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All Laos Pak Ou Pak Ou's Caves

Pak Ou's Caves

Thousands of effigies of Buddha watch from caves set high above a legendary river, plus whiskey.

Pak Ou, Laos

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esme
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Pak Ou’s Caves   Wolfgang Kaehler/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Pak Ou’s Caves   Wolfgang Kaehler/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Pak Ou’s Caves   Avalon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Steps to Tham Ting (lower cave) from the Mekong River   Wikimedia user LaoPDR
The buddha statues in Pak Ou Cave near Luang Prabang   Wikimedia user Walter.jenner
Standing Buddhas statues Luang Prabang style, overlooking the river   Wikimedia user Jean-Marie Hullot
View of caves from a local boat   MarkTimeTravel / Atlas Obscura User
View over the mighty Mekong   MarkTimeTravel / Atlas Obscura User
Deep in the upper cave   MarkTimeTravel / Atlas Obscura User
Dramatic gathering of Buddhas   joshuacarlon / Atlas Obscura User
Pak Ou Buddha   joshuacarlon / Atlas Obscura User
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About

All along the Mekong River, the high, craggy limestone cliffs are packed with an innumerable amount of caves. Among this multitude, two stand apart, renowned for their beautifully imperfect contents.

Primarily a religious site, the Pak Ou Buddha Caves are located inside a steep rock face that droops over the sacred site like tobacco-stained teeth. Accessed by a brilliant white-washed, zigzagging staircase, the boats dock at the bottom and allow for pilgrims and tourists alike to ascend into the upper and lower caves for exploration.

Once inside, visitors are met with thousands of statues of the Buddha. Ranging in size, quality, and material, the only factor uniting these effigies are their minor imperfections. Roam long enough, and you can spot each; some are missing hands and or have chipped faces, while others list to the side or were replaced by newer versions less love-worn from ages of devotion. 

Before their discovery by outsiders, the perfectly imperfect contents at Pak Ou's caves were only considered on an annual basis; during the Laotian New Year, practitioners of the faith would come to bathe in the caves in hopes of receiving boons in the coming year. 

Now that the caves have become a semi-known tourist destination, boat operators hired to take visitors to the cave often make a detour on the way home for the Lao Lao "whiskey village." Here visitors are offered the opportunity to sample the townsfolk's famously potent home-brewed potables before continuing the ferry ride back to Luang Prabang, which doesn't sound like such a bad idea since there's a man paid to get you all home in one piece.

By the end of your journey to Pak Ou, visitors will have washed back ashore in Luang Prabang having touched on every single holy facet of ancient and modern life in a single afternoon – beginning with a watery trek into a world populated with misfit deities made more holy for their outcast nature, only to then chase the experience with a physical and spiritual reunion with the living, all while being shuttled to and fro atop one of the most revered rivers in the world. 

Related Tags

Caves Buddhism Statues Ecosystems

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Purchase ticket at Luang Prabang long boat office.

Community Contributors

Added By

esmetravels

Edited By

littlebrumble, Blindcolour, joshuacarlon, MarkTimeTravel...

  • littlebrumble
  • Blindcolour
  • joshuacarlon
  • MarkTimeTravel
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

November 24, 2015

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Sources
  • http://www.lonelyplanet.com/laos/pak-ou-caves/sights/natural-landmarks/pak-ou-caves
  • http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/asia/laos/luang-prabang/around-luang-prabang/pak-ou-buddha-caves-whisky-village/
  • http://www.luangprabang-laos.com/The-Pak-Ou-Caves
  • https://www.renown-travel.com/laos/luangprabang/pak-ou-caves.html
Pak Ou's Caves
Pak Ou
Laos
20.0487, 102.2105
Visit Website

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