Thailand: The Beginning


Traveling, much like lack of sleep, can do wild things to the mind. Even the most balanced and kempt person can find themselves altered by this crazy thing we call "travel." Between culture, jet lag, uncertainty, and the nomadic, hermit-crab lifestyle one finds themselves falling into while traveling; the mind goes through a vigorous test of character. When it all comes to a close and you find yourself understanding what the word "structure" means again, that is when all of the highs and lows come together as the glue to bind together an experience that stays with you wherever the rest of your life takes you.


Now that my somewhat sappy, philosophical ramble is out of the way, let's talk about why this blog is here. Emily and I wanted to keep an online account of our travels through Thailand, Southeast Asia, and wherever else we end up. This whole trip stemmed from the curiosity of teaching abroad and the urge to see a part of the world that is in a way, on the other end of the spectrum from Western Culture.


After taking a 13-week, online course, coupled with a 20+ hour teaching practicum, we received our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificates. Our college degrees in conjunction with these certificates give us the appropriate credentials to teach English in a foreign country in virtually any teaching category: Public, Private, Corporate, Language Schools, International Schools, Private Tutor, etc.


Having heard many great things about the country, we booked two one-way-tickets to Bangkok, Thailand for February 25, 2012. With the flight booked, the only thing we had planned was a two-night stay at a hotel close to the airport to figure out a slight plan for our holiday before we began to work. After a 17-hour flight to Shanghai, a 3-hour layover, and a 4 hour flight to Bangkok, we found ourselves through customs and on the Bangkok pavement at 3:45am on February 27th (2 days later for you non-Mathletes). This is when the adventure begins...


Friday, May 17, 2013

Cave Crave...


It had been another one of those travel benders. For the preceding 12 or so hours, Emily and I had endured a budget night-bus, resulting in bruised kneecaps and puffy, well-worn eyelids in the morning. Once the seats in front of you relaxed into the recline position, the hard plastic was introduced to your kneecaps with no introduction. Body movements were far from gracious, even by the nimblest of limbs. Luckily, our air-conditioner vent had malfunctioned, resulting in a dry ride. For those ill fated enough to have a state-of-the-art, fully functional AC unit, their experience was not only cramped, but quite damp. I awoke every few minutes throughout the night to find passengers standing on their seats, pulling the window curtain up and over the vents, and tucking it into the luggage storage above. It was a bit confusing to see at first, but I quickly became aware that close to half of the bus was getting rained on by the AC vents. Once the fog had lifted, I would have gotten up to help if it hadn’t been for the sea of contorted bodies curled up throughout the aisle. This situation presents a hilarious cultural difference between the States and Thailand: In the States, all it takes to get a free bus ticket is a whiny traveler complaining about their uncomfortable seat. In Thailand, if you complain, you can walk…

Just like all of our travels, we take it for what it is: an adventure. Sleep deprivation is part of a traveler’s contract; if we were getting 8-hours of sleep per night in clean hotel rooms, then we wouldn’t be traveling – we would be on vacation. One thing you learn very quickly about Thai culture is to always keep your cool and never “Lose Face.” What is “losing face” you ask? Losing Face mean raising your voice or getting annoyed in any social interaction in Thailand. Being a predominately Buddhist culture, Thais feel that “extremes” should be avoided and they certainly are not ones to let their emotions get the best of them. In circumstances where stomping your feet while pissing and moaning seems fitting, it is strongly advised that you never provoke a Thai to turn over to the dark side. It is best to act as a Jedi in these circumstances and that is why I will end this topic with a quote from Yoda:

“Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the force, but beware of the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression; the Dark Side of the force are they. Easily they flow – quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will, like it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”  



With our faces intact and The Force with us, our next stop was the province of Mae Hong Son, in the audacious town of Soppong, Thailand. About 3-hours north of Chiang Mai, Soppong provides an excellent outlet for travelers longing for quaint, culturally drenched villages, in a pristine setting. We were there to stay at a guesthouse 8 kilometers away called Cave Lodge. Built and operated by Australian Caver, John Spies, Cave Lodge is a brilliantly constructed lodge that offers a welcoming atmosphere, coupled with an extensively knowledgeable staff concerning the surrounding outdoors.

