Thursday, April 26, 2007

Day 14: Luang Prabang - Pak Ou Caves - Luang Prabang

80kms
“Day trip”

Decided to ride out to the Pak Ou caves on the Mekong River today, located about 40kms north of Luang Prabang. The middle 30kms in particular were spectacular with dirt roads following the river. Arrived in a small village and arranged a boat to take me across the river to the caves (pictured right). The ride was more expensive than it should have been – I thought he was talking Kip and he said he was quoting in dollars – but the caves were great. The $4 that I paid to ride the 200m across the river was the same as people were paying to ride from Luang Prabang….

Once back in town I established that Mr Ton was the man to fix a spoke. Finally tracked him down and quickly established that the spare spokes I had bought from Australia were too long – a real pain. With some Lao ingenuity and a wrought iron truing stand he was a able to fashion a reasonable repair job. Even the spoke key he was using would have weighed several kilograms.

Later in the night I caught up with Marney and a crew of English and Irish travellers over a few beers and a game of ten pin bowling. Undecided about whether to travel out of town tomorrow or spend another day here to check out remaining wats and the museum.

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