Kong Lo

Tonight we find ourselves in the village of Kong Lo, about a 7-hour bus trip from Vientiane. Kong Lo is the least touristed place we've been to in Laos. There are only a few guesthouses with attached restaurants and that's about it for tourist infrastructure. It's great, it's quiet, it's calm and such a refreshing change from the loudness of the capital. There are huge walls of limestone mountains surrounding the area.

After arriving in the early evening, we took a walk down the dirt road and entered the park where Kong Lo Cave is located - our reason for coming here. We walked to the mouth of the cave where a river runs into it. Scott took a dip in this clean green water and said it was the most cool he's felt all day.  Tomorrow morning we'll take a boat through the seven kilometers of cave.

For most of the busride from Vientiane to Kong Lo, the onboard TV played Thai karaoke music videos, all with a common theme of lost love with black-and-white flashbacks of the couple happy in the past. I had a good laugh trying to sing along to the karaoke and tried to get Scott to join in, but he just shook his head.

This is the most south in Laos I've ever been.