Cave lodge

My day started in the tiny hamlet next to the guesthouse I am staying in outside of Soppong. I was looking for tea but there is no real cafe or noodle stand. I asked a local villager where I could get some and she stopped what she was doing to make a pot and then shared it with me while the monks did their rounds. Amazing.

The rest of the day was spent with five of us chasing our Shan guide up and down tiny trails through bamboo thickets, mountain forests and three stupendous caves. The guide was, although very kind and helpful, a walking machine.

                                      John is saying "Follow Mr. Park, your guide and good luck.."

                                                     Over hill, over dale, chasing Mr. Park

The caves included snakes, spiders, blind shrimp and blind cave fish.

                                                            Putting on the cave gear

                                                          This guy guards the cave

                                                Yuppers, John said it would get dirty

                                                   Fossils!! That's why its called "Fossil Cave"

 In the second cave we had to crawl and almost belly slide through a foot of water for several hundred yards. Yeah Baby!! Trekking for the strong of leg, lung and heart.

                                             Waterfall Cave, nestled into this limestone cliff

                                                          We got real small in here

                                                              Steamy, steamy breath

                                                     Looking out of Christmas Cave

                                                                    Serious Formations

                                                         Very Happy Spelunker Boy

Last night I watched hundreds of thousand is Swifts returning to their cave at twilight. The river that runs past the lodge disappears into this huge cavern and emerges a kilometer later.

Tomorrow I will force myself to leave and I will ride to the most northwestern corner if Thai and the Burmese border.

Sent from my iPod