I think some people are cave people. What I mean is, some people get a kick out of exploring caves. I am not one of those people. So when the idea of visiting Kong Lo Cave in central Laos came up, I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.

I had my heart set on doing a two-day trek through Phu Hin Bin NPA (National Protected Area) that involved a village homestay, emerald-hued lakes and our money going mostly to the villagers themseves. Unfortunately, because they can’t subsidize costs, it was out of my budget. It didn’t help that rainy season meant much of the regular path — and the emerald lake — would be impassable. (If you can afford it, please go on my behalf!)

In that case, there was just one other equally well-reviewed sight in central Laos — Kong Lo, a 7km cave that actually sits within Phu Hin Bin and gives you a great look at the park’s outer boundaries. That was the hook for me. And once we heard you could do homestays in the village, we were sold.

The cave was, in fact, really cool. It was interesting to navigate for more than an hour each way through the dark space with ceilings that, at times, were more than 300-feet-tall. We happened to be the first ones there — the boatmen were whittling paddles and playing games with beer caps when we arrived — so going through first was a nice treat, at least just to say we were first. The cave is just 1km from the village, you pay about $2 in entrance fees and each boat costs roughly $12 per boat with a max of 3 people. I’m so glad we went, but for me, it was more about our experience in the village that will always stay with me.

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After a supremely relaxing three days in Thakhek — worth a visit if you want to chill out, talk to locals, and eat good, cheap Lao and Thai food — we headed off to the village right outside the cave, known as Ban (village) Kong Lo.

It involved three modes of transportation. At 9:30 am we took a cushy (by Lao standards) AC bus that was en route to Vientiane, but we hopped off after just one hour at Vieng Kham. We then took a dingy local bus to Nahin. Once in Nahin, we were notified by a songthaew bound for Ban Kong Lo that we had another two hours before he’d be leaving, which really meant, “we’ll leave when I have more people.” So we finally arrived at 4:30 pm.

It sounds like we knew exactly what we were doing — and we did know where we needed to go every step of the way — but since it was a matter of flagging down buses and songthaews, we were never 100% sure we’d make it to the next leg.

As it turns out, this was one of the most fun rides we’ve ever taken — and one of the most scenic. We wound up the mountains through jungle (and Phu Hin Bin, I think) and the last 45 minutes were the best. This was our (unPhotoshopped) sight through the songthaew toward the end:

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