Tham Kong Lo

I chose not to shower this morning as there were lizards in the bathroom. You can call me disgusting but I'm past caring about hygiene now. The nice lady made us breakfast pancakes with fruit which were pretty good but I would have added some syrup or jam as I like pancakes to be sweet. We waited for a bus to the caves (another communal tuk tuk) and jumped on as it passed the guesthouse. It was pretty full with people of all ages and masses of food that was dropped off at various places along the way. One little boy decided to throw up over the side which wasn't the nicest but I felt sorry for him if anything. I looked away and checked out the amazing views instead. We were dropped off at the cave (it took around an hour) and so went straight with a man to his boat once we had been kitted out with life jackets and head torches (I brought my own head torch, first use). Some strange creature was on my life jacket when I put it on so I got a very painful sting to the back. It made me go a bit wobbly. However, I manned up and got in the boat. A girl joined our boat which we later realised was her ride home as the cave runs all the way through to near another village. Pretty cool journey home. 

The cave was amazing. Pitch black so torches were needed but near the beginning was a section that we could walk on (it was the only part of the cave that was lit) and get up close to the stalactites and stalagmites (whichever is which). It was incredible. The cave at this point was as high as a cathedral. Back on the water we sailed on through in our long boat, the driver steering impressively around small shores and huge rocks. Many times we were dripped on from above but that just made it more exciting. After a while we noticed light and the exit to the cave. We had to hop out of the boat and then help pull it up a bit of rock as the water wasn't too deep at this point. This meant stepping shin deep in the water to pull. We were both wearing trainers. They now smell even more. It was all part of the adventure though. As we zoomed out of the cave the heavens decided to open and pour down which was a shame as the views were amazing, I just couldn't see them so well as my eyes were blinded with rain drops. After a minute or so we stopped off and got out of the boat to rest at the half way point. This was where the girl got off and hitched a ride home on the back of someone's bike. She didn't speak any English but she'd been nice. I took my life jacket off to try and dry out a bit before putting it back on to get back in the boat. I managed to get stung again, this time on my arm. It was really painful which meant tears joined the rain that was still dripping down my face. I caught a glimpse of the nasty creature and I swear it looked like a scorpion. If I'm not alive tomorrow you'll know why. 

Back in the cave we sailed straight through, passing over the occasional tiny rapid which the driver seemed to love. He'd call out little 'oohs' and 'ees' like he was having the time of his life. I liked him. 

We returned to the entrance of the cave and realised we weren't sure how we were getting back. A man with amazing English let us ride in his lovely big car with leather seats and a CD player to the bus stop in the village. The payment for this short journey was a kiss but we weren't sure which of us he wanted it from so no kiss was given. At the bus stop the tuk tuk we had got to the cave was actually waiting for us so they could return to Nahin, the village we were staying in. It was all very lucky. 

We decided to visit the guy who taught Matt to ride a bike and buy some lunch from him. We both chose a green curry but I had chicken in mine. I'm eating chicken! It was really good, full of moist chicken with potatoes and some green cubed vegetable with beans and other things. It wasn't very spicy but had a lovely flavour finished off nicely with a touch of coconut. Unfortunately, I had far too much with a huge plate of rice so couldn't finish it but that just cheered Matt up. His eyes light up when I announce I'm too full to finish something. I hate leaving food so he helps me out too. 

Back at the guesthouse we waited for around an hour for a bus to drive past. We wanted to get to Vientiane, the capital, and had to call the bus down so it would stop for us. It did and all was good. I slept for most of the journey and woke up at about half past midnight to find we'd made it. Matt had apparently been talking to some guy with good English who wanted to go into the centre so we shared a tuk tuk with him making it cheaper. The guy got off first and then we had to find a hostel as we hadn't booked. We knew we wouldn't get there till the middle of the night so thought it best to find somewhere that was open. After around 15 minutes we found a hostel with a grumpy man who let us take two beds in a dorm. I dumped my stuff at the end of my bed and went straight to sleep, not thinking whether there could be bed bugs...