After a long trip from Vientiane we finally arrived at Thakhek !!!!! Ole Ole ole!! On the way, we stopped to sleep in Pakkading, a road town more expensive than usual for being a bus stop, with people quite unfriendly and without any attraction …

Thakhek is a small town on the bank of the Mekong River. It has French colonial buildings in its center with a nice restaurant. The best way to eat and save money is to dine at the Night Market. This is called by default, since it is a square surrounded by food paradites, there is nothing else. Here you can have a rice or noodles for 10,000 kips, although it is worth paying 15,000 kips increasing the quality and flavor of the dish a little more. There are also rolls, sausages, rare balls, and the dessert you want, fruit juices, ice cream, and a kind of chocolate pancake balls that were very good! We stayed at a filthy guesthouse, Daokhame guesthouse, which cost us 30,000 kips a night. It was dirty, old and it was all broken, so in general … although there were also two French guys delighted with the site … there are people “pa tó” !!

The best thing about Thakhek is that it is the starting point of a tour called the “Thakhek Loop”. It consists of traveling 3 days on a motorcycle through a region of the interior of the country drawing a rectangle to return to Thakhek. So we left the huge backpacks in the guesthouse, we got on our Vietnamese Dynamite and we got to ride the loop !!!!!

Before leaving to make the loop, we went through the mechanic to fix the lights, change the oil and make the set-up of the motorcycle.

The first stops, Tha Fallang cave (cave) and Tham Sa Pha In, two caves not very large and unattractive. Within which you always have someone who does not lose the opportunity to ask you for pasta. You can save them perfectly … Then, we visited the town of Mahaxay, because it was on the way. It is a very local rural town, and everything local is curious to see. We toured the place, streets of mud, children playing on the street, among hens pigs, cows and dogs … like being in another century … we never cease to amaze …

And following the road we arrive at Thalang, our first stop. A very small town that is in land surrounded by water. It is reached by a road between lakes, full dead trees, is like a giant marsh, and the town is in the center of it. The landscape is strange and very beautiful. We stayed at Phosy Thalang guesthouse, a little wooden cabin with a balcony to a river, you could see the charm (albeit throwing a cutrillo). It cost us 40,000 kips per night. The other resort is Sabaidee guesthouse that costs the same but has a restaurant with a variety of food, even a meat buffet that looked good … In itself the town has nothing, just the landscape of the road. The next morning we follow the route through the impressive marsh, full of trees, like a ghost forest under water …

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And more dead trees among the lakes…

After a few kilometers we reach the road that leads to the Cool Springs, a cold natural pool. This red clay road is the most picturesque, it crosses a very cool rural town, with its people there, children and food animals. After the village, a herd of water buffalo, one part ate grass, while the other portion of the herd went to a large pool to cool down submerging to the snout. We had them at 2 meters, they are very quiet and scary animals, they stared at us, cautiously, attentive to our movements, like scared children, however they are one-ton beasts with scary horns, because of these characteristics they seem endearing to us .

Following the path we found a riachuelillo with two women fishing in a curious way, holding a stick with a square net suspended at its end, submerging it in the water for a while and then raising it, the image is perfect for a good photo , and we did not go unnoticed by the fisherwomen, who smiled shyly when they saw us standing watching.

Just before the road a girl about 6 years old stopped us and we started playing with her, how funny! she was amazed with us, while her parents continued their work in the field. When he continued he wanted to come with us, he asked his parents with a shout and they told him not to talk … We arrived at the Cool Spring, as it was late there was no one to pay for entry … great!

It is a very beautiful natural pool !! The water is transparent, you can see the whole background, it has a dark turquoise green tone, surrounded by large rounded rocks. We put the foot to check the temperature and … it’s frozen !!! Likewise, we have come to play !! So here we go … but little by little or I break … while Mayra observes my faces of suffering and my shrill screams not at all masculine …

We continue our way, we reach Nahin just when it gets dark. We looked for where to spend the night, we looked for the main road of the town until we decided to stay in Vangphouthong guesthouse for 50,000 kips a night. A correct and spacious room. The “restaurant” however did not convince us, so we went around, everything was closed … it would be around 8pm … finally we saw a sign on, a guesthouse where all the backpackers stayed, next to Sanhak guesthouse. There we had dinner with a beer and we met Joe, an American from San Diego, very nice.

The next day we continue our way to Kong Lor. The road is spectacular, 42 km of road drawn between mountains, crossing very basic villages, with red clay roads, wooden houses supported by logs, pigs scampering on the verges, children greeting tirelessly, rice fields on the sides, until arriving to steep mountains, a vision of peace and nature, pushed by majestic and at the same time endearing water buffalo …

Finally we reached the caves enclosure, in a large esplanade protected by trees we bought the ticket to visit the cave in a wooden hut. It costs 110,000 kips for one person, 120,000 for two and 130,000 for three. They gave us a life-saving vest and a front.

With the boatman, a small man always smiling, we headed towards the boat. We enter the increasingly dark cave. We climbed into the boat and entered the darkness. The cave has a length of 7 km, its height and breadth are considerable, so it is not claustrophobic at all. While everything is covered in dense darkness, you can only perceive the rock where the frontal lights, the sensation is of meditation, total darkness, and only the rumble of the engine is heard. We arrive to a more open area, they make us disembark and we take a walk through the partially lit cave.

Spectacular columns of stalactites and stalagmites, formations of all kinds, very poetic, see how the rock is formed visibly, growing as if it were a tree … We return to the boat, we continue through the cave, in some parts of the river you notice the low depth in the hull of the boat, even the boatman has to dodge rocks, climbing rapids upstream, until … we see the light, and suddenly the river breaks through the jungle, a beautiful vision, after rock and darkness we pass to brightness and a majestic green.

We stopped on the mainland, in a tourist picnic area, for a short break, where in addition to selling fresh drinks they also sell handicrafts (handkerchiefs, skirts, foulards …) We were able to see how a local lady wove the fabrics … we love to see how everything is made manually!

Once the rest back to the boat finished, to return to the beginning … about 7 km were waiting for us again under the magical darkness of the caves … We go back to cross the cave, when while sailing in the darkness the boat is stuck in the background making a spin, almost we go to the water! the boatman makes us get off the boat and move away, we must walk following his footsteps through a zone of narrow rock, out of his steps the depth increases, everything is dark, it is slippery, better not to do nonsense …

After several maneuvers we return to the boat, how exciting !! Finally we arrive at the starting point. It has been an experience between mystical and exciting, highly recommended!

Mention that back to the bike we saw a snake on the road !! It fled in terror of our footsteps … how exciting!

So we took the bike and went back to Thakhek. The way back to Nahin is by the same road, a gift for the sight … and from there, direct to Thakhek without any stop.

Once in Thakhek we did not return to the same guesthouse, it was too filthy, Mayra would get another herpes … We found a hotel, Hotel Semsanlane, which charged us 40,000 kips for a decent room. The next morning we went to get the backpacks from the rusty guesthouse and went to Savannakhet.

On the way back we had some mechanical problems with the bike, so we had to ask for help at the house of a family, who delighted us by climbing the bike in their pickup to take us to a mechanic. Another shows more the hospitality that they have shown us for their passage in Laos.

Savannakhet is a surprisingly large and quite pleasant city. It has a pretty temple at the beginning of the city. In the central part there is a square where there are accumulated food paradites, similar to Thakhek. We stayed at Leena guesthouse for 50,000 kips very comfortable.

Mmm … reward of the day, chocolate waffle with condensed milk … no words.

And the next day … we went to Pakse !!!!