Century-old boat found near Buddha cave

Vientiane Times

A FISHING boat estimated to be 100 years old has been discovered near the Tham Nong Pafa cave in Khammuan province, the site where a local farmer stumbled across hundreds of ancient Buddha relics last year.
According to a source from the province, security officials from Ban Nakhangxang, Thakhek district found the fishing boat on December 26.
The officials came across the boat lying in a pond under the cliff cave where the Buddha images are located, while they were guarding the cave. The boat is about 40 centimetres wide and about 3 metres long and was made of a kind of wood known locally as Mai Song.
The boat, which was said to have deteriorated significantly over time, has been taken into the cave for safe keeping.
According to the information and culture service of the province many tourists flock to the area every day.
The cave where the boat and the Buddha images are being kept is about 10 km from Thakek town.
In the middle of May last year a farmer found more than 200 Buddha images and relics. The largest stood over a metre high and was 60cm wide. They were found in a cliff cave in Nakhangxang village.
Almost 200 ancient Buddha images were found in Kham district, Xieng Khuang province in December last year.
Six were gold, 96 silver, eight copper, the rest earthenware images, and they were found by a man in Khayvieng village, Kham district.

(source)

Wow..that's interesting. Laos is rich in beautiful Buddha statues. And they found even more!

that's the cave i visited when i went to laos a months ago!
A fisherman in his 50's discovered the cave when he saw a bat fly out and climbed up a tree over water to discover it.
many rules..about 18-20 of themfrom what i remember and it is both written in lao and english..but at the moment i can only remember just 4.. no taking pictures and you have to wear a sin(the sin part is if ur a girl of course XD)..and of course you must leave your shoes at the bottom of the stairs (they recently have built a stairway for entering,during the time it was discovered you had to climb a bamboo ladder),women are not allowed to touch the buddhas'.
and they sell a 10k kip vcd about it after you come out of the cave

^did you take any pics?

uhh nope...we were gonna take pics but we found out u cant bring any cameras or anything to the island where the cave is.. but we taped the island from the camp site...if I can somehow hook the camera up to the computer i'll post some screen caps of it.
Or if anyone wants I can send them a copy of the VCD where it shows everything

I would love to see it.

what is a sin?? My Thai wife and I wish to go to Laos next year and visit the cave. Uhmm I feel dumb for asking but Ilike to be prepared.

a sin is a traditional lao skirt worn by women it's usually worn as much as girls wear jeans in america from imo ^^

if u want to be prepared u can make a thread asking questions and such or just browse to see if theres a thread related

The cave is located just a few km east of Thakaek, a city in southern Laos. The area is very beautiful and filled with limestone -mountains. The boat itself is just 3-meter long and made of wood. Nothing exceptionnel except that I was told it emerged from the bottom of a small lake situated just in front of the cave during the Tsunami that hit the region.

Among the small buddha statues, only two dozens or so of them were made of gold, the remaining were made of silver and other metals. About 15 km from that cave there is another one that is bigger and more visited. I think by now the routes leading to those must have been paved or in better conditions.

uhh scratch that out just look through the photo album

http://xxxxmoogle.multiply.com/photos/album/1

these are screen captures of the vcd they sell after you enter the cave,there are 2 versions;the first version they sold right after they found the cave showing directions and mostly the buddhas' and artifacts they found,and an interview but this version was discontinued and they now sell the second one(first version approximately 15:06 minutes)

and the second version is an extended version,much like the first one but has more interviews,and an interview with the man who found the cave.(second version approximately 26:04 minutes)

the one i put in the link is the second version's screen captures

EDIT:
i'll upload the 1st version later...