We were supposed to depart for Kong Lor at 9am, but as we wandered downstairs in the hotel for breakfast I heard Christina cry out, ‘is that the bus?!’, as I turned to look in disbelief and clarified that it indeed was the bus, a horror stole over me that we’d have to spend another two nights at an overly expensive and rather poor hotel, and in a rather poor city. We were very fortunate to stumble upon the bus leaving early and after cancelling breakfast scrambled on, although the hotel brought us bread and jam for sandwiches before leaving which admittedly was very kind of them.
We quickly got acquainted with the people on the bus, and said hello to some old friends from our first bus journey from Bangkok to Chiangmai, as well as another group who we were with from Chiangmai to Luang Prabang.
We had a long drive today of over 8 hours and my stomach wasn’t feeling so great. I would describe the drive as forgettable. We stopped off for food at a few points but the choices were as bland as either rice or noodles with chicken, pork, or vegetables.
However when we arrived in Kong Lor it was a true spectacle, it was truly worth an arduous drive into the middle of nowhere. It’s a very rural town surrounded by tobacco fields, and rice paddies with mountains looming in the near distance. It was like living in a painting harking back to simpler times. It’s only a small village and it seems mostly perpetuated by restaurants and small guesthouses. I could easily have spent a week or two there just getting away from the hustle and bustle of city’s and the constant sight of other backpackers.
The attraction of Kong Lor however is not the beautiful surroundings nor the people, it is the Kong Lor cave. Kong Lor cave is a 7.5km cave that is open ended. The cave was discovered when people in the village were losing a lot of ducks for no apparent reason, when one day there was a local market and somebody recognised one of the ducks that was there. Upon enquiring where the duck was found they realised it was on the other side of the cave and it must have simple swam through, what a brave set of ducks. My knowledge is a bit rusty here but I believe an expedition was set up with the help of the French Government and people explored the caves. What they found was a wonderful tunnel that transports you into another world.
The cave entrance lies at the bottom of a large mountain, a rough estimate would be about 100 metres tall. We took a boat through the cave on our second day in Kong Lor and it was an incredible experience. As we sped through the cave I fancied myself an explorer breaking new ground on Mars. I kept wishing that the driver of the boat would stop our passage, turn off his headlamp, and allow me to sink into the water in the darkness. There is something attractive to me about floating in pure darkness for a while and forgetting any worries, hearing the water drip and reverberate around the cave, a hope that the darkness would swallow my anxieties and birth me from the cave a pure man. Sadly I couldn’t communicate these sort if inane wishes to our poor Laos driver, and if he were to understand I’m sure he would think me unhinged. I didn’t leave the cave a man reborn from the darkness but it was an amazing trip. It takes about two hours to get through the cave and back so it’s a lot of time to reflect and enjoy.
At the entrance to the cave is a lovely lake with clear blue water. We were obliged to take a dip and it was sweet and cool after the heat of the day. We found a rock about fifteen feet high and after making sure it was safe, as mum would want, we proceeded to jump in. I never thought I’d be so nervous to jump in but a thousand butterflies suddenly burst from cocoons in my stomach, the exhilaration of falling and feeling the butterflies take off was exhilarating.
At this time I was exhausted and starving so we hit the 1km walk back and grabbed good from a nice little guesthouse down the road. We ate on the decking and it was amazing to be able to sit and eat, both your food and the surrounding views with your eyes.
After Kong Lor we had a few long days of travelling in a row, with there not being many places interesting enough to hop off and explore between there and Don Det. The first day we travelled to Thakek where we stayed in a lovely hotel overlooking a wide berth of the Mekong river. On the evening we went as a group for food, once again to the best restaurant chain in Laos, this time not ignorant. After a few days off of western food, mostly eating amazing Laos curries, I got back on the hype train with a chicken burger which was a bit of a letdown. However the White Russian I treated myself to was more than enough to make up for it.
From Thakek we travelled to our second homestay. On the way we stopped at a temple that was considered very lucky and sacred as bombs had been dropped around that area but never exploded on the temple. They had a library with a lot of old Sanskrit scrolls written on bamboo which was really cool.
After arriving at the homestay we retrieved a ball from somewhere and played football for a bit, or more aptly beachball as we were on sand. The hear was sweltering so I had to throw buckets of water over myself after and then have a nap before food. The spread of food was cooked by out guide Chao, as well as some helpers from the group. The spread looked really good but sadly I had no appetite at all and wasn’t feeling great. The only answer was to get drunk. Chao was really cool and had bought a bottle of Lao Lao as well as two bottles of Lao whiskey he mixed into a massive whiskey and coke. The group proceeded to drink and bond like only drinking ,or having a common enemy, can make you.
Drinking games commenced and then some local Laos children came out and started playing with us way past their bedtime. We had a lot of fun, running around with them on our shoulders, playing shoulder wars, and arm wrestling. Safe to say I woke up the next day and I was sore. I don’t remember going to bed but to my utter shame I remember waking up. When I awoke I had the feeling of dampness, far too strong to be sweat from sleeping. Thinking upon this I decided I must have reverted back to being 3 years old and weed the bed. Instead of trying to hide it I announced it to the room at large and we all had a good laugh. Life goes on, and how many people can say they wet the bed in Laos?
After setting off at 7am we had an eventful journey. One passenger was sick on the bus multiple times, and at one the stops Christina had gone in the search of food and come back looking like she’d fought a dragon, a big nasty burn on her right leg courtesy of a boiling hot exhaust pipe.
We all felt grateful to arrive in Pakse in one piece, and we once again descended on a lucky restaurant. The food of choice was Indian. I went for the safe option of Tikka Masala, I can be forgiven it’s been 4 weeks, and I didn’t regret it. It was sumptuous, I could have eaten a whole four plates worth along with four naans. After an attempted wander but nowhere to wander to we went to bed. The next morning would be in Don Det, our next hopping off destination.
The Searcher 