South to Ventiane, Tha Kaek, and the 4000 Islands

The bus ride from Luang Prabang to Ventiane was a full day: early morning until evening.  First part of the ride passed through beautiful karst mountain scenery; it was a shame that we couldn’t stop to drink it in and take pics.  We arrived in the capital city of Ventiane after dark, and after a little walking found a great hotel just a half block from the Mekong and in the center of town.  We spent the next day walking around the city seeing sights, including the Haw Pha Kaeo museum of archaeological finds (almost all unlabeled so we didn’t need to waste time trying to understand what we were seeing) and  the historic Wat Si Saket.  The latter is notable for the thousands of small niches all around its perimeter, each containing small Buddha statues.  At one wat, the Inpeng Temple, preparations were underway for a Buddhist holiday beginning that night.  There were a couple of dozen women sitting outside and busily making decorative offerings out of sticky rice, banana leaves, and flowers. 

Next morning I had a great long run along the Mekong.  They are in the middle of sprucing up the waterfront area with walkways, but as it is mostly unfinished I was able to run several miles on very pleasant graded dirt.  A little after noon we caught a tuk tuk to the bus, and headed south to Tha Kaek, another river town, again arriving after dark.

Tha Kaek is a small and sleepy river town, with a limited tourist infrastructure geared mostly toward outings and treks to the surrounding countryside.  We joined up with some other travelers we’d met on the bus, an Australian couple and a French woman traveling solo, and made arrangements to charter a minibus the next morning to visit Tham Kong Lo, an amazing spot where a full-size river enters a large cavern, runs 7 km straight through under the mountain, and emerges on the other side.  After a 2 ½ hour ride to the site, we boarded motorized dugout canoes run by the local cooperative for the ride through.  Our canoes entered the cave, we switched on our headlamps, and we cruised upstream to a stopping point where we were able to walk a path among many illuminated stalactites and stalagmites.  Back in the canoes, we continued for almost an hour before emerging from the other side of the mountain and into the sunlight.  At several spots on our journey through the cave, we bottomed out in the shallow water and had to hop out and walk through the river until it became deep enough again.  At the turnaround, there was a place to stop for a snack and beer before the return trip downstream through the cave.   By the time we finished the return bus ride to Tha Kaek, it was once again after dark.

Next morning we boarded yet another bus for the full-day ride to Pakse.  Although there a large number of wats to see there, and interesting treks into the surrounding countryside, for us this was only a stopping point before heading south again this morning.  This time, it was only about 2 ½ hours on a crowded minibus to the Si Phan Don (4000 Islands) area of the Mekong.  Here, the river splits into many channels, and in the dry season (now) thousands of little islands are exposed.  We took a short ferry ride to the island of Don Khong, one of the larger islands and fully inhabited.  Our plan: a couple of days not sitting on buses.  The tiny village where we are staying on the island, Muang Khong, is delightfully sleepy.  There are a few small guesthouses on the street facing the river (most of which have a small restaurant in front), and not much else.  What a welcome break for weary travelers.  Our plan for tomorrow is to rent bikes to explore the rest of the island.