Majestic Kong Lor Cave
Friday, November 30th, 2007Every village in Laos has a cave near it, or so it seems. Some have Buddhas in them, others have beds and offices and emergency rooms, and others not much at all. So after a while, you sort of get caved out in Laos and there doesn’t seem much point in continuing to visit them. Luckily, we had one more cave left in us before reaching that view. Kong Lor Cave is a full two-day detour from the main Vientiane-Pakse road, but is completely worth it and was, for me, the single biggest highlight of this trip so far.After spending the night in some nearby bungalows, we hired a small wooden boat with a small, disgruntled motor to take us into the cave the next morning. The scenery on the way there, about a 20-minute ride, was lovely – crystal clear water, water buffalos bathing, trees rising from the river bank and imposing cliffs in the background.The cave itself is 6km long, with the river running all the way through it, twisting and turning as it goes. There is no natural light whatsoever once you get past the entrance, so we traveled by torchlight the entire way in this eerie, enormous cave that could easily have been a Lord of the Rings set.
The width varied from (I’m guessing) about 20 metres to 40-50 metres, and the height from about 10 metres at its lowest point to about 50m at its highest. Stalactites hung from the roof at times, and despite the darkness the river was still so clear that you could still see the pebbles on the river bed when a torch was shone on it. At some points there were small rapids and the water level was low so we’d have to get out while the two boatmen pulled the boat through the obstacles. At one point they took us out of the water and up a hill to see some impressive stalactites and stalagmites.
Shortly before we came to the end of the cave, the motor broke down – which was actually a good thing. For the last portion of the cave the boatmen rowed as in complete silence which only added to the mystical aspect of the journey. Then, after about an hour of pitch blackness save torchlight, came out into the open to be greeted by a stunning scene of the river looking a dazzling green, with huge cliffs bearing down on us. Floating down the river amidst this scenery for the next 10 minutes was so idyllic that it’s indescribable – hopefully the picture on the right gives you an idea.
After leaving the cave, we headed back to the main road and took a long bus ride south yesterday to our current destination of Pakse. We have a few things to do around this area, and in about a week we’ll hopefully be able to cross into Cambodia.
Today at the holiest Buddhist shrine in the country, That Luang, the most important annual religious festival in Laos took place – Boun That Luang. We woke at 5:15am and took a tuk-tuk to the temple to be there by 6am and were joined by a few dozen foreigners and thousands of Lao worshippers (maybe 10,000?) in what was one of the highlights of our short trip so far. For the full moon of the 12th lunar month, monks from all over the country have descended on Vientiane in recent days. The Lao faithful, many dressed in their best clothing, arrived at the temple before dawn and took their spots in the courtyard – we did the same. It was still dark when we arrived but the temple was illuminated, giving the place an atmosphere of anticipation. Hundreds (more?) monks were waiting inside the courtyard and out with their empty alms bowls in front of them; but they would have to wait a little while longer.
While the alms giving was taking place, many monks had to scoop all the sticky rice out of their bowls into containers behind them to stop the overflow and by the end, they had so much stuff that they each had to haul it away in large plastic garbage bags. It was wonderful to be a part of such a beautiful ceremony, yet another reminder for me of how peaceful this religion is. It was also the best chance I’ve ever had to photograph Buddhist monks without the usual inhibitions, so I was very pleased about that.
Nick