ferry us, which cost us 15,000 LAK each, or seventy cents. As we crossed the still brown, Mekong River, we split one of the bagel sandwiches. Then we arrived and docked. We now paid 30,000 LAK, or $1.39 each. There are two caves – the tourists know them as the Pak Ou Caves, because of the close by village; but the locals call them Tham Ting Caves. The ticket covers both caves – a Lower Cave and an Upper Cave. We entered the lower one first and were overwhelmed with the number of Buddha statues! Supposedly locals bring the statues as a way of making merit, according to a placard, and there are approximately 2,500 to 4,000 sculptures in these two caves. There was more tradition and history listed on the placards, but the only other one I’ll mention is the first known use of the caves. It was religious, but was when the locals worshipped Phi, or the spirit of nature, and the caves were then associated with a river spirit.

Anyway, we left the Lower Cave and took the steps up – some 60 meters above the river, according to the signage. As we come to the Upper Cave, we notice this cave entrance is closed off with a wooden frieze and two metal doors entry. Jeff paid 15,000 LAK to get a flower and candles. Then we entered this second cave. The cave itself had more depth, but less height and there were significantly less statues. The statues were grouped together more in little niche altar settings. We explored about and then left. Just outside the entrance was a platform seating area and we shared the other bagel looking out over the Mekong rushing past us. When we finished eating, we descended the steps, entered our boat, and returned to the other side of the Mekong. We hopped on our scooter and returned back to Luang Prabang.

We went to the grocery store, acquired our stuff and then returned the scooter. We did a load of laundry. For supper we made pasta.

     July 20,

At 0200 this morning we were both awakened by a loud thunderstorm. It was pretty impressive – one of the loudest ones we have encountered in quite some time. The drums of course reawakened us at 0430 – finally we got up and about around 0700. We had our Javas and breakfast of those yummy coconut pancakes (one each). So good! 😋

Morning gave to early afternoon. It was a nice day outside, but unfortunately we were both… sunburnt from our scooter adventures. So much so, that we decided to stay in. We both forgot to put on sunscreen, because well, lack of sun! Jeff did some researching, tying up some loose ends… mostly lodging we have not booked. We went out at 1300 to get lunch, going to our noodle shop, Nang Tao. We ordered one Stir-fried white noodle and one Stir-fried yellow noodle. They were completely different tasting. The white noodle – we’ve had before – was crispy noodles with stir-fry of chicken, onion, carrots, and Holy Basil in a semi-sweet sauce. The yellow noodle was more dry, with egg noodles stir-fried with the above ingredients. It was more savory. I had a 7Up and Jeff had water. The bill was 120,000 LAK or $5.55.

Afternoon gave way to evening. We had the Buffalo Blue Cheese, and bread with a bottle of red wine. We talked with Mother and her husband; later talked with our church back home; and then went to bed, exhausted.