1/29/09
Day: 46.05 km
Cume: 1556.1 km
Avg: 16.5 kph
Max: 28.4 kph
Time: 2h47m
Highs: Riding through the valley very early in the morning from blue skies Nahin and under a thin low morning fog with the sunrise light streaming through in spots, cute small villages, the valley lined in towering, jagged karst ridges
Lows: None
I need a rest day. I'm pedaling mellow this morning and riding early to catch the cool temperatures. I can smell two things, though: the 1000 mile mark coming up at 1609km and the Vietnamese border which I'm able to cross on February 1. I want to put myself in a very good location to make an early morning crossing on February 1 into Vietnam.
For now, I'm resting in the village with a homestay after checking out Kong Lor cave, which Lonely Planet (I love and hate you, LP) lists as one of the top ten things to experience in Laos. I heard it was amazing, so I'm here. The homestay makes it all the more worth it.
The caves were phenominal, really really worth it. I joined two Austrian tourists in a boat perfectly set for three tourists and entered a 7km long cave which a river passes through. About a quarter of the way through, our boat stopped and we walked out on shore, our guide flipped a switch on shore and turned on the most spectacular site of illuminated stalagtites/mites lit with various colored lights. It was beautiful lit, not tacky at all. We wandered around oohing and ahhing! Back in the boat, we passed through sections of cave where LP said the ceilings exceeded 100 feet in height, it felt like a cathedral or a temple. There were no echoes the cavern was so wide at this point. So, I guess, LP was right. This was pretty cool.
Traveling back to the village, I was placed with a young family with two very young daughters and a grandmother who had the sweetest smile on Earth. Their home was right next to the river and I looked very much to floating a while. I'll report more on the homestay in the next entry.
PHOTOS TO FOLLOW SOON
in Kong Lor's
cathedral stone, I see
Buddha faces, smiling
Coming home
14 years ago
5 comments:
Jamie,
You've come a long way from when we did our paper routes in Fountain Valley...this is Jeff Nelson from a long time ago. I do not know how but I stumbled across this, but I did. I have reviewed your blog entries and I am very glad to hear about your trip. Keep up the good work and lets touch base upon your return....
JN
Wow ... the cavern sounds amazing! I hope that I'll make it there someday!
Holy cow, Jeff Nelson! You have no idea I was thinking about you a couple of weeks back and was going to try to find you on Facebook! You read my mind! I will touch base!
And Marcy, wait until I post photos. Some here, some on Facebook. I'd be happy to give you as much information as you need to get you to just go to Laos! Kong Lor is only one stop on an infinite number of mind blowing experiences awaiting you in this country of kind, gentle people.
Hi! I’m the Community Manager of Ruba.com. We’re building a website to highlight some of the most interesting places travelers around the world have discovered. We’ve read hundreds of blogs about Laos, and we think that yours is awesome! We’d love to highlight excerpts from blogs like yours (assuming it’s OK with you of course) and to discuss other ways of tapping into your expertise if you are interested. I’m at erin@ruba.com.
Thanks! :)
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