BeerLao is the best beverage in Southeast Asia and seems to be the lifeblood of this tourist mecca. Westerners flock here for tubing down the river, rock climbing, mountain biking, caving, and acting like spring break never ends.We got lucky and went on an amazing cave exploration a 2km walk from our straw bungalow we rent for $3/day. The guide took us over 3km back into the limestone mountain via great caverns, narrow passages, wooden ladders and bridges, and to our surpise, even a waist-deep water section. At the very end, in a great cavern with water referred to as the "lagoon", a set of inner tubes sat waiting for us to hop in and mess about in the ancient water. The whole experience felt like watching an insane movie without first seeing the preview. "What? You want us to strip down to our underwear and go in that water? Ok.."
The night life has been a bit of a bust with drunk kids that are vomiting and can't even walk. Tomorrow we head out of here down to the capitol Vientiane. From there we may go deeper into Lao or right into Thailand. We are hoping to arrange an overnight sleeper train with bikes to Bangkok and skip out on some of the longer road bits.
Sabai Dee!
