Next stop, Vang Viang!

Two girls on the side of the road during my bike ride who were hollering and excited to see me so I stopped. Only to find they just wanted money, I shared with them some crackers instead but they wanted more and even tried getting into my bag. It's best not to give them money as it only encourages them to beg and candy is not good for their teeth. I probably shouldn't have given them anything but I did get a picture. Not sure why this little girl had a flower ring on her head but they were sweet.

This was on the path to the cave, a barbed wire fence to climb over in flip flops, first of two!

Beautiful scenery on my 'trek' to the cave
The village people working/playing in the river
View from my hammock.
Eating Deep Fried Mulberry Leaves with a honey/ginger sauce, very good!
Mulberry Shrubs on the Farm
Farm truck we saw on the tour around, didn't see any cows there so not sure how it got so damaged!
Loading up the buses!

Waiting at the bus station is always interesting. This time I watched as people were loading up their motorcycles on top of the buses! One bus had about 1o on top, didn't actually get to see how exactly they got then up there, just watched them spending a long time tying them down.
The trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Viang, was probably one of the longest, windiest roads I had ever been on. Last minute I decided to take the VIP bus, I didn't feel very VIPish though as I was in the back row which meant there there 5 seats across and they didn't recline and you had people on either side. On the one side was one poor lady who held a plastic bag to her mouth the whole time from motion sickness. I was thrilled she didn't actually need to use it, taking with a friend who took the local bus the locals didn't have as strong of stomachs. Note-next time book the VIP bus a little more in advance for a better seat! Either way everyone on the bus got their share of shake ups with a few close calls with oncoming buses/trucks/vans and loads of honking. Not a restful drive at all!
Arrived safe and sound and again wanted to kiss the dirty ground but refrained. Went to stay at the Organic Farm just outside of town, sounded peaceful, tranquil and healthy. Alot different from an organic farm you would see in Canada. Here the farm is at the start of the popular tubing tour they have here where there are platforms of bars along the river with swings, slides, ziplines and loud music that goes all day. It's fun and worth doing once but it really took away from the ambiance of the farm. As far as healthy the Mulberry Pancakes were awesome but the deep fried Mulberry Leaves I'm sure weren't on the Eat Smart list! Also they had a sign there to promote drinking as proceeds go towards the children's bus that they donated to the community! Great people and fun times just a little different than what I expected!
Next day I moved into town on the quieter south end. They had hammocks along the river and I spent the day being totally lazy (this traveling can be very tiring I have discovered) It was great to watch how the village people live, using their souped up little tractors to haul rocks/mud/gravel out of the river. Women picking river weeds, children playing and swimming and later in the day families coming down to bathe. The animals here pretty much roam free and I watched 5 of them come across the river and start to go up the road into town. I wanted to jump up to see what chaos that was going to cause but next thing I know someone must of headed them back into the road and they carried on down past me and up into a field.
In town had a great BBQ'd kabob dinner and found the big thing to do is lay around in outdoor cafe/bars and watch reruns of mostly Friends, some places also showed Family Guy and Seinfeld. On the river edge the 'young' people partied and danced until late after spending the day drinking on the river. Luckily I can't drink in the heat of the day so I was very well behaved and home early, exhausted from the heat. It's their summer now and I heard it gets as hot as 40 degrees!
Next day I rented a bike, I really miss my bike at home but this one had a basket which is very handy here because you don't want a backpack on your back only to make you sweat more!
I toured around the villages and then across the bamboo bridge to find the Blue Lagoon and Cave I had heard about. After a good hour or so of biking in the heat and the very bumpy road I finally reached it. Things are less expensive in Laos but every thing you want to go visit costs money. If you want to see a cave you pay, if you want to see waterfalls you pay, if you want to cross a bridge you pay etc....only about a $1-2 so it's not bad but you have to make sure you have extra cash on you all the time.
I decided to go find the cave, a short trek after my long ride but the sign said only 100m to the cave so off I went. The arrow pointed out the direction but I came to a dead end except for a barbed wire fence that was sort of altered you could see. So here I am climbing over it in my flipflops only to find another one to climb over about 10 metres down the way. Walked across an old rice paddy field and got to another lagoon and up a small hill where there was a restaurant. Found some people who also went looking for the cave only to hear the base of it was 100 meters away but it was about a 400 or 500 meter hike up! I decided to scrap that idea being in flipflops and 40 degree weather! So down to the lagoon, full of 20 something year olds, I decided to go down to the first one which wasn't quite as nice but still peaceful only to find it now full of small children just out of school. I had gone swimming in the river with the children and Linda the day before and some of them are curious about you but most just ignore you. Off back down the dusty road to go for a much needed shower again!