We find a nice room in walking distance of the cave and soak up Kong Lo Village for the rest of the afternoon; it's a really beautiful and peaceful little village. Kong Lo Cave is situated in Phu Hin Bun National Protected Area and consists of a 7.5 Km long tunnel running underneath a limestone mountain. We are taken through the cave on a long boat. I think there may be some sort of program to employ disabled people as I notice many of the boatmen have some form of minor disability. Ours seems have some mental health issue as he talks to himself the entire way through the cave and back again, which only adds to the strange environment. Travelling through the cave is an eerie, but a fantastic experience; we get off at one point to walk past the most amazing stalagmites and stalactites. After our boat journey through the cave, I give into my urge to jump in the crystal clear water, fully clad. It's more difficult to swim in your clothes but I'm starting to get used to it. We take a few good shots and squelch our way back to the room.

We meet Batis and Thibault in the evening, two French guys travelling 'the loop' who kindly offer to take us to Thaket on their bikes. The next day we hop on the back of their bikes - massive packs and all - it's pretty comical! I seem to have suddenly lost all of my fear and really enjoy the ride. Who could have foreseen this? There is something about the random unexpected nature of unfolding events when you are travelling that I love and keeps breathing fresh air into my trip. We climb route 8 stopping at a stunning viewpoint overlooking dramatic young limestone mountains jutting out of flat land and hit the highway straight down to Thakek. The journey takes 6 hours, after just a few hours holding the bags on our backs, we are both dying but it's well worth it. When we finally make it to Thakek we head straight to the river for a well-deserved swim in the setting sun. In the evening we play s*** head and drink cheap Lao whisky with coke and somehow manage to squeeze four people on a bike, it's been a great day and we managed to hitch hike all the way from Laung Prabang!