We said our goodbyes at Baan Mai Guesthouse (especially to their cat 'Richie') and were once again on the road, this time we were heading to Soppong a small town roughly 150k's away from Mae Hong Son. We were heading here specifically to stay at a Cave Lodge 10k's out of town.
About 100k's into our trip we decided to turn right off the highway and follow the signs to a waterfall. We rode through a small village until we reached a very bumpy, steep, winding dirt road which we of course decided to follow some more. About 30 minutes into our trip we turned off our motorbikes and still could not hear anything that resembled a waterfall, we decided to turn back. On our way we spotted some Elephant poo and I started freaking out a little bit thinking we might cross paths with some wild Elephants, but instead, we had a different encounter. Justin had stopped to read a sign about Gibbons I stopped behind him and excitedly exclaimed "OMG THERES SOME GIBBONS!". The Gibbon family of 4 (which is the most endangered Ape species in the world) were relaxing and swinging on an abandoned bridge.
We took some pictures and exchanged some "OMFG, Can you believe this!?" and left the Gibbons in peace and continued back onto the highway until we reached 'The Cave Lodge'. We checked into our awesome bungalow and went for a walk to Tham Lod Cave, a site which houses 3 amazing caves.
We arrived and after asking several times if there is a way for us to not pay to go through the cave, to just walk around, the worker there annoyedly said yes just walk then and left us. So we started our journey around the cave and finally came face to face with the exit of the cave, where in 30 minutes we would be seeing over 500,000 swifts returning to their nests in the cave after a day of foraging.
When we arrived, we decided to climb up to the top level to get a view from up there, once we got half way up people were yelling, "stop don't come up". We assumed they were a tour group who just didn't want us up there, so we kept walking closer until they yelled again "there's a snake just up this ladder". Sure enough, there was a 6ft python climbing the wall of the cave right next to the ladder we were about to climb. I freaked and ran back out while Justin tried getting some photos.
After Justin got some photos we decided to head back down to wait for the birds to return at sunset and then walked back to the Cave Lodge.
About 100k's into our trip we decided to turn right off the highway and follow the signs to a waterfall. We rode through a small village until we reached a very bumpy, steep, winding dirt road which we of course decided to follow some more. About 30 minutes into our trip we turned off our motorbikes and still could not hear anything that resembled a waterfall, we decided to turn back. On our way we spotted some Elephant poo and I started freaking out a little bit thinking we might cross paths with some wild Elephants, but instead, we had a different encounter. Justin had stopped to read a sign about Gibbons I stopped behind him and excitedly exclaimed "OMG THERES SOME GIBBONS!". The Gibbon family of 4 (which is the most endangered Ape species in the world) were relaxing and swinging on an abandoned bridge.
We took some pictures and exchanged some "OMFG, Can you believe this!?" and left the Gibbons in peace and continued back onto the highway until we reached 'The Cave Lodge'. We checked into our awesome bungalow and went for a walk to Tham Lod Cave, a site which houses 3 amazing caves.
We arrived and after asking several times if there is a way for us to not pay to go through the cave, to just walk around, the worker there annoyedly said yes just walk then and left us. So we started our journey around the cave and finally came face to face with the exit of the cave, where in 30 minutes we would be seeing over 500,000 swifts returning to their nests in the cave after a day of foraging.
When we arrived, we decided to climb up to the top level to get a view from up there, once we got half way up people were yelling, "stop don't come up". We assumed they were a tour group who just didn't want us up there, so we kept walking closer until they yelled again "there's a snake just up this ladder". Sure enough, there was a 6ft python climbing the wall of the cave right next to the ladder we were about to climb. I freaked and ran back out while Justin tried getting some photos.
After Justin got some photos we decided to head back down to wait for the birds to return at sunset and then walked back to the Cave Lodge.
The next morning we woke up and decided to join in on one of the Kayaking tours the Cave Lodge was running. They didn't have enough guides for us as we had booked late, so it was decided that Justin would steer and I had the job of paddling. There were 2 other Kayaks with us, both with guides so if we got into trouble we had help at hand. The trip started terribly as we missed our first turn and went backwards down rapids. From there it just got worse really. We soon realised 2 things:
1- It was more of a white water rafting trip than a relaxing Kayak tour
2 - We didn't have the skills or the manpower necessary to manoeuvre ourselves around the rapids.
The trip took us much longer then expected, and our poor guides had to save us multiple times, at one point we ended up side ways, clinging onto our Kayak whilst the guides left theirs to come save us. It was petrifying and a marriage test that we can really do without ever again.
1- It was more of a white water rafting trip than a relaxing Kayak tour
2 - We didn't have the skills or the manpower necessary to manoeuvre ourselves around the rapids.
The trip took us much longer then expected, and our poor guides had to save us multiple times, at one point we ended up side ways, clinging onto our Kayak whilst the guides left theirs to come save us. It was petrifying and a marriage test that we can really do without ever again.
We climbed into the back on the pick up truck and gave each other a little kiss and exchanged the look of "Im sorry". All was forgiven and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the hammocks at The Cave Lodge.
I better go, my delicious Spaghetti Bol is here, I LOVE FOOD.
I better go, my delicious Spaghetti Bol is here, I LOVE FOOD.