January 21, 2011 A Lovely Day

After haggling our price down and then geniously back up again (don't ask), we set up a trip to the Buddha caves and the waterfalls outside Luang Prabang.  We got picked up at 9 AM by a man and his ~5 year old son.  We climbed in the back of the tuk-tuk and I donned my mask.  Hey, lots of folks wear them around here.  It's so dusty on the roads and the exhaust systems in the cars aren't the greatest.  Placebo or not, I felt better having worn it.  

Most people take boats to the Buddha caves but that takes 2 hours whereas the tuk-tuk takes only one.  What no one told us was that the final 45 minutes are on incredibly rough road.  

We had to hop across the river in a little boat ($5 round trip for a 2 minute crossing - Laos isn't as cheap as I hoped).  I love rivers and delighted in the open boat crossing.  

 The Buddha caves have been used for a mighty long time (hundreds of years).  The entrance is on the riverside.  Inside are a bunch of Buddha statues.  There used to be more but people stole them through the years.  Some are old, many look newish.
You can see the steep steps behind us - someone's taking a photo up there.  The steps are painted white so it looks really cool from the river.  The strong and determined can then walk up a million other steps to the upper cave where there are even more statues, many set in the dark back of the cave.  Good thing always-prepared-me had a flashlight in her bag.

After the caves we drove for approximately 1.5 - 2 hours to the waterfalls. Forgive me for not knowing the name offhand. They were lovely, well maintained and designed for tourists. Swimming was allowed but we didn't have our suits. The water actually is the color you can see behind me. Warm sun, lots of happy people, moving water - perfect.

This is me, the driver and his son.  The driver didn't have any particular affection for us, but the son and I smiled and teased each other a lot so I think he liked me.  I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have touched them, but in the joy of the day I reacted automatically.

We finished the day with dinner down by the Mekong.  There are a number of places to choose from, some expensive and some ridiculously cheap. Really no reason to pay a lot since the cheap ones are just as beautiful and have delicous food.  

I'm petting a little puppy under the table.  I know, I know - shouldn't touch the animals but he was sooooo cute and still had fuzzy puppy hair.  How could I resist?  He tried following us home, but we insisted he go back to the restaurant where he stood a chance of being fed enough to live a happy street dog life.  Sorry I don't have a photo of the little guy.  Use your imagination (he was brown and vaguely German Shepherd like).