Kong Lo Cave

After our 'fun' in Laos answer to Patpong, we continued south on the main highway. It was pleasant but nothing like as exhilarating or beautiful as some of the mountain roads in the north. So, after 3-4 days we decided to head east, along one of the routes that lead to Vietnam then work our way south on a less used smaller road before heading back to the main artery that follows the Mekong. As soon as we started east, the scenery was once again beautiful as we headed into hills. The traffic dropped off straight away and we were into a landscape full of karst peaks and jungle. (I don't know why everyone heads to Vang Vieng....the whole of Laos is jam packed with karst scenery yet without the hordes of backpackers. However, I won't start that rant again.) We stopped at one point in a particularly scenic place, and the jungle was very dense around us, so dense in fact that we were soon surrounded by swarms of some flying insect that just loved our salt sweat skin, so we had to carry on. The end of the first day saw us finally cresting a huge hill (so steep that the lorry drivers barely managed to overtake us and one stopped to give us some water as he figured we must be struggling). At the top there is a viewpoint and a small shrine where the truckers stop to make offerings for successful completion of the gradient. The view was staggering...one of the best in Laos and that is saying something.....miles and miles of karst peaks, one ridge behind another, stretching to the horizon. We had had a long day so it was nearly sunset by this point and we could barely tear ourselves away.

But, we did and we had a great run down the hill into a small town called Nahin. We had to stop along the way as Mike broke a spoke but that is for another entry.

Nahin is a strange place, home to a 13km tunnel that is being bored through a nearby mountain, for hydroelectric reasons, I believe, though I can't quite figure out how a tunnel can assist in that. Anyway, point being that there are lots of men (engineers, mechanics, labourer etc) and therefore once again a glut of 'ladies of the night'. We were there to visit a nearby cave that Kong Lo cave, which we had read about.

This cave stretches for 7km through a limestone mountain and you can take a boat ride through the whole thing, emerging into a pristine and gorgeous valley on the far side. Rather unexpectedly (a cave is a cave is a cave) this turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. The cavern through the mountain is vast - sometimes 100m in width and in height, and puttering through in a small three person boat just with the light of the driver's head torch, was really something. One small section has been lit and you can climb up to the top of the cave, past endless stalactites and stalactmites lit in weird and wonderful colours. It was a geography lesson in action.....I had the mantra 'tights fall down' going through my head throughout.

Somehow this cave doesn't figure on most people's itinerary in Laos, but it really is superb and the kids loved it.