In the afternoon we left Vientienne and headed off the beaten track again and into the Phou Khao Khouay National Park. It was a steep road through woodland, so steep that the bus couldn't make it up the hill without everyone getting off the bus and walking behind it! We finally arrived at a small campsite close to the Tad Leuk waterfall where we camped between the waterfall and jungle. We had the evening to explore the waterfall whilst our guides made dinner. There were lots of monkeys in the trees keeping a close eye on our food and waiting for an opportunity to steal some of it if they got the chance. It soon got dark so we sat around a campfire and chatted. The guides had brought a bottle of the local rice whiskey called "Lao Lao." They insisted everyone tried a bit (and in Laos it is rude to refuse something) so the bottle got passed around the circle with a shot glass. I was one of the last people to get to try some and from the people's faces who went before me I really wasn't looking forward to trying it. My turn came and it was by far the worst taste I had ever had, it was so strong and like nothing I can compare it to. Like usual whiskey it left a warm feeling inside but a not very nice taste in your mouth. A few minutes later the bottle was passed around the circle once again. I think the locals found it very funny to make most of us pull funny faces as we downed the shot! A few of the boys were putting on brave faces and pretending they could take it. As it started to get passed around for a third time some of us called it a night and went to bed. Those who stayed soon began to feel the effects of it. Ingrid fell over walking up the wooden step ladder and banged her head quite badly and a grumpy French couple who were camping in the same area started to complain the noise!

In the morning some people woke up with sore heads so the bus was fairly quiet for the first few hours. We were driving to Kong Lor to visit the 7km cave. It was a beautiful drive through rice paddy fields and the Karst Mountains. We arrived in the afternoon and dropped our bags off at a very nice guest house that was a few minutes down the road from the cave. When we got to the cave we split up into groups of 3, I was with Fabienne and Line. We put a life jacket on and headed into the abyss of the 7km cave in a traditional motorised canoe. All the other canoes had two guides, one at the front and one at the back but some reason we only had one. It was a little bit scary at first as the canoe was very rocky and the top of it was only a few cm above the water line. I sat very stiff and still not daring to move as I was convinced we would end up falling in. Also we could hear the man at the back scooping out water from the canoe which didn't seem like a promising sound. However after a while I got used to it and started to relax. It was very dark and you couldn't really see anything at all. Then we could see some lights in the distance and we stopped. Our guide pointed in one direction and said "Go" so we started to walk that way. We turned around to look if he was following and once again he pointed and said "Go," so we carried on walking. We then saw a path and followed that. Along the way were lots of amazing rock formations that had been beautifully lit up. Then we came to the end of the path and our guide was waiting for us again with the canoe. We got back in and carried on. At some points the water was too shallow so we had to get out and walk while the guide dragged the canoe. It was hard to walk as I kept nearly losing my flip flops in the current. After a while we reached the other side of the cave and came out into the open air again. We stopped on the land for a little while where there was a drink and snack shop and met up with some other groups. We now had to go all the way back through the cave to get back to where we started so once again we got back in the canoe. When we were just a tiny way in the cave, so it was half dark and half light, there were bats flying around over our heads which was quite cool. When we got back to the cave entrance, it was now dark outside so we went straight back to the guest house where we had a chilled night in front of the TV.