Biking, Trecking, Tubing

Linneah and I started our day with a walk around town. Then we rented bikes so we could bike to the Tham phu Kham cave. The sign that directed us to the cave promised a pool and a waterfall. No, it was a just a cave. The guy at the bike place failed to mention we had to pay an entree fee to get in to the cave. However a villager and his kids were sitting under a tent made us pay about a dollar and gave us a flash light and we think his guides offered to be our guides for another small fee. we declined the guides but gladly took the flashlight. We had to use our best rock climbing skills in our flip flops to get to the cave. The cave was very different. Many of tourists that have visited before had left there name, hand print and other forms of graffiti in the cave. So after our spelunking experience we left and biked back into town. There are 2 bridges that connect town to the other side of town. One bridge is a called big bridge and you have to pay about .40 cents or you could take small bridge for free. We opted for free bridge. Walking across small bridge was defiantly an experience as well. If it was in another country I am sure there would have been a sign saying one person at a time. It didn't look that sturdy. But it was great fun. It was now 12:30 and we decided that it was an appropriate time to start our way down the river. The information we were given was that it should take 2-3 hours to get down the river and you need to return the tubes by 6 or you get charged a late fee. By the time we got to the launch site it was a little past one and we figured we had plenty of time to make it down the river. Linneah, Kalina (our new friend who also came to the caves with us) and I got to the first bar and ordered a bucket of vodka red bull. The bar is basically a deck covered in blankets on the river. The first bar was called Bucket bar and had a rope swing into the water. After drinking our first bucket, we jumped into our tubes and floated about 100m to the next bar. I think its called second bar. Here we got another bucket for the three of us. Then after finishing the 2nd bucket we went to the third bar that was supposed to have amazing sandwich's. I will call it Sandwich bar. Since everyone floats or swims to the next bar the bars have developed ways to entice people to come up to the bar. They just through a rope or bamboo stick at you and pull you into the bar. After being pulled into the bar. We were greeted by a shot of Tiger Whiskey (after 2 buckets it tasted great) and then we ate our sandwich's that were amazing as promised. Then we proceeded on to mud bar. Again we were pulled in to the bar. We were not greeted with shots but we were all fine with that. We did get our third and final bucket here. Mud bar gets its name from the large mud pit that next to the bar. At this point we were covered in mud, very drunk and it was almost 5. So we jumped back in our tubes and tried to make it down river. We didn't make to slide bar which is another popular bar as well ( it has a slide aka slide bar and also is the root of many of the tubers injury's). So an hour was not enough time to make it down the river. At six we jumped out and flagged down a tuk tuk to get us back to town. We were not close to town and I don't think we had made it very far down the river. I now have a reason to go back. After washing up we all went to dinner at one of the bars in town. thew bars here all have one distinct charateristic. They all have tv's and they all play different episodes of Friends. There were a couple of exceptions. We found one that had family guy and one that was a sports bar. All the other bars were all playing Friends. It was very bizarre. It is very entertaining as well because everyone comes back from the river gets food and then zones out watching Friends. We followed suit.
Then this morning we got up and caught the mini bus from Vieng vang to Luang Provang. My guess is its about a 4.5-5 hour drive in a car. But the mini bus takes 6 with 2 stops. It was a great way to see the country side. Thatch huts, naked kids, (controlled) forest fires. It was another adventure in it self. We arrived here and went to a walk on the river and watched the sun set and booked our activities for the next two days. Elephant riding tomorrow and then a cooking class Tuesday. We went for a stroll in the night market and out to an expensive dinner, $6 for both us. We are big spenders.