Day 1
At 9am, we will meet at our office and walk together to the pier. Here, we will get on our slow boat and head 2 hours upstream on the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves. All along the water’s edge, you will see gardens with a variety of vegetables and flowers. You’ll see men and boys casting large nets in hopes of bringing home the biggest catch.
On the way to the caves we’ll visit Ban Xang Khong, a weaving village, where you can experience the entire process from silk worm to finished product. Our guide will walk you through the steps, and you’ll be able to handle the products in their varied stages of completeness.
Afterwards, you have the opportunity to purchase some finished good from the small shop where they sell the textiles made in the village. We’ll also get to see how sa paper is made in Ban Xieng Lek. You’ll see the Mulberry bark drying in the sun, the first step in the process, but also the pulp spread into the sheets drying in racks, the final process. You can purchase this natural paper as well.
Further up the river we will stop in Ban Xang Hai, a rice whiskey village. Here, you will see the process of making the famous Lao Lao rice whiskey, and you can even sample the product if you’re feeling adventurous.
Then we will continue on to the main attraction, the famous Pak Ou Caves. These caves have served as a place of worship for hundreds of years. Lao people visit the sacred caves and pray to the thousands of Buddha statues they hold for good luck, prosperity, and most of all, for a safe journey down the river. Your guide will explain the caves’ history in detail before you cross the river for lunch.
After you’ve eaten, you will set off set off on a challenging 5 hour trek. A local guide will lead the way through farms, forests, and mountains. A large part of this trek is through forests without clear paths. Never fear, you can trust that the local guide knows these woods like the back of his hand.
Along the way, you will stop to climb a steep cliff to visit a large open cave, where local people go catch bats, and collect natural materials to make into gunpowder. This trek will take you through some tight spots, so if you can travel light, it would be best. When you come to clearings in the forest, you quickly see that scenery that surrounds you is breathtaking.
You will trek all the way to Ban Hat Kham, a Khmu village where we cross the river to stay overnight at The Nam Ou resort Your guide will help cook you a traditional Lao meal, and some villagers will gather together to bless you with a Baci ceremony, where strings are tied on your wrists to call your spirits back to your body. This is an ancient Lao practice, in the Animist tradition.
After the day’s adventures, you will surely sleep like a rock
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