The Mekong River

The only excursion out of Luang Prabang that I made was to the Pak Ou caves, located 25 km upriver from the city. There are two caves "studded with wood & gold Buddha images - 2,500 in the lower cave & 1,500 in the upper". In the past, all the Buddhas were in gold or silver, but they have all been looted & replaced with wood, copper or stone or stone statues.










The trip to the caves took just over 2 hours by boat. I stopped at one small village on the way & bought a few things from the local market. Being on the Mekong was as more of a treat for me than visiting the caves. It is the "mother river of Southeast Asia". Its source is in Tibet & it flows down through China. It is 4500 km long (the 12th longest in the world) & goes through 6 countries.






The terrain from Luang Prabang to the caves was very mountainous & desolate, although in almost every flat space along the sides of the river, vegetable gardens had been planted. I did see a few water buffalo here & there. The river itself is very tricky & the boats were zigzagging up the river in order to avoid the sand bars, rock formations, islands, etc. The current also seemed quite strong which is why it took us 2+ hrs to get to the caves & only 1 hour to get back. It was a real pleasure being on the Mekong & glimpsing life on this famous river.