Laos Day 32 – White Water Kayaking, Cave of death… 2

by Joel Goldstein on November 2, 2009

  • I’M GOING KAYAKING!
  • I kept getting up throughout the night to make sure that I didn’t sleep too late.
  • I have the worst stomech ache still from something I ate and couldn’t shake it until I sucked it up and headed down to meet the bus
  • Everyone on board the little pickup spoke german except for one girl named Penny. I started chatting with her about the usual travel stuff and was happy to find she is a very cool person.
  • We get to the top of the river where the guide puts me into a solo kayak because I rule and everyone else in 2′s and 3′s
  • We litterally paddle across the river and land on a beach.
  • He explains that we are going to see some caves and have lunch… From my experiance the day before I am not so thrilled about the caves, but I figure I’m with a group of older people… They can’t be difficult.
  • The caves we hiked to were actually called “Water Caves” and we had to board a tube to get in to see them.
  • After waiting for the previous group to get out we all plop into our respective tubes and follow the guide wire into what I affectionately named “The Cave of Death”
  • Everything is going swimmingly, the cave was amazing, unlike anything i’ve seen before and there really wasn’t anyplace to slip and break my neck… yet
  • I get a bit bored and wander off into my own world when I realize that the group is significantly smaller and we’re paddling upriver against a very strong current…
  • Having a decent time I kept going and got to a part where we had to take our tubes out of the water and army crawl to get through the area.
  • I’m still following about 6-8 people and we keep swimming and swimming…
  • We hit the end of the cave! The stupid Germans ditched the guide and took us to an area where we obviously weren’t supposed to be.
  • I do a little freak-out in my head and then tell everyone we’re heading back and to form a line…
  • FInally we get out of the death cave to find a nice lunch waiting for us.
  • We hike back to the river stopping at a little cave with a buddha statue for a bit and procede to hit the river.
  • If it isn’t obvious that I have no idea what kind of trip I booked by now, let me clarify. I went into the travel agency next to the hotel and said I want to go kayaking. She said ok, gave me a cheap price, and I went. That’s about it… on with the story.
  • I slowly approach my first white-water rapids in my mono kayak with a good amount of caution…
  • By the second one I was a pro, I blasted through the water faster than the entire group!!
  • We stop by the party area for an hour after kayaking for 3 hours or so and rest.
  • Another 1 hour of kayaking brings us to our destination at the foot of the river.
  • Penny and I grab dinner nearby
  • I head back to the room to do a little reading and rest
  • around 9 I head out to a restaurant that plays family guy on a loop to watch for a while and get a smoothie
  • I go to bed early… Long day of traveling ahead of me.

Related posts:

  1. Laos Day 31 – The first cave of death
  2. Laos Day 29 – Tubin’ the River
  3. Laos Day 28 – Travelin’ with the Aussies
  4. Bangkok Day 26 – Traveling to Laos
  5. Laos Day 27 – Missed the bus…

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