| 15
Days Through a Huge Cave
and S.E. Asia’s Biggest Waterfall
| Days: |
15 |
| Location: |
Laos |
| Activities: |
Kayaking (Class 2), hiking, cave exploration,
cycling |
BRIEFLY
We’ll paddle through one of Asia’s most amazing landscapes:
the limestone karsts of the Khammoune Range whose grotesque shapes
resemble a Lord of the Rings fantasy. After trekking a remote valley,
we’ll paddle through a 7.5-km. (four mile) long cave. Farther
downstream, we’ll hike through another cave to explore a lost
city. We; then move into the 4,000 Islands of southern Laos, spending
many days paddling in and around Southeast Asia’s largest
waterfalls, through a flooded forest, and watching dolphins feed
near the Cambodian border. We finish at the ancient Angkorian temple
of Wat Phou. This is the trip Outside Magazine called “one
of 48 trips of a lifetime”.
ITINERARY
Day 1
We start in Vientiane touring the Lao capital city. We´ll
visit the gilded That Luang stupa, national symbol of Laos,
the morning market, Carol Cassidy, renowned for her fine traditional textiles,
and Wat Sisakhet. We´ll dine on fine French cuisine,
and then luxuriate at one of the city´s finest hotels.
Day 2
Up early to watch monks on their morning alms rounds. After breakfast,
we head down the road south. After a stop for a picnic lunch,
we plunge into the limestone mountains of the Khammoune Range. We arrive
at our small guesthouse late in the afternoon and then walk to
the Ban Na Hin Waterfall where we can bathe. We dine at a local restaurant.
Day 3
Early breakfast and then drive across the rice fields to
the cave mouth. We´ll ride a longtail boat to the valley beyond,
wander through its village, and visit the school, donating school supplies to
the students. After lunch, we tale a walk through a rainforest,
returning in the evening to eat Lao food and sleep in a village house.
Day 4
After a village breakfast, we visit the school and exploring
the surrounding area. After lunch, we have a paddling and
safety clinic and then we head for the cave. We´ll
spend three hours in it, exploring cavernous side rooms, with headlamps
as our only illumination.
Day 5
Morning in the village, then set off paddling, arriving mid-afternoon
along limestone walls to a lodge with hot showers.
Day 6
We'll paddle leisurely all day through a beautiful valley
filled with farmhouses, pausing for a picnic lunch, then
stopping whenever we meet farmers and fishermen to learn of lives
intimately liked to the seasons and the cycles of the river. After
a bath in the river we´ll sleep in a farming village.
Day 7
A long day of paddling ends on a sandy beach in gorge
with sheer-sided 700-foot walls, the scenic highlights of
the river. We´ll camp, spending the evening
around a crackling campfire, listening to chirping insects.
Day 8
We´ll paddle down the valley to lunch at a small village. Then,
we´ll cross the river and hike to a cave of Indiana Jones
proportions. Through its upper entrance, we enter a valley that
once held a large town. All that remains of the jungled site
are the ruins of an old Buddhist temple which we will explore. Overnight
in a village house or on the beach.
Day 9
More kayaking through a lovely farming region, ending the day
on a secluded beach where we camp.
Day 10
Long-tailed boats move us downriver to Highway 13. We then
drive south, arriving in Pakse where we´ll spend the night in
the former Prince of Champasak´s palace.
Day 11
Drive downriver to the put-in and paddle to a riverside Buddhist monastery and
from there to the rafthouses on an island in the 4,000 Islands.
Day 12
After visiting a school, we hike to the put-in below Liphi Falls and
head into the Flooded Forest where we´ll have a picnic on a quiet beach.
As the afternoon is beginning to wane, we paddle into an area
near the Cambodian border where the Mekong broadens. This is the feeding area
for Irrawaddy dolphins. After observing them, we paddle to
a village homestay to spend the night.
Day 13
We visit a small old monastery, then walk up the old French railway line,
back to our rafthouses. In the afternoon, we bicycle up an adjacent island and
then float down the Mekong on innertubes. Time permitting,
a local fisherman will teach us how to cast fishing nets in perfect circles.
Day 14
In easily the most exciting portion of the river, we paddle to
the head of the Khone Prapheng Falls, Southeast Asia's largest. We´ll
then move below the falls to ride the whirlpools to the Cambodian border.
We then drive north to catch a quirky old ferry across the Mekong to
the old kingdom of Champasak.
Day 15
Up at dawn to climb to Wat Phou, a 7th century Angkorian temple
which may once have practiced human sacrifices. After a tour of
a jewel of a museum, we re-cross the Mekong to Pakse. Those remaining
in Laos leave us here. Those returning to Bangkok ride with us to
the border and beyond to the Ubon Airport for the late afternoon flight out.
For more information and prices, e-mail +662 653 9712 and +6681 450 5340
noting your country of departure. |
