Nam Song River Part II

After recovering from the tubing, I went out looking for kayaking trips. Only one operator seemed to operate kayaking trips on the Nam Li River, and because no one else had booked that trip for the next day, the cost would have been prohibitive. So, I had no choice but to book a kayaking trip down the Nam Song. Maybe it would look different when I am sober. I opted for a kayaking, caving and blue lagoon package.

The next morning, a sawngthaew came to get me. In it, there were around ten people, mostly Westerners. I was stoked to have a small group. At the start point (which was north of the tubing start point), I groaned inwardly when two more sawngthaew came with package tourists. I groaned even more when only seven people indicated they had kayaked before. I used to kayak competitively, but I also signed up for this knowing that these types of tours catered for the lowest common denominator. I wasn‘t looking for any kind of intense workout, but this was going to be really slow going. Only doubles were available, and so I paired off with a Korean girl who had never kayaked before. We capsized within minutes of setting off. In years of kayaking, I had only capsized twice. We both managed to right the kayak and get back in. After that, it was smooth sailing.

At some point, we went past the start point of the tubing route, and past the first two bars without realizing it. I guess I didn’t notice them without loud music (tubing generally takes place in the afternoon so these bars weren’t open yet). Our lunch spot, as it turns out, was the third bar on the tubing route - Neverland Campsite and Zipline.

It turned out that most people in the group had signed up for ziplining in addition to the other activities, and that the non-zipliners (mostly the westerners) had to wait while they did this activity. I wasn’t pleased with this piece of information. We sat there for over an hour waiting for the ziplining be completed, and then we ate lunch.

After lunch we went caving. The cave - Thamnone or Sleeping Cave - was at Neverland. We first got into inner tubes and pulled ourselves on a rope into the cave. At the end of the wet part, we got out of the tubes and followed a trail through the cave. Now, this cave was well worth visiting. There were cool stalactites and stalagmites, including two that were almost connected. The guides also pointed out butterflies and spiders. Unfortunately, the guides banned photography in the cave; the reason they gave was that they needed us to be focused on where we were going.

https://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-…Lue lisää