Vang Vieng

Well, a quick update only 5 days later - am I actually getting into this?
Made my way to Vang Vieng on a 3 hour bus trip with far too many young & loud English backpackers - sorry, but it's true. A taste of what was to come. This joint has a reputation as a party-town & indeed it's the biggest concentration of beckpeckers, fisherman trousers, pancake makers & ridiculous haircuts I've encountered probably on this whole trip. Think Glastonbury maybe!

So, anyway, after a day or so met a cool Finnish guy & we hung out a bit. TBH, I did f***all for the last few days except hang out on hammocks & read my book, as well as eat drink & be merry of course. Today, this changed. We hired a moto & took off for the hills, of which there are few really; what they do have an abundance of thought are giant limestone cliffs marooned across the landscape. Trees hang on every possible ledge making it a rather spectacular sight.

Anyway, enough descriptivism, cut to the actionism. Got on the bike & got lost in the hills. We had only a half tank of gas left when we decided to about-turn. We stopped at one of the many local caves on the way back-still not sure of the name, but one of the names was 'Shell Cave' so that will do. Well, wow wee to use a phrase from childhood! Some of you will remember me in Australia becoming generally 'over' caves. Well, consider that rewound & erased. This was something else. Every kind of terrain was inside this cave. Pebbles, sand, clay, hard, soft, wet, slippy, drippy, sloshy & often muddy. We had been pre-advised there would be swimming - happy days - haven't done that in an age. However, once we were safely inside & our guide ( who had materialised & stepped up to the task without our say-so) piped up that 'swimming one hour'. No, not swimming for an hour, swimming was one hour away. I baulked. I was hungry already & needed a pee, but we persevered.

Before long, the birkenstocks had to come off to wade through some murky water pools. Thereafter was what I can only imagine is like a Lough Derg pilgrimage, walking barefoot through craggy ground, where pebbles become blessed relief as not jagged. Anyway, cutting to the action again, we next arrive at a pool which first of all looks like a dead-end. No, this is where the swimming starts. We brace ourselves for the cold water (oh, it's me & my finnish mate, Matias who are on this jaunt btw) & get to. There's just enough space for our heads to be over water as we doggypaddle through. The other side reveals enough space to hold a small party - the terrain constantly changing.

Fastforward to the good bits, we go through another mile of caverns & corridors, stalagmites & the rest abound, barely lit up by our head-torches. The sound of waterfall becomes audible & after 5 more minutes we finally arrive at an underground river, which we have to wade through the various levels to get to a deep pool where we have a quick dip & take some snaps. Absolutely brilliant & the water was cool but refreshing. Our guide spoke to us and what I took from it was that the river continues upstream for much longer still. Quite something. 2 and a half hours later we emerged to the afternoon's heat subsiding.

I will quit while I'm ahead now & warn you that I'm off to do some tubing & zip-lining & perhaps beer-lao'ing tomorrow - wish me luck