Dramatic setting

Still not much excitement to report. I took a boat up the Mekong to Pak Ou caves, set in a cliff with hundreds of Buddhas. Being the primary local attraction, it was full of falang and Thai tourists.

I was surprised that there was hardly any life on the river. Very few villages, boats, or fishermen. It was all hills, covered in virgin forest. Laos is beautiful, but sparsely populated.

The forest won’t last long, though, if all the slashing and burning continues. The air is so thick with smoke you can barely see the hills. And big chunks of ash kept blowing into my dinner.

On the river

Dinner was good. I used Lonely Planet to find a Lao restaurant. You actually have to. There are some shops selling noodle soup (including delicious foe to the many Vietnamese), but there don’t seem to be many restaurants catering to locals, and those that do are difficult to distinguish from people’s houses.

The place in Lonely Planet wasn’t catering to locals either, because it was expensive. I thought it would be packed with backpackers, because it’s the “author’s choice.” But me and a Thai family were the only ones there. I think backpackers only walk around looking at the maps (which makes them look like idiots), and don’t actually read the text.

But the food was good. the tom som (papaya salad) was the spiciest thing I ever ate. Despite the pain, it still tasted delicious.