So, we've decided that we will go to Muang Ngoy today via boat.
But in the morning Tom has planned for us to do a caving adventure, something I am a little nervous about.
We set off from our accommodation & walk 2.7km's to the cave entrance. We buy tickets, borrow head torches & a local guide, who would be no more than 15 years old accompanied us. I'm not sure how I feel about being in tight spaces underground. We initially just plan to explore the main cavern & then see how I feel. As well as the young guide, 2 dogs, that we assume are owned by the guides family, come with us.
The main cavern is huge & inside we can see a Buddhist shrine. Sadly there are signs telling tourists not to touch these religious artefacts. Our guide also shows us the outer casings of bombs & bullets. The young guide doesn't speak much English, so we can only assume these are left over from the war.
We start to make our way to the back of the cave & through the tunnels, which we can still stand in.
But in the morning Tom has planned for us to do a caving adventure, something I am a little nervous about.
We set off from our accommodation & walk 2.7km's to the cave entrance. We buy tickets, borrow head torches & a local guide, who would be no more than 15 years old accompanied us. I'm not sure how I feel about being in tight spaces underground. We initially just plan to explore the main cavern & then see how I feel. As well as the young guide, 2 dogs, that we assume are owned by the guides family, come with us.
The main cavern is huge & inside we can see a Buddhist shrine. Sadly there are signs telling tourists not to touch these religious artefacts. Our guide also shows us the outer casings of bombs & bullets. The young guide doesn't speak much English, so we can only assume these are left over from the war.
We start to make our way to the back of the cave & through the tunnels, which we can still stand in.
There are some beautiful rock formations & crystals glistening here. As we get further the roof gets lower & we are now crouching. Then we see lots of red bricks scattered around in the tunnel. Some of them have black marks from a fire. We then come to an area & it becomes obvious that the bricks were used in this tunnel to make a stove for cooking. Our guide then starts to point out the remains of rusty tins & utensils.
We continue on through the tunnel & the space is getting much smaller. The air is also becoming noticeably hotter & feels thinner. I'm not sure if it's my nerves or the thin air, but I can feel my heart thundering away in my chest.
We are now crawling through the tunnel.
The floor is muddy & the walls are wet. There are a few small insects such as crickets & millipedes in here.
The female dog sticks close by & circles back on us, which is comforting. The dogs are totally in their element & having lots of fun guiding us through the cave & chasing crickets.
We finally get to a section with a small vertical crevice in it. There is a sign saying that in this section of the tunnel, the height is 0.3metres. This is the moment we've been waiting for & where I need to get comfortable going ahead or wait behind.
I'm not feeling too bad, though my heart rate has increased & without me realising, my breathing is louder & faster. I'm definitely nervous & a little bit scared. But I would much rather continue on & challenge myself, rather than wait by myself.
Our guide goes first, followed by Tom & I am last. It is a lot smaller than it looks & I can feel the walls on each side of my body, even though I'm tilted vertically & sliding through. There's nothing graceful about my manoeuvring through this crack & it's hard to push when even your knees are straight.
Once through the crack, we still need to crawl & drag ourselves through until the tunnel opens up bigger. The worst part is over until we go back.
We explore the back part of the cave & take some photos, which proves to be hard in the pitch darkness. It's really eery how quiet it is. The silence feels heavy. The air is uncomfortably hot & even Tom comments on the lack of oxygen. We pass more collections of tin cans & utensils.
We come to the end of the cavern & there are 2 signs that state it's too dangerous to keep going. I'm very happy to be heading back. It feels like we've been down here for an eternity.
Tom is much more comfortable than I am & is really enjoying the stalactite & rock formations on display. They are quite pretty & in some areas look white & sparkly from the mineral deposits.
Going back was easier than I thought it would be. Though sliding through that small crevice was more awkward from this side. As we approach the main big cavern, I can feel the cool, fresh air & get excited to be out in the open.
I have a new found appreciation & sympathy for anyone who has ever had to hide in a cave.
Finally, we start to see real light. We turn a bend & are standing at the mouth of the tunnel, looking down into the big cavern & the entrance. I feel very elated to have successfully completed my first caving experience. I wouldn't say I enjoyed every second, but I would probably do it again.
We say goodbye to our guide, neither of us can remember his name, give him a thank you tip, even though tipping is not a part of SE Asian culture & head back to town.
Before we go, we also say goodbye to the dogs. The male dog quickly disappears as he heads off on another adventure. The lighter coloured female one is hanging around & she has 1 fat little puppy that I estate to be no older than 10 weeks. They both greet us & Tom has a cuddle with the fat little pup.
On our arrival home, We clean up as best as possible, change out of our muddy clothes & check out of our accommodation. We walk towards the boat ramp, planning to buy boat tickets & eat lunch. We haven't eaten yet today, though we've already drunk 2 litres of water. After walking 5.4km's & doing the caving experience, we are ravenous!
We walk a few metres down the main street & then we hear Tom's name being called. It's Anzi. He's back already from Muang Ngoy, though he's booked a bus to Luang Prabang which leaves in 1 hour.
We all sit together for lunch & then say goodbye to Anzi at 12.30pm.
Our boat isn't until 2.30pm, so we continue to hang out at the cafe until it's time to go. We arrive at the boat ramp just before 2.30pm & there's another 8 western travellers also waiting for the boat. A lot of the other western travellers that we are seeing are older, retired & mostly from France or Germany. We've hardly seen any travellers our age at all.
We wait till 2.50pm & then are told that we can board the boat. By this stage there is also 5 Laos men, who were travelling & lived abroad. This made 20 of us, plus luggage in the boat.
The Laos men were drunk & very chatty, which kept morale high.
We waited in the boat till nearly 3.30pm, while a couple more Laos locals boarded with their suitcases or groceries. A rather large lady sat next to me & was totally oblivious to her elbows, which kept stabbing me in the bladder, boobes, or just resting in my lap.
Finally, one of the Laos men got out & demanded that we go!
It took us an hour to get to Muay Ngoy, we stopped twice on the way to let people on or off the boat.
I can't tell you the relief & happiness that I felt when we eventually came round the last bend & could see the riverside town. Those bungalows & restaurants never looked better!
Getting off the boat, onto the floating pontoon & then across the wooden plank to the bank, with our bags was a challenge. Tom grabbed both the big bags & muscled his way up the path with one in each hand.
At the top of the stairs, we were approached by a lady who was a local & had river side bungalow's for 50,000 kip. That's $8.50 A night! Our cheapest accommodation in Laos & it's river side.
It was perfect! The view was everything.
Our bungalows are right next to a riverside restaurant with the most amazing view of the sun setting. As soon as we had checked in, we went across for dinner & to break our 7 day dry spell.
Finally, we were tasting the legendary Laos beer. A beer that beat all expectations & made the view & the relaxed atmosphere even better.
We originally planned to wait till at least 2 weeks before drinking again, I was the naughty one who convinced Tom that 7 days was good enough. Following this, he convinced me that we should stay 2 nights here in Muang Ngoy.
It's exactly what we've been looking for in Laos.
After dinner & drinks, we headed back to our bungalow for a nice big sleep.
It's been getting cooler & cooler as we've travelled through Laos. But for the first time its cold.
The hot shower, thick blanket & bed socks are appreciated & make us very snuggly for bed.
- Alli
We continue on through the tunnel & the space is getting much smaller. The air is also becoming noticeably hotter & feels thinner. I'm not sure if it's my nerves or the thin air, but I can feel my heart thundering away in my chest.
We are now crawling through the tunnel.
The floor is muddy & the walls are wet. There are a few small insects such as crickets & millipedes in here.
The female dog sticks close by & circles back on us, which is comforting. The dogs are totally in their element & having lots of fun guiding us through the cave & chasing crickets.
We finally get to a section with a small vertical crevice in it. There is a sign saying that in this section of the tunnel, the height is 0.3metres. This is the moment we've been waiting for & where I need to get comfortable going ahead or wait behind.
I'm not feeling too bad, though my heart rate has increased & without me realising, my breathing is louder & faster. I'm definitely nervous & a little bit scared. But I would much rather continue on & challenge myself, rather than wait by myself.
Our guide goes first, followed by Tom & I am last. It is a lot smaller than it looks & I can feel the walls on each side of my body, even though I'm tilted vertically & sliding through. There's nothing graceful about my manoeuvring through this crack & it's hard to push when even your knees are straight.
Once through the crack, we still need to crawl & drag ourselves through until the tunnel opens up bigger. The worst part is over until we go back.
