06.06.2014
So we arrived on the 31th in Phonsavan, a triste and quite boring city. We found a nice bungalow for us 3 form a nice and as we found out later that night wasted Lao dude. I told Lüder some days ago about my plan to get a scooter and drive into the mountain range to Xam Neua to watch some bomb caves in Vieng Xai from the Vietnam war. He and Lucas liked the idea so we planned that the 243 km should be possible at one day with 30 km/h on a scooter. We could make a small BBQ at the hostel and made the final plan. Good Germans as we are we fulfilled the plan the next morning. We rented two scooters, bought some lunch and left with cloth for 3 days. First we watched the around 7 km far away Plain of Jars side 1 & 2.
Lucas already had a soft accident with his scooter on the way. Less impressed from the Jars we left full of adventure spirit to the northern end of Phonsavan to the road to Muang Khan. On the way is a nice cave, where as well people hid while the bombing of the USA. But as it was already after noon we planned to watch it on the way back. Till Muang Khan the road was good but still it seemed like forever till we arrived. A few kilometer outside this last big town the landscape, road and population changed. Our adventure spirit rose again. The beautiful mountains kept us marveling and taking pictures. As out scooter used more fuel than Luscas' I changed after a while to drive the first time on his backseat ( ;) ). The road got a bit more tricky but was still OK. But we didn't planned the curves that much. They seemed to never end. We drove up a mountain. The villages started to just get some houses next to the road and just appeared after 15-20 minutes of driving. Slowly the sun set and we still thought the Lao people can not do milestones right, as they still showed numbers over 100 km till Xam Neua. After Lucas scooter went to the red fuel area I changed the scooter again and we decided to sleep in the next 'town' we can find. But instead of a town we just found left houses, darkness, bad roads and of course no gas station. Soon Lüder's needle went to the red area as well. I wouldn't say we panicked but hoped very much to find a gas station and a place to sleep soon. Every time we asked some people for fuel, we ust got reminded that we are basically in the middle of nowhere and less people speak any English here. It seemed that another of our plans didn't work out. But at least we had a real adventure far away from any tourist, so our moods have been still quite good. Finally a woman pointed further down the road as we asked for fuel. After another 5 minutes there was out of nowhere a gas station. We have been exited like little children getting their Christmas presents. Just over a bridge we finally reached the second town on the way: Nam Neun. First building was a Lao soup restaurant. I don't have to tell you how hungry we have been at 8pm after that ride. As the woman pointed us a guesthouse our day was safe. Tired and with hurting asses we layed down and discussed what to do, as on this roads it would take us one more day to reach Xam Neua,one day to see the caves and than two more days on the scooter for the way back. We decided to drive back the next morning and to see the Xang cave close to Ban Thachok and a waterfall. The way back seemed to be faster but still my ass was very happy as we reached Muang Khan again.
The medical cave has been very long and to impressively dark for me to walk in. The main cave was sadly closed but we marveled at a lot of huge honeycomb on the top of the entrance. Still we could imagine how it is to hide and life in such caves. Of course we could't find the waterfall so we just made it by daylight back to our crazy Lao guy. The bottle of Havanna Ron we just found two days ago was just enough to celebrate our healthy home coming on the 2nd. Another time we could laugh about our plans that never work out. After a talk to the, again wasted, guy, the boys come up with the idea to see the Kong Lor cave on our way south.
So we took a bus in the next morning to Buen Kan. The start was of course a bit complicated, as typically for us, but after a very rough drive we arrived at midday in Muang Pakxan, where we planned to get a next bus. This plan worked and in the afternoon we found our self's in the middle of nothing on a cross of the highway 13 and 8. There was nothing except dirt and noodle soup. As used to we shared a double bed and planned to start the trip to the cave a bit later the next day, in order to get some sleep.
Lucas already had a soft accident with his scooter on the way. Less impressed from the Jars we left full of adventure spirit to the northern end of Phonsavan to the road to Muang Khan. On the way is a nice cave, where as well people hid while the bombing of the USA. But as it was already after noon we planned to watch it on the way back. Till Muang Khan the road was good but still it seemed like forever till we arrived. A few kilometer outside this last big town the landscape, road and population changed. Our adventure spirit rose again. The beautiful mountains kept us marveling and taking pictures. As out scooter used more fuel than Luscas' I changed after a while to drive the first time on his backseat ( ;) ). The road got a bit more tricky but was still OK. But we didn't planned the curves that much. They seemed to never end. We drove up a mountain. The villages started to just get some houses next to the road and just appeared after 15-20 minutes of driving. Slowly the sun set and we still thought the Lao people can not do milestones right, as they still showed numbers over 100 km till Xam Neua. After Lucas scooter went to the red fuel area I changed the scooter again and we decided to sleep in the next 'town' we can find. But instead of a town we just found left houses, darkness, bad roads and of course no gas station. Soon Lüder's needle went to the red area as well. I wouldn't say we panicked but hoped very much to find a gas station and a place to sleep soon. Every time we asked some people for fuel, we ust got reminded that we are basically in the middle of nowhere and less people speak any English here. It seemed that another of our plans didn't work out. But at least we had a real adventure far away from any tourist, so our moods have been still quite good. Finally a woman pointed further down the road as we asked for fuel. After another 5 minutes there was out of nowhere a gas station. We have been exited like little children getting their Christmas presents. Just over a bridge we finally reached the second town on the way: Nam Neun. First building was a Lao soup restaurant. I don't have to tell you how hungry we have been at 8pm after that ride. As the woman pointed us a guesthouse our day was safe. Tired and with hurting asses we layed down and discussed what to do, as on this roads it would take us one more day to reach Xam Neua,one day to see the caves and than two more days on the scooter for the way back. We decided to drive back the next morning and to see the Xang cave close to Ban Thachok and a waterfall. The way back seemed to be faster but still my ass was very happy as we reached Muang Khan again.
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| Bee gum above the cave |
The medical cave has been very long and to impressively dark for me to walk in. The main cave was sadly closed but we marveled at a lot of huge honeycomb on the top of the entrance. Still we could imagine how it is to hide and life in such caves. Of course we could't find the waterfall so we just made it by daylight back to our crazy Lao guy. The bottle of Havanna Ron we just found two days ago was just enough to celebrate our healthy home coming on the 2nd. Another time we could laugh about our plans that never work out. After a talk to the, again wasted, guy, the boys come up with the idea to see the Kong Lor cave on our way south.
So we took a bus in the next morning to Buen Kan. The start was of course a bit complicated, as typically for us, but after a very rough drive we arrived at midday in Muang Pakxan, where we planned to get a next bus. This plan worked and in the afternoon we found our self's in the middle of nothing on a cross of the highway 13 and 8. There was nothing except dirt and noodle soup. As used to we shared a double bed and planned to start the trip to the cave a bit later the next day, in order to get some sleep.
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