EC-Rider Travels

We had an early breakfast (better than some!) and met Pang and Hell at 8.30am for a pretty ‘full-on’ day (we later discovered that it is usually two!). First stop was down to the Mekong river to take a lovely long wooden boat up stream, for a couple of hours, to the Tham Ting Cave. The Mekong river is one of the longest rivers in Asia running for 4,900 km from the Tibetan Plateau through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Along the way we dropped off the boatman’s wife who had been to the market to buy her fruit.

I have no doubt, this is usually the most beautiful journey, however the smoke is still thick and we could barely see the river-bank. It is such a sadness, as we feel we are missing so much of Laos’ beautiful landscapes and seeing its rural life. But we have decided it is what it is (a great Serena expression) and will try not to mention it again!

Along the way, Pang explained that he had been a Buddhist monk for ten years, from the age of 12 to 22. It was a choice he made after seeing friends gaining a good education and having a better life. But it was hard …. up at 4am for meditation, 6am walk through the village to receive donated food, 7am return to eat it for breakfast, 8am lessons, 12pm lunch and then no more food for the rest of the day. He left at 22 to get married but feels he might return to the temple one day, when his wife and children no longer need him. He also gave us an insight into how the elderly are cared for in Laos. With no form of state pension or social services. It is the duty of the youngest child to look after their parents, usually going to live with them and then inheriting their home. I suppose that’s what has happened at Hilldrop!!

After about two hours we reached Sacred Tham Ting Caves at the juncture of the Mekong river and the Nam Ou River. There are two limestone caves full of stalactites and stalagmite and thousands of Buddhas left by devout locals and visiting Buddhists. It is believed that people started coming to the caves in the 8th century using them as shrines to the river spirits. By the 16th century, after the royal family adopted Buddhism as a national religion, religious people would take refuge in the caves, leaving images of Buddha to protect them on their journey. There are now about 2,500 Buddhas placed in every nook and cranny of the lower cave, and there would have been two or three times as many, but valuable sculptures have been stolen, and many wooden ones have been destroyed by termites.

The Upper cave is 60m above, up a steep flight of surprisingly large steps (for not the tallest of nations!). This cave is protected by a large wooden door frame and magnificent wooden doors. The cave is 54m deep with a number of man-made alters displaying many more sculptures of Buddha. These are all covered in thick dust but are shortly to get their annual clean during the New Year ceremony in the middle of April. By the door there was a beautiful carved wooden water channel with a sacred swan and snake which is used for the washing of the Buddhas.

What was very sad, is on the way up Laotians were asking for money to free small fish and even worse small birds they had caught and put into tiny baskets – ie you pay to set them free, no doubt to soon be caught again. Really awful.

We took the boat over to the other side of the river where Hell was waiting with the van and we drove to one of the villages to see how they make whisky. Whiskey (or Lao Lao) is huge here, however the distillery is not quite the same as The Famous Grouse! It is made from sticky rice which is soaked in water for a day; steamed for an hour; put into rice jars with yeast for two weeks; and then boiled for 3-4 hours, with the condensation making the whiskey …. at 50%! A 15% version is made for women using sweeter, purple rice. The bottles of whiskey had scorpions or snakes added to them for that extra special flavour!

We then went for a very ‘local’ lunch, where having seen the kitchen, Serena and I played it rather safe and just had rice and vegetables which were in fact rather good. This was accompanied by a delicious soup with not so delicious congealed buffalo blood floating around in it. One piece was enough.

After lunch we went to a paper factory – factory is perhaps a generous term, but amazing to see how they make beautiful wrapping paper and cards from the bark of a jute tree. The bark is stripped off the tree and soaked in water for two days; boiled for a day; cleaned with soda and acid until it is white; pounded to create a paste; laid in frames and inlayed with flowers and leaves; and dried for six hours. The young girl below will make about 60 sheets a day and earn about £5.

Next it was a small weaving factory where they were weaving both cotton and silk. In some wonderful dusty old baskets they had the full life-cycle of the silk worm displayed, and what I think both Serena and I learnt was: a) one silk cocoon produces about 100m of silk thread and b) they use the poos of the worms to make tea!. They use natural dyes from fruits and plants and were producing the most lovely fabrics, if not in the prettiest of patterns.

We then went for a short walk up to a waterfall, where Pang was very keen we should swim. On the way we passed a small bear sanctuary which rescued sun and moon bears from poachers, catching them to sell to the Chinese for medicine. They have 21 bears, though sadly we only saw one!

The Kuang Si waterfall has three levels and is very beautiful as indeed is the water but the changing facilities are not! But taking a deep breath we changed and went for a lovely refreshing swim. Serena sending back evidence to her Wild Swimming group!

Our final stop was the Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre, which I had been told about by a stall holder in Hobart! I had high hopes I was going to find really lovely things here, but sadly not. The other reason we were here was to watch the sun setting over the Mekong river, but again ….. sadly not!

So we returned to the hotel for a nice bath and then a good dinner at a lovely restaurant recommended by Pang, literally ten paces from the back door of our hotel called Manda de Laos. We had our first buffalo and it was rather good, only topped by their passion fruit and lime sorbet. Night Night!