After an afternoon on the river kayaking yesterday, we decided to do some exploring on land and went out to the famous Tam Jung Caves.

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The caves sit on the outskirts of Vanguard Vieng, close to the river. The water at the base of the mountains was so clear and inviting.

After crossing a makeshift wooden bridge, the original one having been lost in a prior flooding a year or so ago, we arrived at the foot of the steps leading up to the cave entrance.

Once inside the caves, they split into two main areas which spread out for several hundred feet eventually ending with an opening facing out from the hill side.

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Whilst the caves were lit, the electricity connections were open to the elements with dripping water close by. Not sure what health & safety experts would have made of it!

Once back outside the sun made a welcome return and we had a wander around the town and watched a local fisherman skinning their mornings catch.

This afternoon we had some admin to sort with the preparation for our China visa applications. This took the best part of 2.5hrs and we’re still not sure if they are done correctly, such was the amount of info required and the criteria for our photos. We have an appointment at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok on the 10th June, so hopefully things will get sorted then.

After the pain of the form filling, Andy decided to take on some physical pain, with a 10k run around Vanguard Vieng and take in the view of the river and mountains.

This evening we headed out with a few of the other members of our group to a riverside restaurant called Greens, a popular haunt with visiting tourists and where every other voice was either English, Australian or Canadian!

Post our meal, we decided to push on to a local bar and guess what it was an Irish themed place called Gary’s selling Guinness amongst other local beers.

Tomorrow we move on to our last stop in Laos the capital city of Vientiane. We have an organised tour of the city along with a visit to COPE (cooperative orthotic and prosthetic enterprise), a charity for land mine & cluster bomb victims resulting from the Vietnam/American war that raged in Laos from 1968 to 1973.