Khammouane Province sits at the narrow waist of Laos, the shortest distance between economic powerhouse Thailand and dynamic Vietnam. It is the 'under-developed' central zone of an under-developed country ... which means that much of it's natural beauty has been preserved.
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Not on most travel itineraries, the region has been discovered by the leading edge of young back-packers who rent motor bikes to do "the loop". The highlight of the loop, and one of Laos' natural wonders, is the impressive Konglore Cave - a 7-km long cavern carved through a black limestone mountain by a clear, turquoise river. I decide that this is to be my destination for the first week in Laos.
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But first, I have to get there. The common form of public travel is an open pick up truck with a hard bench on either side. My driver Mr. Khamma and guide Mr. Yealavanh ('yeah') pick me up in this one and we drive the smooth, paved highway 13 half way back to Vientiane, before turning east into the mountains.
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The valley is broad and flat, a patchwork of dry, dusty rice paddies and green tobacco fields, glowing in just watered health; scattered villages against a backdrop of steep limestone ridges.
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Just before Ban Khoun Kham is the Sana lookout - knife edged ridges of black limestone fade into the white haze of the tropical heat.
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Nourishment is an important part of any trek, and when we stop for lunch, I'm brought one of the Lao staples - Laap, a salad of fish and mint leaves, with sticky rice and a clear broth.
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- That night, there's no food at the guest house ... the owner's sister is getting married and everyone is involved in preparing a feast for 750 people. I'm invited ... and spend a rain- and beer-soaked evening becoming buddies with the groom's uncle. Each table is loaded down with plates of beef, fish, egg rolls, and urns full of steamed rice. (See future post on "village life" for more wedding photos).
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- The grooms uncle does not succeed in drinking me under the table, and puddle of water on my bed from a leaking roof doesn't keep me from a good night's sleep. I'm in fine shape for the next leg of my trek. A 22-km bike ride through a number of villages to the mouth of the Konglore Cave.
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Despite the 90 degree heat and 90 percent humidity, it's a relatively easy ride - heading towards the head of the valley where the limestone cliffs come together around the pictoresque village of Ban Kanglore.
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- Just a few kilometers beyond the village is one of the world's most beautiful sights: a deep turquoise pool, ringed by untouched forest and pebbly beaches, at the base of a sheer black limestone cliff. At the base of the cliff, a small black opening marks the spot where the river ends its 7 km journey through the mountain and tumbles over a small waterfull into the sunlight.
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Other than a few small children tumbling into the water from the distant rocks, I have the cool, clear waters to myself - a life-reaffirming, body-temperature adjusting respite from the heat.
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They have to drag me away, but it's time for the next leg of the trek. I and my backpack are loaded into a 'long-tail' boat... a solid wooden plank canoe with a long shaft 
motor ... just inside the mouth of the cave and we enter another world. This must be what Jonah felt like inside the whale. -
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The cavern is huge, rising in places to heights of at least 100 feet. With only the lamps strapped to our foreheads, we scan the smooth, ribbed arches and bulging outcroppings around us. At times, the gravel riverbed catches the shallow draft of our boat and we have to get out to push it over shoals and up small waterfalls.
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It's a welcome and beautiful sight, an hour later, when a distant glow turns out to be the other end of the cave. We emerge into welcoming white daylight and fresh air - and an odd sense in the pit of my stomach, of freedom.
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I spend the night in Ban Natan ... a small, agricultural village of solidly built stilt homes accessible only through the cave. (See future post on village life).
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-That night, as I'm sharing a feast cooked over an open fire with the other trekkers that are staying in the village - from Australia, the US, Japan, Finland, Israel and Germany - we hear a voice shouting. The "white elephants" have come down from the hills and are raiding the village garden. Together we dash out into the fields and from a safe distance watch a mother and young calf destroy a fence and pull up "casava" plants. In the distance, villagers sing and shout, raising a ruckus to scare off other intruders. This is one of the very few places in South East Asia where elephants still survive in the wild.
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We're seen off the next morning by the family, headman and a few curious villagers, and as my fellow trekers climb back into the long tail boats, I'm loaded into an open plastic kayak for the return trip through the cave.
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The Trek to Konglore Cave has been an extraordinary opportunity to see an untouched corner of Laos up close, to spend time in the typical stilt villages of the Lowland Lao and to immerse myself in tropical beauty and a natural wonder that few have yet to discover.
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