Ban Khoun Kham & Tham Kong Lo Cave

Asia » Laos
September 10th 2010

Published: September 14th 2010

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Guy and Liffy

Cock fighting - vicious stuff

Ban Khoun Kham & Tham Kong Lo Cave

Straight off the bus from Cat Ba we arrived in Hanoi, and within the hour we'd organised an overnight sleeper (approx 20hrs) to Laos, swapped our lonely planet, changed money, had a munch and waited at Ling and Annie's guest house for one final suprise goodbye!

Then the journey began....first a minibus took us through the heaviest, noisiest traffic we've ever experienced ( we were gridlocked for about 20mins at one point), to the bus terminal. We'd booked a soft sleeper for the long overnight trek, and weren't disappointed at all. (The bus was more like a cryogenic freezer aboard a spaceship- see pic) Three rows of fully reclining seats, double storey, with aircon and blankets.We met up with some Germans from our Mekong river trip and braced ourselves for the long road ahead. Luckily we were so tired that ipod on and we soon dozed the hours away, awakened at the border post just as the sun was rising. Strong coffee helped us past the Vietnamese officials who insisted on a bribe or they wouldn't stamp us out of the country. After an initial stand off by the whole bus

Before exploring the cave

load of tourists, we finally gave in and paid the bribe in order to continue on to Laos customs just a few hundred metres away.......
A quick form filling session, more money, another bribe and we all finally had shiny new month long visas to Laos. (Is anyone ever going to sort these boarder guards and there bribing practices out!) We hopped back on the bus and started to notice the scenery. We were now up in the hills, the air was cooler and less humid , the jungle denser and large open rice paddys glowed luminous green from the valley below...gorgeous!
Our final destination was meant to be the capital city of Vientiane, but we asked the driver to drop us off early at a small village along the way (Ban Khoun Kham). Guy had read about a cave that was 7.5kms long, and we couldn't let the opportunity pass us by!.

The driver really did just drop us off at the roadside...so we stood there somewhat dazed, backpacks on wondering which way to go. Luckily its a small one street town and we quickly found a very friendly guest house, were we had another fine strong coffee

Our Bus to Laos

and a shower.
Chatting to the friendly owner Mon, about a possible visit to the cave the next day, she said leave it to her, and we did! Mon also lent us her two slightly decrepit bicycles on which to explore. fortunately there seems to be very little traffic in Laos, so our wobbles, flat tyres and lack of working brakes wasn't too much of an issue. We found the local food market and delighted in checking out all the local produce. I bought what i thought was sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves...looked just like ones from Thailand..only to find inside the parcel sized wrapping was a portion of shredded raw pork no bigger than a matchbox! You live and learn i suppose.

The rest of the village was a very simple, mellow place, wooden houses on stilts, children giggling at us on our bikes, cows and pigs everywhere, such a contrast to the city madness of Hanoi. We found several limestone crags jutting out of the ground..(almost a terrestrial version of Halong bay) with jungle surrounding us it was a great bike ride, and fabulous to stretch our legs again.
We headed back along the road to

Laos Jungle from our room

our guest house before it got too dark (tricky to see cows and potholes with no lights!) for a yummy home cooked dinner and an early night.
The next day we awoke to an almighty thunderstorm so had a lazy morning before, as promised by Mon, we set off to the cave.
Jumping onto the back of a local van/tuktuk we squeezed in next to some locals and 3 other travellers headed for Tham Kong Lo Cave, David Cheryl and Mathias. We bumped and chatted for the hours ride through more great paddy scenery, dropping off and picking up locals as we went.
The drop off point was a small area of partly cleared jungle, with massive, i mean MASSIVE trees, leading down to a very innocent looking stream. We boarded two small canoes powered by mini versions of the Thailand longtail engines, and head torches primed whizzed off into the dark dark cave.

It was HUGE!!! It felt like we'd been swallowed by the mountain, deeper and deeper we went, darker and darker it became until it was just us in tiny boats dwarfed in an enormous cavern. The roof dripped with stalactites, and eerie shadows kept us

Liff on Bike

guessing as to what surrounded us, caves led off from our main route and swirls and currents meant over boatman zig zagged at speed through the tunnel. After several kms (yes it really was that long) we hit a section of rapids too shallow for the engine to be of use,and we had to pull the boat over the rocks before jumping back in. The next suprise was when we docked on a small rocky shore, and headed up a slippery path to witness mother nature at its best. Another big cave with brightly lit formations...off we went to explore... stunning, a magical underground marvel, very similar to the caves in Halong Bay except this one was 4.5km underground.
Back into the canoes and after another speedy ride we turned a corner into ...sunshine!!! we emerged through a spectacular hole into dense jungle and meandered down the river. After a short shore break we we delighted to jump back in our canoes for the return journey... it was every bit as exciting and thrilling as the first time...we HIGHLY recommend this to anyone coming to Laos AWESOME!

Having made friends with the others during our trip we made plans

Jungle trees

and headed out to dinner together in the village. More beer Lao and Lao Lao (Local rice whiskey) and tasty food and we were all up chatting til the wee hours of the morning.
Slightly hung over and greeted by another bout of tropical rain , the next morning was also a lazy one.We headed out after lunch to try and find another local sight....a double waterfall. Enquiring at the local tourist office as to the route we should take through the jungle, we were warned that if we didn't take a local guide we could up lost for days and days in the thick bush (apparently some tourist had previously gone awol for 10days), so we rode off disappointed. We bumped into Cheryl and Mathias again and set off as a foursome to explore. Not far out of town and a small sign pointed the way into the jungle...undaunted we followed. After a pretty easy hack through jungle trails we were rewarded with a picture perfect little waterfall complete with 'bathing area'! We stayed and played til the sun began to fade, before retracing our steps back to the main road. Mission accomplished!!
Another dark cycle back along the