After lunch, we ventured to the other side of the river. The road across the river was a peaceful dirt road. The limestone mountains rose up from the flat river plateau. Rather wordy signs in English pointed off the road advertising caves with swimming lagoons. One section of the road was full of butterflies.

The cave we visited, Tham Poukhan, had a ticket stall and a big parking field. The “blue lagoon” was a narrow bit of water with a rope swing suspended from a tree. The water was very blue but it also held more of that hollering party dude stuff.

We rushed up a steep stone path to the cave. The entrance was a hole in the rock which opened into a large cavern with limestone stalactites. Inside the cavern opened out into a larger cavern lit by a hole further up towards the cavern's roof. Where the light hit the rocks moss and ferns glowed emerald.

This cavern was huge. On the bottom was a gold reclining Buddha with incense and fortune sticks (which after praying, people would shake in a container until one fell out). White arrows pointed the way back which led to another even larger cavern. Our lights weren't strong enough to really look at the ceiling. Footsteps made ominous crackling echoes against the rocks above. There were a lot of people hooting and whistling. On our way out (I think the cavern may have extended even further back) Rowshan heard a woman speaking Farsi to her son. Rowshan said “salam”. She, her husband, son and baby were traveling around Thailand and Laos. Rowshan expressed his surprise at seeing Iranians traveling independently.

Back by the water we found her husband reading a book on one of the tea platform bungalows next to the river. Rowshan started talking to him. He spoke English fluently and had traveled a lot. He and his family had been to India a couple years ago and he complained about how dirty everything was. They'd been to Laos a couple years ago and liked it so much they came back.

We, in turn, complained of Vietnam-- complaints he was happy to hear because his wife was insisting they go to Vietnam and he didn't want to... at least not this trip. When she came back she confirmed she'd asked someone else about Vietnam who also complained about it.

Our trip did not start out very auspiciously. The “A/C” bus we got onto stunk and seemed to just be recirculating warm smelly air. It left downtown about half an hour late and even though it was full went to the bus station.

The woman sitting in front of us was a tour leader. She had been talking with the bus crew and they had been futilely pushing buttons and holding their hands under the air vents. At the station, she took her group off the bus, by this time it was cooler outside, and found another bus for them. Since they made up half the passengers the bus crew said they'd fix the bus so she agreed to stay. There was a fan belt broken on the compressor. Several men gathered around and pulled and poked at it. Then they reverted to staring at it. Someone went for new parts. About 1 hour later he had returned and they got the bus fixed. We all boarded and left with working AC. I should add the advertisement for the bus said, “price includes AC, cold towel, drink, snack, good DVD movie.” Needless to say, we did not see any sign of the other items promised, not even a TV monitor. But one thing I've learned traveling is to take these bus ticket promises with a grain of salt.

About ½ hour into the 3 hour trip, a high pitched buzz started. It sounded like feedback on a speaker. The bus crew seemed to suggest it was something to do with the AC however it seemed to be affected by shifting gears. The bus crew laughed and joked with each other, unperturbed by the screeching. I guess one has to admire their sense of humor. After all, they'd be stuck with it on the return trip as well.

As we climbed into the mountains, I did start to admire the surroundings-- lots of green jungle, and wood and thatch houses. Girls walked by dressed in dark wrap around skirts with decorative borders. As we got closer to Vang Vieng, the limestone karst mountains rose up through the haze.

The bus dropped us off at a resort where a new group of unfortunate backpackers were waiting (probably wondering why their bus was 1.5 hours late) and unsuspecting that the next 3+ hours would be aural torture.

We had dinner at a place near the bungalows we'd checked. It had a pretty view of the sun setting behind a karst. We wandered over the river and through a village which was mostly a conglomeration of guest houses.

Then we headed back through town, past the zombie bars. As we sat in a cafe we saw people coming back from tubing. One girl walked through town in a bikini. Guys without shirts lounged on tubes in a sawngthaew. (Note: It is considered impolite in Lao culture for men to go about shirtless and probably worst for women to go around clad in bikinis (Lao women bathe in sarongs).

Rowshan and I ranted against how tourism was destroying the area. Although I suppose it is our fault as well for coming here. The nature, is beautiful, though.

Probably the strangest feature was a concrete sphere with windows and a twisted concrete tree rising from the top. It was entered through a monster mouth. The sphere had windows along the outer walls. In the main chamber-- 2 double levels lit by a single light bulb-- were more concrete statues, mostly broken. To reach the top we had to climb some narrow winding stairs. The exit to the top was a crawl space leading out a hole. We joked about entering the monster through its mouth and emerging from the other end.

We took the main road back to town and went to Stupa That Luang. The photos show the stupa as stunning gold against a blue sky. But the weather has been cloudy and hazy for days so it looked dull and tarnished against a white sky. I actually found the wat next to it more interesting. It had gold relief murals on the doors and roof eves (check what that triangular part of the roof is called). The windows had scenes of famous sites in Laos. The roof struts were angels-- one with a huge beehive hanging from it.