We explore the back part of the cave & take some photos, which proves to be hard in the pitch darkness. It's really eery how quiet it is. The silence feels heavy. The air is uncomfortably hot & even Tom comments on the lack of oxygen. We pass more collections of tin cans & utensils.
We come to the end of the cavern & there are 2 signs that state it's too dangerous to keep going. I'm very happy to be heading back. It feels like we've been down here for an eternity.
Tom is much more comfortable than I am & is really enjoying the stalactite & rock formations on display. They are quite pretty & in some areas look white & sparkly from the mineral deposits.
Going back was easier than I thought it would be. Though sliding through that small crevice was more awkward from this side. As we approach the main big cavern, I can feel the cool, fresh air & get excited to be out in the open.
I have a new found appreciation & sympathy for anyone who has ever had to hide in a cave.
Finally, we start to see real light. We turn a bend & are standing at the mouth of the tunnel, looking down into the big cavern & the entrance. I feel very elated to have successfully completed my first caving experience. I wouldn't say I enjoyed every second, but I would probably do it again.
We say goodbye to our guide, neither of us can remember his name, give him a thank you tip, even though tipping is not a part of SE Asian culture & head back to town.
Before we go, we also say goodbye to the dogs. The male dog quickly disappears as he heads off on another adventure. The lighter coloured female one is hanging around & she has 1 fat little puppy that I estate to be no older than 10 weeks. They both greet us & Tom has a cuddle with the fat little pup.
On our arrival home, We clean up as best as possible, change out of our muddy clothes & check out of our accommodation. We walk towards the boat ramp, planning to buy boat tickets & eat lunch. We haven't eaten yet today, though we've already drunk 2 litres of water. After walking 5.4km's & doing the caving experience, we are ravenous!
We walk a few metres down the main street & then we hear Tom's name being called. It's Anzi. He's back already from Muang Ngoy, though he's booked a bus to Luang Prabang which leaves in 1 hour.
We all sit together for lunch & then say goodbye to Anzi at 12.30pm.
Our boat isn't until 2.30pm, so we continue to hang out at the cafe until it's time to go. We arrive at the boat ramp just before 2.30pm & there's another 8 western travellers also waiting for the boat. A lot of the other western travellers that we are seeing are older, retired & mostly from France or Germany. We've hardly seen any travellers our age at all.
We wait till 2.50pm & then are told that we can board the boat. By this stage there is also 5 Laos men, who were travelling & lived abroad. This made 20 of us, plus luggage in the boat.
The Laos men were drunk & very chatty, which kept morale high.
We waited in the boat till nearly 3.30pm, while a couple more Laos locals boarded with their suitcases or groceries. A rather large lady sat next to me & was totally oblivious to her elbows, which kept stabbing me in the bladder, boobes, or just resting in my lap.
Finally, one of the Laos men got out & demanded that we go!
It took us an hour to get to Muay Ngoy, we stopped twice on the way to let people on or off the boat.
I can't tell you the relief & happiness that I felt when we eventually came round the last bend & could see the riverside town. Those bungalows & restaurants never looked better!
Getting off the boat, onto the floating pontoon & then across the wooden plank to the bank, with our bags was a challenge. Tom grabbed both the big bags & muscled his way up the path with one in each hand.
At the top of the stairs, we were approached by a lady who was a local & had river side bungalow's for 50,000 kip. That's $8.50 A night! Our cheapest accommodation in Laos & it's river side.
It was perfect! The view was everything.
Our bungalows are right next to a riverside restaurant with the most amazing view of the sun setting. As soon as we had checked in, we went across for dinner & to break our 7 day dry spell.
Finally, we were tasting the legendary Laos beer. A beer that beat all expectations & made the view & the relaxed atmosphere even better.
We originally planned to wait till at least 2 weeks before drinking again, I was the naughty one who convinced Tom that 7 days was good enough. Following this, he convinced me that we should stay 2 nights here in Muang Ngoy.
It's exactly what we've been looking for in Laos.
After dinner & drinks, we headed back to our bungalow for a nice big sleep.
It's been getting cooler & cooler as we've travelled through Laos. But for the first time its cold.
The hot shower, thick blanket & bed socks are appreciated & make us very snuggly for bed.
- Alli
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