Ouch - my legs hurt. And my arms. The whole body, in fact. We've just finished a two-day trek in the Khammoune jungle, which I'm pleased to say not many people in this world have experienced. It's a relatively new and untouched trek, which could explain how special it was.

The trek mainly entailed some enormous caves, quiet lakes, mountainous scenery throughout and of course, some uphill struggles. Our guide Mr Me, was a short man who trekked in flip-flops and t-shirt, along with 3 other local guides each day with us to really understand what this unique province was about. The Buddha cave was most spectacular and large, not like other boring caves we have seen in other parts of the world.

There were five of us in total - one Swiss, one French, one American and two dashing Brits ;-) The village we stayed at on the first night couldn't have been more 'Lao', even if it tried. I mean, the children ran around getting frantically excited playing with an empty 'Toshiba' cardboard-box! That's the good life. After 10km of walking, we ate Water-buffalo noodle soup for dinner (took a bit of getting used to) and watched the sun set around the mountains.. it couldn't have been more perfect. After dark, the fun began.. The locals came to our 'hut' to perform a traditional ceremony in which we were given cotton bracelets as a blessing along with a glass of Lao Lao, which is 40% unrefined alcohol. Yum(!) Lao people are big drinkers & smokers, but I stuck with my beer Lao (which is the best beer ever, may I add) to avoid an hangovers the next morning.

One lady laid out five thin mattresses on the floor and hung up mosquito nets for us - amazing! The toilet/shower left a lot to be desired for.. but we're in Lao, so we will live like they do.

The following morning we were off again, but this time it was a 13km trek with no attractions to split the journey up. We arrived at village no.2 to take a tractor ride to the Blue Lagoon (Kongleng Lake) which was really memorable. A picture of deep blue clear waters, it looked so artificial I had to ask whether they added something.. I got laughed at - take that as a 'No' then? All had a little swim around, and it was back to village no.2 for chicken soup and rice for lunch - simple, but filling.

I was relaxing, taking it easy, thinking we had finished trekking for the day. How wrong I was. I was assuming we took the tractor to our last stop, the rapids, but actually we were walking those last 4km. Ugh! The heat was too much, but it had to be done. Luckily, it was a flat, leafy walk and the last swim of the trek made up for it:

All in all, well worth the $65. The American guy, Tim, was using this trek to devise a very similar trek for the company he works for back home in Colorado, called 'Where There Be Dragons'. He was especially friendly to the locals and is currently researching areas around the Mekong to add to the company's profile of already amazing hikes in the Andes and the Alps. I'm glad I got to do this whilst the guides are still passionate and proud of where they come from, because I'm sure in time that unfortunately might not be the case..

*Managed to get the photos up!