Well we have covered a lot of miles in the past few days and have been on the move pretty much all the time. As I was telling you, we were going to check out Pakse and arrived on the 12th October during a day of rain. On arrival at our digs we done some research and found that the most common thing was to arrange a day tour to the Bolaven Plateau that is around 90km north of Pakse. The day tour would cost around $30 each and for what you got for the price we thought it would be best just to grab a bus up to that area ourselves and see if we can do it for cheaper. That evening we went out for a bite to eat and found a little Indian owned curry house called Jasmin Restaurant for a good sitty downer. It was such a refreshing change to have an Indian curry instead of Thai, Cambodian or Lao curry which we have had practically every other day. That night there was a massive thunder and lightning storm and we have never heard anything like it. You would hear the deep rumble of the thunder and feel it in your rib cage, and then a flash of neon blue would bleach out everything for a split second and the noise of the lightning crashing into the ground sounded like a bomb going off. I love thunder and lightning but even I was a bit scared of what this was producing.

The next morning and after a little bit more research using the Bible (Lonely Planet book on Southeast Asia) we had found a place called Tat Lo that was based up in the Bolaven Plateau and took the bus up there to check the place out. We found a great little guesthouse down by a river and bridge with great views and relatively reasonable priced room. So this would do nicely for a few nights. We looked into the tours again at the guest house but again we thought we could probably just do it our self. The tour would have included a small trek to see two waterfalls and a few visits to some of the local villages that would last only four hours. For $6 each we thought that we weren't really getting much value so that day we decided to lend a map and go off exploring by ourselves. It was only a short walk until we reached the first water fall that was just over the bridge and up the road. We then found a path into the woods and followed it for a further 40 minutes or so until we clapped eyes on the second waterfall that was about 150 meters tall and surrounded by lush grassy banks. We trekked a little further up stream until we found a place that was calm enough to swim in. So down to our trunks we jumped in for a well deserved dip. A few families of local villagers were close by washing clothes and themselves whilst their kids jumped off the high banks into the river without a care in the world. The locals were chatty but we didn't really know what they were saying as hand signs can only get you so far. One of the local girls approached Ashleigh and asked her for a pen which is common practice for the kids to do. Pens are like gold to them and luckily Ashleigh has a heart of gold too. Within a heart beat she was in her bag and making the little girls day. Amazing to think that something as small as pen can mean so much to someone. After our swim we took a slow walk back down to digs for some dinner, a game of Uno and an early night….but the last one didn't seem to happen once beer and Uno are mixed together.

The next day we had planned to take a tour around the coffee plantations and visit some village but on reflection the sunshine was too good to miss and it had been a while since we had had the chance to let the sun kiss our skin. So we set up camp down by the river side, buried our heads into a good book and let the hours pass by whilst a couple of cows lazily chewed of the sweet grass that surrounded us. One even nearly got Jace's ear and on a second time round his toes too. It was a good call to make the most of the sun that day as the next morning we woke to gray skies and rain that would last for the next three days. The night before we met three girls who were stopping at our guesthouse. We were going to look into taking an elephant ride through the jungle for the day but a trek through the jungle on an elephants back in the rain didn't really sound that appealing. So we decided to move on from Tat Lo and on to Tha Khaek, a further 380km north which meant a bus ride back to Pakse taking two hours and another bus to Tha Khaek lasting a further six. We arrived at around 10pm and were hungry and tired. We had found a place in the Bible called Tha Khaek Travel Lodge to rest our heads for the night and were quite looking forward to getting there due to the write up it had. That feeling was short lived as the place had about as much charm as a drunken man pissing on your feet. Honestly, S-21 had more charm and I'm not making that up. But as I said before we were hungry and tired and we could not be bothered to start looking about. We asked about tours that could take us to the Kong Lo cave and were told that it would cost us $150 each. Our conversation stopped there. Jace couldn't be bothered to look for food and hit the hay as me and Ash hit the streets to find some grub. After walking for some time the only thing we could find was a street stall selling meat and fish snacks. We tried some sausages on sticks and some chicken legs that are stretched out between bamboo sticks. In all honesty we wished we never bothered. After biting into the sausages we were greeted with sweet tasting gristle and our mouths rejected the taste and texture before our brains could tell our mouths to spit it out. Straight into the bin they went and we hoped we would have more luck with the chicken. It was better than the sausages as you can't really mess up grilling a chicken leg. Somehow though, the chicken legs had more grease in them than Danny Zucko has in his hair. So they soon went the distance also. Getting back to S-21…errrr, I mean our digs (if you could call it that, I seen tramps with better houses), we grabbed a bowl of muesli and a slice of cake to kill off our rumbling bellies then climbed into bed.

