Xe Bang Fai River, Laos

Xe Bang Fai river cave, photo courtesy of National Geographic

One of the rivers that we hoped to paddle in Laos is the Xe Bang Fai River, which flows from the mountainous Laos-Viet border across the Nakhai Plateau to its end at the Mekong River.

Amazingly, this river flows through a 9.5km long gigantic cave, which explorer John Pollack termed the "an underground K2". National Geographic ran a article on his expedition 2 weeks ago in this article.

No doubt we will need lots of lights for this cave exploration. JB is working hard to test out various lights to bring. I told him it should be something that can be easily attached to a kayak, and also light up an indoor stadium =)

In the course of my research on Laos' rivers, Laos was often referred to as the future "batteries of se asia". Because of its rich hydrological resources, energey companies from se asia are daming up Laotian rivers for electricity, with more than 25 dams planned in the future. Do dams benefit or destory?

International Rivers is a great resource to help us all think clearer about dams.

For kayaking, damned the dams of course!