The Islands to the Caves

After an amazing snorkeling experience in Ko Phi Phi, I departed the Andaman coast for the Gulf of Thailand. A night stopover in Phuket was followed by an amazing bus trip through dramatic limestone krast formations covered in lush green jungle. I arrived on the West Coast and took the cramped overnight boat that provided about 18 inches of personal space on a thin mat crammed among 63 other thin mats. The boat was past capacity as many local families had children that somehow weren't counted in the space calculations. Needless to say, I was relieved to be able to walk around and stretch when we arrived at Ko Tao.
I found a small guesthouse on a cove on the quiet side of the island and enjoyed a day of relaxation and exploring the coast. I met three Americans - some of the first in my travels - and we all went to a bar where there were two birthday celebrations and a going away party. Being a diving island, instead of regular drinking, the three honored guests had to consume their beer through a snorkel while donning a mask - quite entertaining although I am glad that flippers were not required because I don't think they would have made it too long without eating some sand.
The next day I departed early on a snorkeling/sight seeing tour around the island. Our first stop was shark bay where I was the only one on the boat who didn't manage to see one of the sharks that were "everywhere, you can't miss them," - I don't know if that makes me unlucky or lucky. The scenery was beautiful although not quite as diverse as around Ko Phi Phi (wow, I sound like a snorkel snob). I spent the evening with two British girls I met on the boat. We dined at a restaurant on stilts over the water while watching a lightning storm in the distance - quite a show.
I departed the next day for the first of my many legged journey to Chiang Mai. The Boat from Ko Tao took me to a bus which shuttled me to the train. Only third class seats were available for the overnight journey so I found myself on a bench in a crowded car where I was lucky enough to have a window seat. Many hours later I arrived in Bangkok with 16 hours before the overnight train to Chiang Mai. I had an early morning stroll, grabbed breakfast at a street stall and met up with Maggie who had just interviewed for (and been offered) a competitive teaching position. We had an afternoon of celebration - taking the local riverboat to the city center where we strolled around the stores and caught a movie. A local dinner and celebratory beverage later and I boarded the train to Chiang Mai.
I stayed in a small neighborhood guesthouse in the old city of Chiang Mai. I spent a day exploring the many temples within the walls and was surprised at how small, quiet and tree-lined the city was - this is until I went to the newer section to visit the night-market where there were swarms of tourists and activity (I definitely prefer the quaint neighborhoods to the bars, tourist markets and hookers).
The next day I headed to Pai which is touted as a cool, laid-back hippie town to relax in. It is a nice town but I didn't find much to it besides traveler restaurants/bars/shops and a lazy river.
I left for the Cave Lodge where I hoped to be able to see some of the non-touristy area and explore the nearby caves. The local bus dropped me off at the small roadside town of Soppong where I caught a motorbike down the dirt road to the Cave Lodge. The Lodge is a picturesque cluster of bungalows perched on a hill overlooking a river. It was built before there was a road in the area by an Australian who had moved to Northern Thailand in the early 1970s. He has written a book about his experiences and adventures in the area - his tales are captivating. Just a few of them include being the first white man many local people ever saw or knew of (they thought he was an alien), navigating the complicated local and border politics of the area, discovering dozens of never-explored caves (the locals don't enter them for fear of evil spirits), and dealing with drugs, murders, cave deaths and fires since the lodge opening. He could have his own TV series - a truly amazing story.
The first afternoon a few of us trekked to the nearby Lod Cave. We hired a guide and lantern at the entrance and she led us to the first two offshoot caverns and through complicated twists and turns that made me glad that I hadn't ventured in alone. The next day six of us decided to head to more remote caves that had been discovered by the lodge owner. We donned our helmets and headlamps and a local guide took us to two caves that we would never have been able to find ourselves (they looked like small holes in the side of a hill). We spent the day jumping over crevices, climbing over rocks, crawling under low ceilings - basically getting dirty and having fun while seeing amazing formations from delicate lacy designs to sparkling waterfalls of rock. We also came across some fun/scary cave creatures like centipedes, thousands of bats, huge spiders and a massive snake that blocked our way in the third cave of the day. Luckily the third cave had other things to see and we marveled at the dusk sky darkened by Swifts entering the cave and bats leaving. The wide opening was covered in guano and bird shit (I gained a new appreciation for the videographers of the cave episode of Planet Earth who climbed a mountain of guano) and we were careful not to slip.
My caving buddies left the next day and unfortunately trips don't run with one person (damn off season) so I headed back to Pai and am now en route to Chiang Rai - the jumping off point for the Golden Triangle.