THE CAVE OF THE TEETH

ALAN GOES CAVING

I get used to receiving unusual stories from Laos. When Alan wrote saying he was visiting The Cave of the Teeth I was sure he was meeting LEOT scholarship student May who is studying dentistry in Vientiane.

This was not the case he was travelling as pillion passenger on  a journey out to a distant village to check on another LEOT student HP2 who was completing his internship at the end of his course in Luang Prabang Law School

The picture shows Alan and HP2 venturing into a deep cave that holds a collection of teeth both human and animal. We can't tell why or how the collection exists but the villagers were keen that any fallang traveler should not miss the site.

Following their adventure Alan was taken to the village to meet the locals and share in lunch and then to explore the very beautiful setting of HP2's new temporary home

Meat is not easily available away from the major towns. local people eat a lot of river fish and rice. As a special treat HP2 had produced a BBQ of local rat

The village is set on the banks of a very attractive river. It does not have running water and villagers boil and use river water for drinking and washing. They also have a limited supply of electricity from a generator which runs until seven in the evening

The villagers have kindly loaned HP2 a house for his stay with them. It has one room with a small sleeping platform. LEOT has provided him with a mosquito net to help lower the risk of contracting malaria.

HP2 treats malaria almost like a serious but routine illness. During his studies he has suffered several attacks. LEOT has been able to support him by paying for his medical treatment in a local hospital.