Two Caves And A Waterfall

Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world. But the seem to be having a surge of tourism recently, which should help them a great deal. Laos is actually a communist country (one of only 6 communist countries left in the world).
Today I did an all-day tour consisting of a boat ride to a couple of Buddhist caves in the side of a mountain, stopping at a rural village on the way. At this village I bought a nice black pajama pants with fancy colorful embroidery. They were sewing and weaving clothes with handmade looms. This became my "party pants" in Laos. I also tried a local fried flat bread that was slightly sweet -- it was delicious! I never saw this bread again at any other place, so maybe it was unique to this village!

Then we visited the Buddhist caves. These were nice and interesting. They are fairly old caves, being in use for hundreds of years. There is a high cave requiring a climb up many step and a low cave. This cute little girl tried very hard to sell me a "Wish" bird for a dollar. You make a wish or prayer and then release the tiny bird from the cage and let it fly away. I said no but she persisted. She put on her saddest face and said things like "my family is poor", "we have no money", "we have to go back to our Laos village". She was real good. So I told her I'd give her a dollar if she just posed for a picture, which she did. I showed her the picture and she beamed. Then I gave her 40 Thai Baht (a little more than a dollar) and her eyes lit up like she had just won the lottery. Completely gone was that sad face she had the whole time previously. When I passed by her again on the way back, she was still smiling and specially waved and said goodbye ("sabaidee") and thank you ("khab chai") to me.

In the afternoon we went to Kuang Si Waterfall, a very scenic and picturesque waterfall and good hiking and swimming opportunities.

On the way back we stopped at a very poor Hmong village.