Caving Vang Vieng

The other reason I wanted to stop in Vang Vieng was to tour some of the immense caves in the area. The best way I figured of doing this was to rent a mountain bike and take the dirt road (think less dirt and more giant rocks--OUCH on my butt) out of town that goes through rice paddies and past little villages as it passes by several of the local cave systems. Had a pretty good time--that is when I wasn't getting screwed out of my money by a 15 year old or having the sudden horrible realization that I'm actually really afraid of caves, and then getting lost in one. Or damaging my internal organs and clogging my lungs on the ridiculously bumpy and dusty bike ride... But hey, other than that, it was awesome!

First cave visited: Pha Daeng 

A nice little stroll through the pastures and some forest lead me to the cliff housing Pha Daeng Cave. Note the promise of "clystal water for take a bath" and "beautiful water for swimming and tubing. Tube supplied" Uh huh...

So it turns out Pha Daeng Cave is quite deep, but mostly consists of tiny little openings just big enough for one person to fit through (maybe 2 people if you're Asian). Of course, it's completely black--the only light comes from whatever flashlight or headlamp you happened to bring along. It was at this point--coming upon this rickety little bamboo ladder leading down into the cramped darkness that I realized I'm actually pretty damn terrified of caves. In fact, I actually had to turn around and leave the cave for a moment to get some air and calm my breathing. Thought about just going back...but hell no. I didn't come to the other side of the freaking globe to turn around. Down the rickety ladder I went...

Another of Pha Daeng's barely-big-enough-to-fit -through passages. I had been walking through for about 8 minutes at this point, so I was quite far into the mountain. Just for shits, I decided to turn my headlamp off at this point to see just how dark it would be (pretty effing dark. DUH). That turned out to be a real panic-inducer, since my headlamp has been on the fritz lately, and sometimes would refuse to turn back on....luckily that was not the case this time. Continuing on...

This, I assume, was the "clystal water for take a bath" and "beautiful water for swimming and tubing. Tube supplied" portion that was advertised. See the bamboo ladder leading down? Oh, how inviting! Keep in mind this was in complete blackness--only lit up by my camera flash. I don't know where the hell this tube would have taken me, but I decided it was the end of the line for Laura, other side of the globe or not. My bravery has its limits. 

 Second Cave: Tham Chang. This is the most famous cave in Vang Vieng, both for its size and beauty as well as its history of being used as a hideout from marauding Yunnanese Chinese in the early 19th century. It's much more tourist-friendly than Pha Daeng--outfitted with colored electric lights and walking paths. And no sketchy-ass inner tubes...

The main, and most impressive cavern of Tham Chang

Outside the cave was a pretty little lagoon, where I found this neat spider. Neeaaat.

Cave Three: Kiaw Kham. This cave was not initially on my list to visit, but I passed it and figured, "what the hell". A young boy was collecting the entrance fee (each cave was about $1.50) and after buying my ticket, he proceeded to walk with me to the entrance. We had a nice little chat, despite his very broken English. I learned that his name was Si, and he was 15 years old. He told me I was very tall. It was a rough climb up to the cave entrance--lots of huffing and puffing up the face of the cliff. The cave itself was pretty cool, but small, and not all that impressive after Tham Chang. Si led me to a very steep drop off complete with a seriously sketchy rope ladder leading about 12 feet down to an even steeper drop off--the bottom of which was out of site. A sign near the rope ladder warned of danger and to go no further, but I guess after I kept up with him on the climb, Si figured I was fit enough to climb down the ladder and see the chasm. I was skeptical....but down he scampered and was calling for me to follow. Sooo...ok then. Down I went, getting filthy in the process. At the bottom Si grabbed me nervously. "Very very careful" he said, pointing down behind me where I realized my feet were about 6 inches away from an enormous black hole. He then lead me to a little hole in the wall and told me to put my head in and look up. I thought I was about to see something cool, and was greeted by cave crickets lining the ceiling about 2 inches from my nose. I pulled out my head and said with a smile "Neat! Cave crickets!" Poor Si's face fell. "You not afraid?" he said with utter disappointment. I think that must be one of his favorite foreigner-scaring tricks. Little shit... We scrambled back up the crappy-ass rope ladder, again, getting filthy in the process. Si offered to take my picture in the cave and proceeded to look through all of the pictures on my camera. He especially enjoyed the ziplining videos from the Gibbon Experience. As we left the cave, I was thinking I would give him a nice tip of 40,000 kip or so, when he suddenly demands "Ok, you pay me 200,000 for guide." I almost choked. To put it in perspective, my hotel here was costing me 60,000 kip per night. In my flustered state, I ended up giving him 70,000. Still way too much, but I panicked. He then proceeded to abandon me at the top of the cliff so he could go offer to guide an approaching couple. Damn you, Si. Damn you!

The mouth, and main cavern of Kiaw Kham

Inside the cave, looking back at the entrance

Me and Si, standing in front of the sketchy rope ladder, looking down into the chasm. Lots of bats were flitting about, but you can't really see them in this picture.

Si took my picture after we climbed out of the chasm. At my best: red-faced, sweaty, and horribly filthy.

 Last stop: Tham Phu Kham, aka Blue Lagoon. This cave was a very bumpy, very dusty 8km bike ride away from town, but I am so glad I made the trip. These pictures really don't even come close to capturing the immensity of the main cavern. It's just too freaking huge. The back of the cave was just as immense, but since it was completely black, it was impossible to get a picture of anything but what was right in front of me. It was recommended in my guidebook to get a guide for this cave if you planned on exploring the back portion, since it is "easy to get lost", but after spending way too much on my friend Si, I decided I would risk it. Turns out that guidebook wasn't lying. I did get just a little bit lost... Fought the urge to pee myself in fear, suppressed my hyperventilating, and eventually found my way out. PHEW! Came across an Italian couple on my way out. The woman exclaimed "You went in alone? You have no fear!" I think if she knew how close I had come to puking my guts out in fright, she might have thought differently. In reality, it wasn't that big of a deal. While the cave is immense in height, it's not so deep, so I really don't think I could have been lost for very long. The only real danger was trying to avoid the huge holes in the floor that seemed to have no bottom. But hey, anyone who knows me knows I'm an expert at paying attention to my surroundings. Cough cough...

The main cavern of Tham Phu Kham. Like I said, it's impossible to appreciate the scope of this cave from this picture. If you look closely, maybe you can pick out the guy in the back where the cave starts to get dark. He's pretty hard to pick out, though. The little gold pagoda thing is a Buddha shrine. Almost every cave has one. Random.

This was in the back portion of the cave where there was no light. This hole was the only one that was actually marked. The rest just kind of snuck up on you--always good for a little thrill.

The very back of the cave was full of stalactites and stalagmites. Unfortunately for navigation's sake, they all looked pretty much the same to me. After taking this picture, I spent the next 15 minutes freaking out and walking in circles. Pictures were not a priority.

I finally saw the light!!!! Oh glory of glories

I asked a nice French woman at the cave entrance if she would take my picture. As I was scrambling up to help her turn on the flash, she decided to take this photo. "Action shot" she explained. Merci beaucoup, madame.

Outside the cave was this little lagoon (hence the cave's alias, "Blue Lagoon"). The water was the clearest I have ever seen. I couldn't resist a little dip, especially after getting so dirty on the bike ride and scrambling around in the dirt with Si. Not to mention all the sweating in fear I had done that day...