The next morning we woke and couldn't wait to get out of the place. Defiantly the worst place we have stayed so far. After their silly pricing of the tour we decided to get a bit closer to the Kong Lo caves and made our way to the bus stop via a Tuk-Tuk. On route our driver asked where we were going and told us it would be cheaper to hail a local bus that would drop us where we needed to be. We were heading to Ban Khoun Kham, a further 120km drive north of Tha Khaek. The bus we got on was strange as it was a van version of a Tuk-Tuk that could fit a lot more people into it. But it worked out a lot cheaper to do it this way and would take a few hours to get there.The Views out of the back of the open bus were fantastic and the route is described as the trippiest bit of Lao's with its many leveled and serpentine roads that head through cathedralesque buildings that are surrounded by forest. After a cramped few hours we finally arrived at the small town of Ban Khoun Kham that sits sleepily between the mountains. We had a short walk in the rain through the town and to a place we had read about called Inthapanya Guesthouse. It was a great place with charming rooms, hot showers and a TV that we all yearned for. The TV unfortunately was not working due to the satellite dish blowing up that very day. Putting that aside though we got chatting to the owner, Jimmy, who is a great character. He is like a cross between Rod Hull and Ken Dodd! We asked him about a trip to the cave and he said it could all be arranged for the next day via his van and including the boatman at the caves to take us through, all for the price of $16 each. So up yours Tha Khaek Travel Lodge, $150 my arse!

We woke early the next morning some better than others as we have all been a bit ill over the past few days with colds, bad bellies and aches and pains. We put these aside though and climbed into Jimmy's van for the short trip to the Kong Lo cave, something that we had been trying to get to for the past few days. On arrival you are greeted with the view of a vast mountain with a lake flowing down from the mouth of the cave. We hopped on the boat with our head torches ready and set off into the wide open mouth of the cave. Within seconds we were in total darkness and nothing could be seen front or back. As our eyes adjusted we could start to make out the feature of inside the cave and were blown away by how vast and cavernous it was. Trying to take pictures inside the cave to show its scale was impossible as the dark would eat up the light from the flash like a drunkard eating a kebab. The cave itself is 7km long with a flow of water stretching its length. Halfway through the cave we stopped the boat and climbed out onto a stairway that would take us up towards the stalagmites and stalactites. These were huge as they have been formed over thousands of years and it was quite eerie viewing them via torchlight. After a while we made our way back into the boat and carried along the water until we finally made it to the other end of the cave. The light spilled in from the opening like dominoes falling over and within seconds all that was dark was light again. We hopped of the boats once more and looked around the stunning sights of vast boulders covered in moss, the vast roof of the opening of the cave and the water that trickled down from all angles. After taking it all in we were back on the boats to complete our trip by heading back through the cave to where we started from. It was a few days in the making to actually get to the cave but it was defiantly worth it.

We had already decided that after the cave had been seen it would be a good time to move on…again! We were dropped off by Jimmy at a local bus that would take us to the junction to catch the bus we needed. We were heading to the nation's capital of Vientiane as we need to arrange our visas for entry into Vietnam as these can only be arranged there and not on the border. We arrived at the junction after about two hours and were straight onto a bus headed for Vientiane. The only problem was that we had to sit on the VIP seats. This might sound good but in reality the VIP part is a joke in Lao. It basically means that there are no more seats left on the bus so you have to sit on a plastic stool in the middle of the aisle. Just what you need on a four hour journey. Needless to say we made it here safe and sound, even though our backs ached a bit. Over the next few days we plan to take things a bit slowly as we have travelled a long way over the past few days and need some time to rest and recuperate. We will get our visas processed and take in the sights on Vientiane with a pace of a tortoise.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x