Cave Lod

We had a surprise four-day weekend. The boys went off to Chiang Mai to pick up chicks or whatever guys do and I declined to join them. Instead I decided to take off for Cave Lod, which is one of the largest caves in the world. I have been to two different countries that are allowed to boast about the quality of their caves, so it was a bit embarrassing that aside from swimming though short lava hole in Samoa I hadn't been to one yet.

Cave Lod is one of the places that is remote enough that the prices very near reflect the prices advertised in my ten-year old Thailand guidebook. To get there, you hop an hour-and-a-half bus to Sappong and then catch a motor taxi to Tham Lot, an area rich with caves and interesting geographical sights. I checked in grabbed my flashlight and turned right around to find the cave, despite the numerous warnings that no one should try to enter the caves alone.

Cave Lot is unique is that there is an entrance and an exit, and the cave is massive enough that the ceiling is almost never in sight of anything except a very high-powered light. It's like a 1.5 km long cathedral. There is a river running though it and I figured that it would be an easy hike. Follow the river and if I was feeling brave I could take a side-trip to see one of the side chambers. I was feeling cheap and opted against hiring one of the 150 baht guides (about 5 dollars). At the end of the cave you can see the birds flying out and the bats flying in-- or vice versa, depending on if it is morning or evening. I figured that I would be through the cave an about an hour, birdwatch, batwatch, then be back in time for dinner. Big mistake.

You see, the thing about large caves is that they aren't linear paths that go from point a to point b. They are like little mountainsides in pitch black, and even if they were filled with floodlights it would be possible to lose the trail. After about 30 seconds of stepping into the pitch black I realized that I had no idea which way I had come from. I turned off the flashlight and after a few moments I could see the hazy light coming from the entrance and a brighter light coming from a group of people who had decided that the 150 baht was worth it. I should have left the cave, but instead I flipped the flashlight on and dashed after the group, thinking that I could stalk them-- or at least stalk their light.

A pathetic Thai excuse for a bridge

I nearly ran right into the river that crossed through the cave, and ran my flashlight over it before I saw the outline of a bamboo bridge. I managed to get to the bridge without slipping on bat guano and dashed up a rickety staircase and caught up with the group just as they were admiring a cave paining. No pictures, I am afraid-- it was to0 dark for my camera to get a light reading. In the cave one lost all sense of direction and which way was was up and down. While you are groping around in the dark you become very aware of the tons of rock that is over your head. I think that the scariest part was knowing that if something did happen to me and I was not able to cry for help it would be a long time before I was found. One of the most striking things that I have found about the third world is that no one takes the normal measures to keep their guests safe. You have to rely on your own common sense-- a sense that itn't very well taught to Americans.

The group came back from the chamber-- I was skulking guiltily behind and for some reason they decided to head back. Stupidly, I headed towards the other side of the cave and discovered after a long thirty-minute search that there was no bank next to the river to walk on. Faced with the choice of wading in an unfamiliar river with a non-waterproof flashlight, I decided to head back. It was still one hell of a humbling experience, being in such a magnificent and dangerous place.