The loop: a 500k ride on motorbikes through central Laos. [Day One]

We arrived in the town of Tha Kheck after having decided to do the infamous "loop" on motorbikes. The Loop as it has become known is a few hundred kilometres round trip along route 13 to the east and then back up and around returning to Tha Kheak on route 12. It is normally done in three to four days on a moped. It is not for the faint hearted, the condition of the roads and the driving standards make driving challenging to say the least. We spent the night at TheTraveller's  Lodge in Tha Kheck and rented our motorbikes the next morning from a man named Mr. Ku who has a shop right next to the lodge. He only had semi-automatics and since I don't even know how to drive a manual car, I was very nervous. Before I had time to think too much about it, we were off, on our way to who knows where. 

Day One: 

We stopped at Buddha Cave and talked with some locals here:

Buddha Cave or Tham Pa Fa in Thakhek, Laos is located on National Route 12, near Ban Nakhang Xang. The Buddha Cave is about 14 km away from Thakhek in Khammuan Province. The cave with its many Buddha images was discovered on June 2004 by a local villager by the name of Mr. Boun Nong. Mr. Nong found the cave by following a group of bats entering the cave. With his curiosity and the intention of collecting bats, he decided to climb up the 15 meters to the cave’s entrance. Unexpectedly, he discovered the cave and the 229 Buddha Statues therein. Subsequently, the cave became a sacred place for local and neighboring peoples.

We continued along the road and ended up asking a local to take us by boat to another fascinating cave and to a swimming hole: 

Tha Falang.

The cave:

After this, we rode for hours and stopped in a couple of villages filled with the cutest kids on the planet:

They would get so excited to see white people and wave and scream "sabaidee" (hello!)! 

We continued on, passing through jungles and rivers and finally a swampy area. For a while I thought I was back home in Louisiana:

 

It hasn't always looked like a swamp here. A dam broke and flooded the entire area for miles and miles there were signs of flooding. It was a bit strange- jungle on the left, swamp on the right. 

We made it to our first destination called "Sabaidee Guesthouse" in Thalang right before a huge rainstorm.