When we started our Lao journey in Sam Nuea area, we thought “Wow, that’s really rural and unspoiled” but we can say even louder “Wow” about Maung Xai and Muang La areas. We saw already some temples and waterfalls in this area so now it’s time to explore Chom One Cave. It’s relatively new cave as its exploration began only over 10 years ago (even though villagers of Ban Chom Ong were hunting here for bats and exploiting guano long time before that). It took as several hours to visit it and it’s definitely worth it. Hopefully by the time of your visit there will be another ladder (one cracked under our weight).
We couldn’t just leave the area without visiting and eventually staying in the village in honour of which was names this cave. Staying for the night with the local community and living through the same level of comfort was priceless. That's when you start appreciating small things like potable water and electricity. We managed to gather all the kids while flying the drone and bonfire, even without marshmallows, was perfect touch to this lovely day.
Next morning we were ready to carry on driving. Everything was really great for the last few weeks so it’s not a surprise that our first accident happened. There was some oily turn so we slept and almost ended up on the side of the road, and that's while going 20 km per hour! No serious injuries and the motorbike was integral though.
Laos is famous for variety of caves and we can confirm that caves can be found and visited basically everywhere, no effort or navigation skills required. On the way to Huay Xai we couldn’t miss another cave called Lao Rao. We drove for several hours on the really scenic road and needed to stretch our legs a bit so visiting it was an obvious decision. It was in the afternoon and there was no-one apart of us and a guardian, lets call it a private tour. Well maintained, not too long and didn’t require any excessive physical efforts for its exploration.
In Huay Xai we are planing to get a boat trip to Pak Beng and carry on driving to the south from there so stay tuned, more adventures are coming!