Laos

We flew into Vientiane and stayed overnight to catch the bus to Kong Lor in the morning. It was immediately obvious that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was causing significant fuel shortages in Laos. There was only one service station open near the bus station, and its forecourt was packed with motorcycles, while cars and trucks queued up back along the road. When we headed out into the countryside almost all the service stations were closed, with their driveways blocked off to vehicles. Luckily the buses were still running.

We arrived in the bus from Vientiane, and Mr Google fooled us again. This time google maps showed no road going to our accommodation - instead it led us to a small village with a track leading down to where we were going to stay. That may have been true once, but not any more. We searched in vain for a track while villagers waved us back to the main road. Eventually a woman came and led us along the "track". First we had to climb over a rough fence, then bush-bash along a totally unused trail, that led to the lovely wide road into our homestay.

We were staying right down on the river, a short walk up to the village, which had a number of restaurants and other tourist accommodation. We walked the length of the small village to get to the entrance to the national park, then onto the cave.

Kong Lor cave is over seven kilometres long, with the Nam Hinboun River running through it. It has soaring ceilings and limestone formations, but most are hidden in the dark - there are no lights in the cave. The village of Kong Lor sits just outside the National Park, and is within walking distance of the cave. Visitors pay a park entry fee, and can arrange to go through the cave by longtail boat. The cave opens out again at the village of Ban Natane - then it is back into your sampan and another boat ride in the pitch dark returning to Kong Lor.

Because the sampans are flat-bottomed, with no seats, Kaye was unable to go in them (arthritis is a bugger some times) but Geoff was happy to take the trip.

We planned to cross into Vietnam at the Nam Phao border crossing. There was no public transport that would get us there, so we asked our hosts to organise a car and driver to take us to the border. We drove through undulating countryside, then up into the mountains - eventually into misty clouds. As we neared the border the road was half blocked by kilometres of parked trucks, all waiting to be cleared through. Between the heavy mist and the trucks our driver had a really hard time getting us there. Once we got to the border post it was fairly obvious that very few people walked through this border; there was no local transport on either side, and it was a long way from any villages. Nevertheless, we left Laos and entered Vietnam.