Pak Ou Caves and the Lao Lao Bottle-O

After failing to organise a boat trip ourselves to the Pak Ou caves, we visit a tour agency that sorts it out for us.

The trip involves a stop at a traditional village (*cough* shop *cough*) where the specialty is Lao Lao, a rice whisky slightly more potent than the Vietnamese variety.

Still sporting a Lao Lao hangover, I decide against partaking in any festivities.

The kids in the town all reach a hand out asking for money, every time they do, I play give me five. This little boy reacts a little differently to the rest, and loves to monkey around.

On the way to the cave we pass many children selling caged birds for 1USD, apparently if you free them they bring you lucky. I ask them if they're for eating which pisses off the mothers.

A little girl pulled the cute look on me and thought she'd locked in a sale, when I took her photo, she reached out her hand and said money for photo. My standard rate is 5,000 kip, but I offered her a discount, 2,000 kip. She didn't understand the joke and blocked my path. I feigned a step and passed her, turned to look at her and saw her slumped over with tears rolling down her cheeks, way to make me feel like an ass. The tears worked on the next person I passed and she gladly purchased a bird, the girl cheered up and was trying the same trick in five minutes.

The view from the lower cave is nice, our boat was one of the ones on the right. When the drivers are parking the boats, they tend to squeeze in between two others, pushing them out of the way with little regard of whether they cause any damage.

The caves themselves were rather uneventful.