Swimming through caves and exploring the hillside!

  Vang Vieng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

10-VANG VIENG

VANG VIENG

OK - so this blog will show you all the BEAUTIFUL scenery of Vang Vieng.
We rented a motorbike and went exploring (which enabled us to take all these great pics).

We went through side roads and found ourselves walking over this rickety bamboo bridge. A local man beckoned us to come over. It was so beautiful, we were very curious as to what was on the other side.

VANG VIENG - on our way to Goat Cave

VANG VIENG - on our way to Goat Cave

Well, as it turns out, this man owned the property which had a cave. He called it Goat Cave and was in the process of building a restaurant and sun deck along the river. He gave us a light to go through the cave and told us that we were the first Westerners to have seen this cave, because he hadnt opened it up to the public yet.

11-Goat Cave

Goat Cave

It was a small cave, easy to get through by ourselves, but very nice. We could see that he was in the process of wiring the cave for lights (he later told us that restaurant guests would be able to enjoy the inside of the lit cave). Pretty cool! When we exited the cave, we really got to enjoy the natural beauty around it: A beautiful river and lush greenery. There were children playing on a bamboo raft as well, which looked really fun!

outside of Goat Cave

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

We continued our drive till we found the Hmong Village. It was quite interesting for me to meet the Hmong, as I have read a book about them and have been curious of them ever since reading, "The Sirit Catches You and You Fall Down". In any case, the Hmong here guide people through the many caves here that are in this area. We entered the first cave alone (since it really was just a small cave that only went about 50 metres deep). This cave is known as Elephant Cave because of a really cool formation in the rock that
looks like an elephant!

DO you see the elephant?

buddha

Here, they have built Buddhas and you can find a Buddha footprint as well.
Next, we had a guide take us through the most fantastic cave we have been through! It was HUGE! I think its about 5 kilometers deep. We had to crawl around, walk through water, and then eventually swim across! Thank god we had a dry bag! There was so much water in this cave that you could canon ball into the water from high above in the cave.

i ripped my pants

20-One serious cave that we had to swim through

The pictured dont do it justice, but we swam a while! We also were able to see rare blind fish that live in the cave. I kept trying to tell myself that it wasnt creepy while I was swimming in the deep cave water with blind fish around me!

22-One serious cave that we had to swim through

30-One serious cave that we had to swim through

The formation of the cave was wonderful, walking along parts that once held water and you can see the actual water flow that was once there.

26-One serious cave that we had to swim through

28-One serious cave that we had to swim through

I even ripped my pants from top to bottom navigating through the cave! We were in that cave for 2 hours, only going as far as we could till you had to crawl on your belly (something that neither Mathew, I or our guide wanted to do!)
It was so exhausting but amazing as well!

Vang Vieng

HMONG village

Mathew with our Cave Guide

water buffalo in HMONG village

We hope you enjoy these pictures!!!