OMG what a terrifying, exhilarating, mesmerizing, exciting experience… Konglor Caves in the mid east Laos valley. I know I keep throwing myself out of my comfort zone but boy o'boy I did it again!

Thankfully I don’t look into new adventures in too much detail before I do them because I know I wouldn’t put myself through the things I have . But I’m living the dream, living a travelers’ life and throwing myself in at the deep end but strangely loving every achievement, every goal met, which outweighs some of the heart pounding terror involved!!!

From Vientiane I got the local bus straight to Konglor which takes around 7 hours, the journey on route was amazing, flat rice paddies backed with the vertical mountains, we climbed up, round and over the mountains to get into the Khounkham Valley, through tiny towns with traditional housing, local markets, with people working in the fields or shops or cooking up food, the roadside is never ending, it’s always on the go. One of the local markets had of all things bats and squirrels ready for the pot sitting beside the required veg to cook them with which looked like shoots of bamboo maybe, next table was cooked bugs and crickets with a nearby chili sauce, mmm tasty. Combine that with the traffic of buses, lorries, 'jumbo’ (van) tuk tuk’s, normal motorbike tuk tuk’s, or every motorbike that passes with either 3-4 people piled onboard or stacked high with produce, it’s an endless onslaught on the senses, I love it although trying to take it all in is exhausting .

I got off the bus at the final stop of Konglor Village and booked into the Eco-Lodge for the night with 2 girls I met on the bus Katie and Livie, as the canoe’s for the cave take three people, we decided to join forces and share costs which is always a good idea! I had a walk around the small village which I find fascinating, unbelievable… it’s obvious they don’t get many tourists wandering around as it’s only a track taking you in from the main road but I get enough responses to my ‘saibadee’ as I go through to make it all worthwhile! The houses are built way off the ground on stilts which was tradition when their animals and farming machines were kept below however, many of them are now adding brick walls underneath making the basement additional living space, it’s a very different way of life out here. The houses are still wood and there’s no furniture inside, everything is on the floor and their lucky if they sleep on anything other than a bamboo mat, they are very family orientated with the children being spoiled and doa’ted on although that doesn’t mean there’s a ‘game boy’ in sight, these kids still go out to make their own fun and have their share of the work too .

After a nice dinner with the girls we have an early night chatting and reading, they’re travelling for another 2 months and are off to both Cambodia and Vietnam next so I tried to give them some pointers to hopefully help them out. In the morning we get organised and after breakfast walk down to the cave which is only 1km away, our canoe is 100,000 kip for 2 staff, our tour, life jackets and the 3 of us and I’m all excited at heading in but honestly what was I thinking! I get my lifejacket on and walk over a half submerged bridge which takes us over to the mouth of the cave for our canoe, seems like the water level is high with the weather just now which I guess is wet season (until October). The entrance is amazing with the rock formations dangling down towards us and although I was looking forward to it, now I’m here, I can see nothing at all past our boats, it’s all in darkness.

It’s fun getting us all into the canoe without it capsizing it, we have a guide at the front, the three of us in the middle and the ‘skipper’ at the back operating the engine which looks like a bigger version of a garden strimmer but with a fin on the end instead . Once we’re settled in it’s time to get going, I’m sitting behind the front guide who has a head torch on lighting our way and as soon as we start off there’s two canoe’s coming out of the darkness finishing their tour with whoops of joy! After they pass it’s all quiet, I mean deadly quiet, plus pitch black, there’s not a sound in the cave apart from our engine.

As we started to get deeper into the cave my heart started pounding, I could tell from the poor torch light that the cave was narrowing and closing down on us… I started to panic, frozen in fear all I could hear was my heart thumping and my brain asking ‘what are you doing’ followed by a ‘get me outta here’ as we were plunged deeper and deeper in with the air getting foggy and the cave getting smaller and closer to our heads. But what could I do… I knew we were safe, I knew the cave would open out at some point, I had my lifejacket on, so after a few deep breaths and a bit of a talk to myself, I managed to calm my head (and heart) get back on track to thinking positive, after all, these guys do this every day!

As I started to relax, I began to enjoy the trip under the mountain and big and small cavities started opening up, the air was not wet but heavy causing dampness and in places the rapids were surprisingly rough . We were travelling at a fair speed and it was far from an easy trip, there was rocks jutting out and in the way which they caught by torchlight to avoid but exciting all the same. Eventually we pulled over to a sandbank where we were instructed to get off and followed one of the guides out of the canoe. As we walked away the other guide started the engine up again and disappeared further into the cave, as we found our footing on makeshift steps our guide flicked on a switch which lit up a massive cavity ahead.

Wow, what a sight… all sorts of rock formations were hanging or shooting up or weirdly hanging in the middle of the cave in all sorts of shapes, with knots which look like alien’s skulls, I tried to take a couple of pictures but they’re all blurry with the air… strange. Instead I manage to take a couple of videos while walking through and if I ever manage to get them online I’ll add a link. This place is amazing, it’s definitely more dramatic and special with the dodgy entrance and ensuing darkness but now that I’m together, it’s all part of the fun! Our guide led us round and up and over paths, giving us time to take it all in and pointing out certain parts to us with his torch and areas that he had lit up . Inside there’s a Buddha placed which has yellow marigold garlands tied round it which he stops to pray at, I think if I had his job I would pray to it too! He takes his time before leading us back down to our waiting canoe which had navigated it’s way round for us at the other side of the cavity, and on our way down into the canoe our guide flicked off the light switch behind us leaving the cave in complete darkness once more.

The next leg up river was exhilarating, there was far more dodging rocks and navigating through rapids than before and in places you could see really misleading images like reflections of rocks above and below water making it look like we were about to hit a waterfall, which I have to admit I braced myself for! Thankfully it wasn’t the case and we managed to continue on, there after I really struggled keeping a track of the route, it continually looked like walls in front of us and to be honest I don’t know how they navigate their way through at such speed, they only have a torch at the front and the back . At one point we almost u-turned just following the river, they flew round it flicking their headlights at various points on the way round, navigating the route, now that’s skill. I’m glad once we’re through and on the other side of the mountain, back into the daylight and have a trip along the river to a nearby village where we stop for a break and after a quick stretch of the legs, and can of juice, we jump back in the canoe and do the same 7km return trip which I have to admit I loved!!!

What another incredible adventure to add to my tales J