Pak Ou Caves
Posted by Stuart at 08:05 PM on April 15, 2004Songkran Day #3 was the most relaxing so far. We spent most of the day on a boat ride up the Mekong to visit the Pak Ou caves. The caves hold hundreds (thousands?) of Buddha images that have been placed there by worshippers over the past few centuries. When Laos had a king, the king would visit Pak Ou caves on Songkran to pour water over the images.
After visiting the caves, we crossed the river to a tiny village called Baan Pak Ou, where we ate the usual Lao/Isaan snacks of som tam (spicy papaya salad), larb blaa, (spicy ground fish salad) and kao neow (sticky rice). And of course, plenty of Beer Lao to wash it all down.
On the way back down the river to Luang Prabang, we stopped by another village which is supposedly famous for making Lao Lao (Lao Whisky -- same word but different tones). Luckily our boat driver was friends with people in the village, so we were welcomed with open arms and shot glasses of Lao Lao.
