It was as far north as you could go. Thirty kilometres upriver from Luang Prabang is Tham Ting, the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas, opposite the village of Pak Ou which lies at the mouth of the River Ou. From that point, it was all Pathet Lao territory. I went up in a small boat. The only other passengers were a young couple. There was no one at the cave. In the peaceful wat at Pak Ou, a stash of munitions was a reminder that this place was the scene of much conflict. The Royal Lao Navy had two boats moored there. On the other side of the Ou River, there is a huge cliff of sheer rock, standing like a sentinel.

Eighteen years later, I would go all the way up that river to Phong Saly and the Chinese border.