Postcard from a Laos cave

Well, it has been an extraordinary week during which I have been blessed by Buddhist monks, scrambled and driven through all sorts of rain forest tracks, and pitched my tent in total darkness after the vehicle carrying it was delayed.

Now I’m spending the day in Vientiane, Laos’s capital, trying to get my head around all the fast-moving imagery which I’ve been part of.

Again, there’s too much to put into one piece, and I’ve a lot of work to do today, but here are some pictures of just one small event, a 7.5-kilometre journey under a mountain, paddling traditional Lao dugouts along an underground river.



It was just an amazing experience, particularly for yours truly who is not at all keen on caves.



The trip took us around two hours, a pair of us to a dugout along with a pair of boatmen. It has been a long time since I paddled so far.



By the way, the alternative to get from our camp to the point where we exited the cave, was a 10-hour drive on really difficult dirt roads, which meant that Land Rover drivers had to go through the night in order to have our vehicles ready so we could continue with the competition.



More later.

Brian.