[ Travel ] Backpacking IndoChina: Pak Ou Caves, Luang Prabang

Before our trip to Luang Prabang, I was actually having second thoughts about doing the Pak Ou Cave tour. I can still remember that ugly underwhelming feeling I had with the cave in Halong Bay. However, the cave and Kuang Si falls are really the only major part of our LP itinerary and it had been highly recommended by people on our local travel forum. Bad reviews on TA though. However, I have this attitude of “I have to see for myself before I pass judgment” which had served me well in the past. Not this time.





We booked with the same operator where we had our Kuang Si tour for 80,000/pax. Again, exclusive of a 20,000 LAK admission fee. One thing you have to remember when drawing your itinerary is that you can’t do the caves with the tour agencies in the morning unless you charter your own boat. We tried a couple other operators and were told the same thing. Must have something to do with the tides. So anyway, we gathered at the boat pier besides the Mekong River and wait til our numbers are called. We were then led into a boat and the three-hour journey commences.

The first half-hour was lovely. It was my first Mekong River boat ride so I would dangle my hand at the side of the boat and wade it through the cold water. We also had a moment of exhilaration when we thought we spotted a bush that looked suspiciously like marijuana. Not that we smoke weed although I also have nothing against it. It just reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The Beach. After our initial excitement though, we came to a conclusion that they were nothing but root crops. We also stopped by Ban Xang Hai, a whiskey village that sells Lao Lao (alcoholic rice wine) as well as hand-woven Lao silk. The guy at the whiskey station handed me a small shot glass with a reddish wine and I drank it without batting an eyelash. It was superb! I wanted more but we were on a budget plus I’m not too sure about how much alcohol is allowed on a flight ( we’re flying the following day to Hanoi). Anyway, it’s a good thing I took him up on his offer before I got the chance to have a closer look at the whiskey bottles. Some Lao Lao bottles contained dead snakes and centipedes. Thankfully, I spied the bottle with the red wine and it didn’t have none of those creepy crawlers.




Whiskey Village

We went back to the boat after about twenty minutes. While I enjoy the occasional karst cliffs, I was starting to get restless, tired, and bored. After almost two hours, I was tempted to ask “Are we there  yet?” over and over again. I remember that long bus ride to Halong Bay. After what seemed like forever we finally got to our destination and climbed up to the lower cave first ( Tham Ting) which was filled with hundreds of small Buddha statue. I think the number of tourists then were just as many. After a few minutes, we climbed further up to the upper cave (Tham Theum) and it was a bit challenging since it involved climbing up a couple hundred steps under the midday sun. Tham Theum cave is bigger than Tham Ting but was in complete darkness. I guess that made it more mysterious and therefore interesting.





Anyway, although I didn’t want this post to sound like a TA review, if someone is to ask me how to spend a day or two in Luang Prabang, I’d recommend skipping Pak Ou Caves altogether. I mean if you have the luxury of time then do it, if only for the leisurely Mekong River boat ride. In the end, it was another Halong Bay experience – totally underwhelming. Imho, I believe a trip to Pak Ou Caves should be deemed a purely spiritual pilgrimage rather than a tourist attraction. I seriously wish we spent those hours biking around Luang Prabang instead.

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