After my arrival to the Maylyn Guesthouse, and delicious swim in the creek behind my bungalow, I walked across the road and rented a town bicycle. Destination: Organic Mulberry Farm.
I bought a map from Hat, and rode my bicycle the 4 or 5 km to the Vang Vieng Organic Farm to check out the scene, and find out about volunteering. It was a fair bicycle ride due to many hills, and I was happy for the exercise after much traveling since leaving Luang Namtha. I ordered a mulberry shake and while drinking it and reading about the farms' volunteer projects, I met a Swiss woman named Juliette, who became my companion for the rest of that evening, as well as breakfast and a bike ride the next morning. We visited the goats and pigs at the farm after our mulberry shakes, and rode our bicycles back into town. We had a lovely dinner that evening at my guesthouse, and a sweet breakfast the next day before she had to leave on a bus to the 4,000 Islands, where I would also be going a few days later.
When we parted ways, I began my day of exploration on a rented mountain bicycle. My intention for the day was to do the 'Vang Vieng Loop', which is a 33km loop around and within the hovering beautiful limestone mountainous formations that make Vang Vieng so beautiful and special. I am determined to do and see everything sometimes, and as a result, I barely made it a quarter of the way around this loop on this day. :)
First I rode on a 2km rocky road to Khan Cave, where I hired a 65-year old Laos guide for 20,000 (who approached me at the mouth of the cave) to take me through the cave. I had planned on exploring everything by myself and not hire guides, but, I am so glad that I hired him, because it is seriously spooky in these caves, and completely dark past the first few feet in. Our tour was about 20 minutes long, ducking and crawling and wading through tunnels with headlamps on in this deep cave. The Lao guide was really sweet and friendly, always warning me to be careful of hitting my head or of slippery spots, and we did our best to converse with what few words we had in common. I gave him a tip of a cigarette (which I had bought strictly for such purposes) which he began smoking as soon as he could find a lighter outside of the cave. We shook hands, I thanked him, and made my way to the next destination.
Next: I did what turned out to be a serious hike up a small mountain a few kilometers further down the road, which you can get to by turning right at the sign for the Pha Ngeun Primary School, and heading down a steep dirt road, duck under a gate, and make your way to the top. Hat from my guesthouse has recommended this hike to me, and it was great! It was a straight-uphill hike for 40 minutes, and ordinarily this is something that I can say 'no sweat' about, but in the humidity of Laos, I was indeed sweating more than ever before in my life! It was quite a challenging hike, but I was rewarded at the top by amazing panoramic views from small straw-roofed huts built by local tribal villages.
When I finally descended the great hill and made my way back to my bicycle, from there I headed to the 'Blue Lagoon.' This is a well-known tourist destination, where travelers are promised clear blue lagoon water, as well as one of the most well-known caves, the 'Poukham Cave'.
The funny thing about trying to get here is that there are signs all over the road advertising various caves, but many of them are fake! I only know this because a local told me to 'watch out' for the wrong destinations, and gave me better instructions to the real Blue Lagoon. I did indeed pass a sign that pointed to the Blue Lagoon, with handwritten words promising a beautiful tourist destination, but as I stood in front of the sign debating if this was the real one or not, and comparing its location against my map, a sympathetic local pointed to the road ahead and said 'Blue Lagoon! 2 kilometers!' and I smiled and thanked him.
I arrived a few minutes later to the Blue Lagoon after passing some restaurants and the 'Shake Shack', and had indeed found a wonderful place to cool off after my many hours of hiking, cycling, and caving. There were many rope swings hanging from a large tree over the crystal blue water, as well as a ladder up to one of the tree branches to jump into the water from. I spent a good hour or so in and out of the water, joining with tourists as well as locals, jumping into the water and swimming.
Next, I walked for 2 minutes to the nearby Poukham Cave, (and climbing a long steep staircase to get there) and explored the large (but not deep) cave. When I climbed the stairway back down, I realized that my legs felt like rubber, and that I was shaking a little bit. I realized that I had been doing a ridiculous amount of exercise in my explorations of the day, and made my way back to my guesthouse, a mere four or five kilometers away from where I had started about five or so hours earlier. It had been a long, full, and rich day, and I had only gone 5km of this 33km loop! I took it easy that night after making my way to town for a 'Whopping Burger' at the well-known Japanese-run-joint (an incredibly satiating meal after my athletic day), and looked forward to the next day of whatever was to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment