One thing you'll quickly learn in Vang Vieng Laos, is that on a sunny day, it's blistering hot in the afternoon. It's the kind of heat, humidity, and sun that zaps your strength; so I've been getting up at 5:00am and doing activities on my own. This is an early morning adventure from just the other day.
Heading out around 5:30 am while the sun is just coming up, I capture this photo demonstrating traditional Lao life along with the growing tourist industry represented by the rising hot air balloon in the background.
Happy with my real life photo I continue over the Orange Bridge, crossing the Nam Song River.
The early morning view of the mountains.
I got this photo from atop a stair case along the mountain side.
At the top this cave was inaccessible at 6am.
I soon came across this Lagoon. You can swim under the water and it opens into a cave area. 
In the same area there was a small cave with a Buddha Shrine inside. Many caves have Buddhas placed inside of them in Laos.
I soon find myself on a trail leading to this strange area. Look what I find still bedded down from the night.
I decide not to cross the bridge and see the caves along the side of the mountain.
I continue on the hardened mud trail worn down by the cows. I see an opening into the mountain but it doesn't seem like much.
I come around a corner and find myself looking right into a cave.
It's not even 7:00 am now, using my phone as a flash light I enter the cave and crawl through a long tunnel which this video leads up to.
A cave chamber opens up and I see I can go on further climbing up a broken ladder, but I felt unsafe doing so and turned back.
Feeling a little bit of claustrophobia and adrenaline, I soon see light!
The trail continues and so does this post. See part two here. 
