Cave Lodge

After running into a Quebec friend at just the right time we left Pai towards Soppong, or Pang Mappa if you prefer. We were riding on the local bus doors open and peope possessions rolling out down the mountain... I enjoyed the view, oreos and some Tom Robbins.
From the bus stop it is an 8km trip to Ban Tam, the village where the lodge is. We went by motorbike/taxi, but this time I was prepared. I put some of my heavier objects in my day pack and handed it to the driver to store between his legs.... Then big pack on my back I hopped on and off we went.

The cave lodge is a beautfu pace to stay, it has a large covered deck on a steep slope with bungalows on the slope leading down to a river. There is also a dorm and my friend and I opted for this. We were there for roughlyt a week and had the area to ourselves the whole time. Basically it was a private room for half the price.

That very night was an interesting one. A group of Japanese tourists were due to arrive. It turned out that they were form a hilltribe in Japan coming for a cultural exchange with the local hiltribe. After arriving they put on their traditional dress and prepared for the ceremonies to come. From what I gathered from the animals on their headdresses and my limited knowledge of local hilltribes they both could have been practicing some form of Animism and this may be what catalysed the exchange.

In good stereotype the Japanese (keep in mind they are from a somewhat remote hilltribe) took constant photos, wanting pics of us as well, and pics with us and pics without us, it was lots of fun.

Once eveyone was together there was a parade to the center of town and then some music and dancing. 2 localmen put on a costume similar to a chinese new year dragon ony the head was a skull similat to an antlered deer. (real skull) The frontman was the head and the man in back was bent over the whole time mabe holding the waist of the front man. They put on a fantastic show and in the fading ight could easiy have been mistook for a real creature. The movements weere perfectly co-ordinated and they danced in a very jerky but smooth way. Hows that for a descirption? Every noe and then a local would put some money into the circle wherew the dance was going on and they would pause, dance up to the money and then the head would look around and then scoop it up. Everyone seemd to enjoy.
The japanese demonstration was a little quieter with some songs we were abe to repeat and then we retreated to the lodge for supper.

While the dorm was cheap, eating was not but the food was great. (especiay the garic bread which had huge shuncks of garic and was so strong I did not once get attacked by a vampire the entire time)
http://cavelodge.com/ for info
The lodge is the only place I have been that gives you a map of the area so you can go hiking on your own. We did this, along with a gemran coupe and walked a ridgeline which had beautiful views and found a couple small caves that were fun to explore. We were huinting for a cave on the map that we couldnt find. While the map was not drawn to scale it did suffice and on it was the statement" You can't get ost" which proved to be true.
Another day we took a trip with a guide to 3 caves. This was a super day. The caves were all what they called adventure caves and included some climbing, crawling and scrambling.
The most exciting was the cave that has a 30 meter waterfall inside... We got to the mouth which had a very small river running into it and went in. After a few meters we put down our bags and turned on our headlights. We had to duck down to get under a part, but that part never really lifted again. We were on our hands and knees crawling in a foot of water with our backs scraping on the ceiling.

It was very difficut but just doable to keep the camera pocket out of the water (mostly). This cave was not for the claustrophobic, nor the hydrophobic. Nor the arachnaphobic as there were some waterspiders jumping around in there too fighting the current.
It turned out tha we came to the top of the waterfall and got to lookdown at it.It is supposedy 30 meters but it is hard to see that from the top...but it was quite an adventure... One of the other caves contained great stalagtites and mites, while the other had some seashell type fossils...

Our guide was Mr. Wat and he was super. Lots of the time were were hiking through grass taller than us and thicker than any afro and he would part it with his bamboo staff, a thai moses dividing the green see. We came across rice and been farms, ans saw how beens are first taken out of the pods....beating them witha stick over and over...and then sorted more finely by women shaking them in large bamboo baskets with very low sides, kind of like a giant frying pan...they had some perfect technique that ejected the fluff but kept the beans.

We also came across peanuts growing and ate them right out of the ground. They are very different when not dry!

Another day I took a day long kayak trip down the river which was fun and we got to explore a few more caves. Part of the trip was 2 minutes kayaking through a giant cave called Nam Lod. We returned to the mouth of this cave atngiht to witness the swifts returning to nest. There were hundreds if not thousands passing every second....It was fantastic to watch.... They fy quite beautifully... As an avid nature video fan I knew what to look for...the predator birds that hang around the mouthes of such caves. I saw a couple flying high, and a few minutes later I saw what I was waiting for...
At first I didnt realize it fr what it was, I saw a swift spiraling down, ike one of the helicopter seeds falling fomr a tree in Quebec. Then the predator swept down and snatched it in its claws and took off. It mus have grabbed it and snapped its neck or wing, dropped it and then grabbed it again.
Each night there was a fire at the lodge.... the lodge is pretty much outdoors, not what the name suggests and it was slightly cool but in a pleasnat way inthe evenings.
Julie (my hiking partner) had heard of a rice festival in Pai so we headed there on our way to the Lao border.....
I will add more pics when I have some time...