Dzienniki motocyklowe ### The Motorcycling diaries ### PL, ENG

Do hostelu w Tha Khek zameldowałem się o 10 wieczorem , po morderczych 12 godzinach podroży z Vang Vieng z przesiadka w stolicy. Okazało się, ze następnego dnia 6 osobowa międzynarodowa ekipa wyrusza na 4 dniowa wyprawę motocyklowa. 500 kilometrowa pętla przez góry, lasy, dżungle i bezdroża Laosu, w poszukiwaniu gigantycznych jaskiń. Bingo!

Po to właśnie przyjechałem do Tha Khek. Mieścina ta skusiła mnie swoja sławą jako miejsce spotkań turystów chcących eksplorować Laos środkowy za pomocą motocykli. Nie spodziewałem się jednak, ze znalezienie towarzyszy wyprawy przyjdzie z taka łatwością! Na moje szczecie ekipa, która uformowała się na kilka godzin przez moim przyjazdem do Tha Khek, zdecydowała się na najdłuższą (tym samym najbardziej ekscytującą) z możliwych trasę.

Nie ma co: Laos jest piękny, pełen pasm górskich o niesamowitych kształtach, pełen motyli (czasami było ich tak dużo ze nie widać było drogi), pełen uśmiechniętych twarzy lokalnej ludności.

Mniej więcej w połowie trasy, na dwieście pięćdziesiątym kilometrze, dotarliśmy do jednej z największych dostępnych turystom jaskini w Laosie. Siedem kilometrów ciemności, wydrążone przez rzekę przecinającą pasmo górskie. Brak slow. Moria z „Władcy Pierścieni”.

Przemierzając ten niesamowity kraj na motorze czułem , ze doświadczam czegoś niezwykłego. Ze dostałem te kilka pięknych chwil w prezencie od życia.


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I left Vang Vieng at 9am and arrived at my next destination 10pm after very long, tiring and must say typical bus nuisance travel that is no different that dozens of other similar that I experienced on the way. 4 hours from Vang Vieng to capital where the bus dropped me at Northern Bus Station. To go south I obviously had to take a next bus from Southern Bus Station and to get there I needed a bus to the centre and next bus from the centre (couple of hours lost). And then never ending distance from Vientiane to Tha Khek. It always amazes me how stuffed the public buses can be – this time they loaded a pretty big motorcycle inside! In order not to waste space somebody even used it as an extra seat heheh. The bus must have stopped in every single village on the way, well...

I checked in to the hostel and started networking immediately. The plan was VERY time constrained – I needed to find people who wanted to do motorcycle trip. I picked that particular hostel as it was recommended as the place where travellers form teams to explore central Laos by motorbike. The pressure I had on me was time related – I had to be in Phnom Penh in Cambodia in 5 days to meet up with Charlyn.

I couldn't be more lucky – there were 6 people in my dorm that were about to hit the road the very next day. They already had motorbikes arranged but agreed to wait for me in the morning. I had a team! And moreover they already had fantastic plan – they were aiming to do a loop: approx. 500km circuit north from Tha Kheak, visiting couple of caves on the way and ticking the gloomiest cave in Laos! That's exactly what I was hoping to do!

And so we went cutting through the country side, through the highways, through the villages, through the jungle, in the rain and in the burning sun, among the butterflies, passing local smiley people waving to us, passing water buffaloes bathing in the muddy ponds, with breathtaking dramatic jungle mountainous landscapes all around us all the time.

The reward awaited after 3 days of the journey – Konglor Cave. 7 kilometres of the adventure in the darkness. The cave is accessible by boat – the river literally cuts through (under) the mountains range. The whole trip consists of getting up the river to the village on the other side of the mountain and then going back the same way. I can describe the experience by comparing it to Moria Mine from the Lord of the Rings, I assume most of you know what I mean. The Konglor Cave was way more than breathtaking, eh well, you gotta go there and see it on your own. Some chambers were so huge and high that our strong torches wouldn't reach the ceiling. Also the moment of leaving the cave after 1.5 hours of being in the freezing darkness will stay in my mind for ever – the exit on the other side was into the jungle. The intensity of green was literally striking! Got some pictures from the cave attached on this page but they hardly express the experience.

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