Bike Ride to a Blue Lagoon

The following day Steve was feeling a little better. We decided to ride to the Blue Lagoon and visit the cave at the same location. I was a bit dubious about weather Steve was up to it as he looked rather weak and pale but he insisted he was fine and that he wanted to mountain bike there.

So we wandered down the road and found some bikes to rent, got a map, and headed off in the direction of the bridge and crossed the river.

The countryside was beautiful! We were starting to think Vang Vieng was a real hole but as soon as you got out of the town it was lovely. The road was rather bumpy even on mountain bikes. Thank god we didn't have to get city bikes again otherwise I don't think Steve would be able to have children! 

We bumped our way there and it was a lovely view. It was an unsealed road with a village partway along where the children came running out to give us hi-fives as we cycled past. We followed the signs until we came to The Blue Lagoon which really was a lovely icey blue!

 I was surprised. We peddled over the bridge and a little boy ran up to us to rip the stumps off our tickets that we had bought at the gate. We decided to go up to the cave first. It was a bit of a climb and poor Steve really wasn't looking good. We stopped for a little rest because he looked so pale I thought he would fall.

When we arrived at the cave I was impressed again. It was massive. In the first part there was a little temple where two monks were standing.

We made our way through the cave to that point and took some photos. When we got there the monks were really excited. They were visiting from Thailand and I think they liked our blond hair. Women are not aloud to touch monks or monks are not aloud to touch women. They wanted a photo with us so they each took a turn. They LOVED Steve! They both cuddled right up to him and then I am standing awkwardly about 1m away haha. Gosh they were funny. I wish I had a copy of the photo!

After that we turned our headlamps on and headed into the cave proper. It was so huge but is really hard to explain. We walked for about 40 minutes and ended up doing a big loop. There were stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites lumped on the ground. There was a lot of mud and in some places people had drawn on the walls and made handprints but I think these were recent additions to the cave from visitors.

When we emerged the monks had gone and we climbed back down for a refreshing swim in The Blue Lagoon. It was lovely! We had fun jumping off the tree and swinging on the swings too.

Little fish were interested in the sour fruit that kept dropping from the tree.

As we were leaving the tuk-tuk drivers tried to get our custom

and when we replied we were riding back they said "Bike come in tuk-tuk too!" Haha.

 

 We then rode back along the bumpy road as the day melted away into the mountains around us and painted everything in a rosy wash. We passed a boy leading a cow, typical Laos tractors which I managed to get a video of, and tuk-tuks coming back from The Blue Lagoon (well they passed us).

When we stopped to video the tractors the boy with his cow caught up to us so I got a video of him too. 

When we crossed one bridge we saw a woman cleaning her dishes.

And a little later some women washing clothes in the river too.

As we were riding along a little boy of about 2 came out onto the road and nearly hi-5ed my hand off!

It was a nice day and by then Steve was feeling a bit better.

We even had a delicious dinner of steak down by the river.