Members of the Shan tribe, local Thais, and John work hard to offer caving, kayaking, and trekking tours from their lodgings. The main reception area is a massive lean-to, wide open and well-equipped with hammocks, pillow cushions, and tables. There is an extensive menu of luscious Thai food, thirst quenching fruit shakes, amazing pineapple-banana muffins (try these!), and comforting falang food. This area provides an awesome environment to befriend other adventurers from around the world, as well as a chill spot to read one of the books spilling off of their bookshelf. When you’re done hanging out for the day, they offer comfortable and aesthetically appropriate accommodation in one of their many bungalows scattered throughout their property. Very reasonably priced, you can choose from a wide-variety of options. Be prepared to share your room with some of the many bug and spider species around, but don’t worry – they don’t eat much! (Unless you’re Emily…then they do.)


That was our room for the week. Great spot. Also, the spot where we saw our first Stick Bug! Look it up.

The roof has to be re-done every year with these leaves that fall from the local trees. 
Photo of Cave Lodge from the 70's; Note the monkey on the swing!




Caving is the main reason we were there, and given its name, it’s what Cave Lodge is renowned for. Home to over 200 caves – some as old as 280 million years old – this area of Soppong is just screaming to be explored. Some of them are filled with pre-historic art; there are many decaying coffins in others, while some of them are used as a mediation hut for monks. Personally, I would prefer a warm bubble bath to meditate in, but a monk’s gotta do what a monk’s gotta do.

For our first day, we hired a guide to take us on a full day trek and cave adventure. Throughout this day, we would explore 3 caves – Fossil Cave, Waterfall Cave, and Christmas Cave – while simultaneously trekking through the Karst Mountains and Shan villages of the surrounding area. The hot sun can be a bully and the toasted trees can be a bit bleak at times, but there is an unspeakable beauty that radiates from the northwestern Thai landscape. Rolling mountains rise into the backdrop, while red clay lies beneath each step you take. Your mind begins to wander almost instantaneously during hikes like these – your senses are going wild and every new thing you see amazes and inspires.

Besides scuba diving, caving is the closest I’ve ever felt to being on a different planet. Light – something everybody but the Amish takes for granted – becomes your most important lifeline. Without it, a caver becomes stripped of one of their most valuable senses. You would be forced to sleep with the snakes, spiders, and bats and eventually, I am convinced that you would become a mutant cave person (I thought a lot about this, and I would guess that it would take about a month of being trapped in a cave before you would transform into a cave-person). It was a good thing we all had loyal lights because the caves were awesome!



Remains of a really old coffin. Creepy that we had to step all over it. That means we stepped on ghosts. Boo!
The first and last caves (Fossil Cave and Christmas Cave) were massive. Endless caverns filled their interior, with a plethora of creepy inhabitants. There were snakes and millipedes creeping in every corner, while bats hung by their feet from the ceiling. It’s a bit weird because they kind of squeak in their sleep, so you can’t tell if they are awake or not. Some of them do wake up and start flying around blindly through the cave, dodging past your head at the last second like your playing a game of “Chicken” – that is always a bit scary. You also must always be aware because everybody knows that “big white bats have big white guano!”

Waterfall Cave fell between Fossil and Christmas Cave in our agenda. In the States, when you go on any outdoor adventure type tour, you are always well informed of your safety and your agenda. The guide will always be sure to inform you to bring ample amounts of water, bring a jacket for possible rain showers, and to be prepared to potentially get your shoes wet because a few puddles may stand in the way to the top. In Thailand – that does not happen. Your guide will rarely speak English, and if you don’t want to get dirty, stay home. That was definitely the case for Waterfall Cave (I guess we should have figured that out by the name!)

We wandered into the cave, making sure to avoid the little puddles as our guide stomped through them like an eager toddler (our guide was in his 60’s). As we left the light in our rearview, it became clear that our shoes might get wet. As our shoes began to dampen, it became crystal clear that we weren’t going to get wet – we were going to get drenched. The cave turned into a maze of incredibly low ceilings and jagged rocks. We found ourselves on our hands and knees, crawling through inches – sometimes feet – of water, leaving our chins dragging across the surface of the murky liquid. Tadpoles squirmed through my fingers as they dug into the silty soil, as my core and legs were burning from strain. If I moved up too high, my head and back would smash into the jagged roof above, so I decided to pretend I was a convict on the run to motivate me to push further.

Besides one minor claustrophobia-induced panic attack from one of the girls in our group, we made it to the end with roughly no speed bumps. We stopped a few times when the ceiling rose up a bit to check out these really cool little silkworms. They are tiny worms that spin these silk mini-beanstalks, as I like to call them. If you touch it, it takes on the characteristics of sap, making sure to get stuck to you and work its way all over your body (Note to self: Do not touch the silk beanstalk; it may look cool, but do not let your emotions get the best of you. Leave it be, and hike on).

The path ended at this MASSIVE 30 meter waterfall (roughly 60 feet). It was a magnificent sight to poke your head over the edge of what seemed to be an endless abyss. The craziest part about all of this was the thought of how caves are entirely made by nature. No human did anything to enhance the beauty and spectacular traits of this cave. My hat goes off to you Mother Nature – way to go!



A nice Hilltribe lady and her granddaughters 


a little baby DJ corn


It's really hard to take photos in a cave..

Helene!

Our picnic spot

Our very impressive and knowledgeable guide. He was constantly searching out cool things that he would hand to us with a brief command: "Smell" or "Eat"




Tham Lod 

Helene again!


Emily and I had one solo hiking adventure, which started off amazing, then ended with us getting incredibly lost in the dense, vast forests of Tham Lod National Park. We followed a trail about half way up this mountain, then decided to blaze our own trail the rest of the way up. Of course, our minds began to wander and every time we thought about turning back, we decided to go "a little bit further." When it came time to head back down, everything looked the same. There were no trail markers and every path we tried to take turned into a massive drop off with prickers and weeds galore. Running low on water, food, and daylight, we had to make every thought count. After a couple hours of mistakes, our determination to make it out of that jungle by night eventually has us trudging through a mini river back into civilization. Although it involved scaling down the side of the mountain, following the faint voices we heard playing in a river below, we made it to the base. Even though we felt like we were a few towns away at that point, we somehow stumbled right back into the same village we hiked out of. As careless as we were, it was a good learning experience. Here are some photos from before we got lost:










The following three days were spent hiking and caving with our new friends we met at Cave Lodge.
 We met Matt, Craig, and Chris – three Americans who had been teaching in Asia for close to eight years; alongside Helen – the incredibly fun and giggly Belgium solo-traveler; and the hilariously entertaining Argentinean family – Agostina, Gonza, and Emilio. Luis, the witty and whimsical dude from Spain was hanging out with us for a day, but we didn’t have the pleasure of getting to know him for long; he left to continue his travels as we were beginning our adventures at Cave Lodge.



Fire Pit: It actually gets down to about 40 degrees in the winter.
Chair made out of Good Year tires. One of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in...

View from the Lodge

We couldn’t have been with a more dynamic and fun crew while at the Lodge. Gonza – a member of the Argentina sector – was one of the toughest dudes on the planet. Dubbed, “The Bionic Mummy-Man,” he had the misfortune of getting into a motorbike accident before he arrived and received quite the scrape – his entire leg turned into an infected, pus-infused landscape. One would assume he would have been bedridden, but this made him even more audacious. He would often be seen scaling sections of the cave, gimping around on his mummified, wrapped up leg. Unfortunately, our American comrade, Craig, had a similar mishap on his motorbike trip back to Chiang Mai; instead of a battered leg, he endured a broken shoulder. This serves as a warning to you all that the spiral curves in Mae Hong Son Province are no joke; tread lightly and protect your noggin – wear a “brain bucket.”  

Everybody else in the group was great as well. We had a ton of awesome adventures together and reminisced about them every night at the Lodge. Jokes, stories, and memories from our pastimes and various cultural norms were exchanged as new friendships slowly evolved from the banter. Traveling has a lot to do with the crew that you are with – they can really enhance the quality of the place you are in. Matt, Craig, Chris, Helen, Agostina, Gonza, Emilio, and Luis – know that you guys are some of the baddest, rudest, shiestiest, coolest, and freakiest dudes and dudettes we have ever met. Keep on keeping on and maybe we’ll bump into all you fools yet again (we actually ran into the Argentineans again in Chiang Mai a little over a week after this adventure).

To anyone who plans on traveling Thailand, do not miss out on the Northwest. Hike, cave, hang out, or do whatever you want, but just make it there. It is a part of Thailand that has made a significant impact on my time here and I wish everybody in the world would have a chance to see it. For now, peace and chicken grease. Talk to you soon.

-Bob

*Note: We are a bit behind with the blog. The actual date of our cave travels was: 4/22 until 4/25. 

No comments:

Post a Comment