The Loop - Day Two part I

Well, although it’s very much out of the current situation of affairs, I’m still keen on evoking the wonderful experiences I’ve had on Lao soil. The last account containing something about said soil was all about the hypothetical situation of the unfortunate traveller who set out with too much hope and enthusiasm and too little possibilities of pouring her frustrations on whatever was around.

Spoiler alert! That hypothetical situation totally took place.

Spoiler alert #2! I jest you not: that poor unfortunate traveller was none other than I.

The next morning we set out on what would appear to be a very early hour so that, at least in my head, we would compensate the missed start of the previous day. But packing everything and tying it to the bikes and trying to find at least some coffee proved to be too complicated to be finished early enough, so it was already around 9.30 AM by the time we revisited the (previously unnoticed) roads of the night before. We even discovered where we were in relation to where we wanted to be – not there yet – and where we wanted to get by the time the day would be over – pretty far.

Still, because of my wrongfully estimated guidebook (and we shall get to that in due time!), I suggested we should try visiting a pretty interesting cave, Tham LotSe Bang Fai, really out of the way and not easily accessible for tourists but, as someone from the city told us, it would only be 80-something kilometres from Tha Kaek. According to my estimations, this would mean a fairly simple detour of about 40 km from where we were, which would mean that we could be back on track in time to not get caught driving by nightfall. Alas, my calculations didn’t include the fact that Asian distances are longer than they appear, meaning nobody actually means what they say about distances. So, the 40 kilometres morphed into about 60... up to the junction towards the cave with traditional, authentic dirt roads and the inevitable trenches that adorned them. And, hail Buddha!, they had a sign: Tham Lot Se Bang Fai 50 km. Check mate!

I was pretty set on seeing the cave so I started driving on the road but:

• It was a pretty damned dirt road, even the first part of it, not to mention the part with the little stream-crossing and the pushing the bike through the water, to which I had already been let in on by the motorcycle rent guy.
• It was already about 1 PM, and it would take us at least two hours to reach the cave and about the same to get back, not to mention the visiting and the getting to the next guesthouse part.
• My companion was not the best of drivers, meaning that he professed his love for driving bikes and not his driving skills, the latter being composed mostly by short drives on Southeast Asian islands without a driving license. Also, to be on the safe side, he preferred the constant driving speed of 40 km/h. Constantly.

It was then that we sat beside the dirt road, me with my crushed hopes, him carrying his newly acquired plastic bag of petrol (he refuelled and the standard quantity of gas didn’t all fit in the tank, so they gave it to him nonetheless: to go.). And, against all of my wishes, we settled for the reasonable thing to do and turned back.

I did get my wish of seeing the inside of a cave, as Laos has tons of them wherever you turn, so, at one point, when I stopped by the road to give Mike a chance to catch up with me (only because I refuse to drive 40 km/h when a respectable 60 is still slow) I saw a cave entrance and decided that I should not miss my chance again. By the time Mike came, I was nervously jumping from one foot to the other and crazily pointing towards the cave. He indulged me and we went for a closer look. My standards of travelling always imply at least a headlamp by my side, which I used like a pro when I ventured inside the cave. Only my lamp isn’t anywhere near the standards of contemporary headlamps but would probably impress some turn of the century miners, although rather because of the pretty blue light and not because of its intensity. Basically, I saw more of the inside of the cave with the help of my camera’s flash than with my cute accessory headlamp. And what I did see was enough to call it a day with my underground activities:

What you can see there are normal underground creatures that don’t really squeal or even move but when you see them, you’ll likely want to start screaming yourself. As you can see, these are not friendly-looking creatures. But what isn’t all that visible is the sheer size of them: so, whenever you encounter anything looking like a mutant bloodshot-eyed moth or an overgrown deformed spider with way too many legs, each the size of your right hand, you can confidently put an end to exploring places best left to researchers or Indiana Jones.

I retreated shamefully and, back on The Loop, we drove through overpopulated villages, mostly avoiding school kids on their way home (which is basically what they do, at any given hour), and, as you might imagine, got to the point when we had to watch the beautiful sun set. Yes, that’s right: the sunset, as in: soon enough you’ll start driving by ear or, as faith would have it, by hands and feet in order to feel your surroundings as it’s increasingly hard to see them. And, at a junction, we had to make the decision: right or left? Of course, the guidebook was of no help whatsoever, as it convincingly told us to drive straight ahead, an impossible option if one insisted on going around buildings...

You'd think day two would be over that fast? Not a chance! But the rest of it, tomorrow...