Wednesday, March 26, 2014
We drove north along Mekong and after 100 kms or so turned right at Road No. 8 and started to wind through the mountains. This was such a pretty drive and we both enjoyed the mountain scenery. The last 40 kms were particularly scenic.
It was around lunchtime when we arrived and we planned to explore the cave in the afternoon. So we had a little time to find a place to stay first. The first place we stopped at had a sign up saying they were full. But we soon found someone who invited us in, showed us a room and invited us to stay. It was a little weird, as the lady did not speak english, and we could not work out how much the room would cost. And the “We are Full” sign freaked us out a little.
The Kong Lor Cave was truly amazing. It is 7.5 kms long cave with a underground river running through it and is navigated by small long-tail boat. We and our two boatmen spent several hours navigating the dark waters and just soaking it all up. This was one of those experiences we are not likely to forget. In the caves we had to negotiate the occasional rapid, which was a little exciting and a little wet. By the time we finished the tour, Caroline was ready to sign-up for another go. But instead we headed back to our hotel and started the search for dinner. The village near the cave really is a “village’. There are home-stays and a very nice riverside cafe/restaurant (‘Enjoy Boy Guesthouse’) where they served us a fine meal and cold BeerLao.
We nodded off to sleep still not knowing how much the bed was going to cost us.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
During the night the internet started to work. Yihaaaa! Also during the night some marketing company in America thought it was a good idea to ring us. And to cap it off a local bird sat outside our door and sang a beautiful yet ill-timed bird song, every hour or so. This was also our last night of taking Malarone (aka Atovaquone/proguanil) which is a medication used in prevention of malaria. One of the side effects is vivid dreams. We have both have been experiencing or the last month.
On checkout we discovered the room for the night was 60,000 Kip, or USD $7.50. What was I worried about?
