Soppong, Thailand
On Monday (25 December - Christmas) morning I woke up early and took the bus from Pai to Soppong, Thailand, about an hour and a half away and not to far from the Burmese border. After checking out all the guest houses in Soppong proper (just a small village) and not finding any thing cheap or interesting, I decided to head to Cave Lodge, a guesthouse about 9 km out of Soppong and near the entrance to one of the main attractions of the area, Tham Lod (Lod Cave). There were no buses going up the road so you either had to have your own tranportation, hire a relatively expensive motorbike taxi, or hoof it on foot. I decided to do the later since the motorbike taxi wanted 70 baht and I only paid 30 baht for the bus ride here! So on principle I couldn't spend such an 'exorbitant' amount for such a short distance. About 2 kms into the 9 km walk, a pickup truck with 2 vacationing Thai couples pulled up and offered me a ride. I wasn't even flagging anyone down, they just stopped! So I happily jumped in the back of the truck for the rest of the ride.
When I arrived at Cave Lodge (guesthouse) I was surprised to see the 4 Canadians there whom I had met at a waterfall near Pai. They had rented a jeep from Pai to drive to Soppong and where heading out to go see a cave and do some swimming and they invited me along. We piled in the jeep and drove back to Soppong and on to Coffin Cave. I think many caves in the area are called 'Coffin Cave', since many of the caves contain old (really old ~2000 year) wooden coffins. We hiked a short ways up a steep track and explored the shallow caverns. The caverns were large and shallow enough that you didn't need any lights. After hanging out there for a bit we went back down the trail, across the road, and down to the river for a quick, refreshing swim.
Then we headed back to the guesthouse and walked down to Lod Cave, one of the largest caves in southeast Asia. They now require you to have a guide to enter Lod Cave, so the 5 of us, plus another Canadian girl that we ran into at the guide stand, hired a couple of guides (all guides are female) who carry lanterns and show you around. Everyone else wanted to take a bamboo raft through the cave (even though its possible to walk/wade) since a river flows into, through, and out of the cave and is quite navigatiable. It was pretty cool, if over priced by Thai standards, and we got off at various points to explore some side caverns. It was quite a big cave, but not as big as the caves I saw in Malaysian Borneo a couple of years ago. Pretty impressive though, nevertheless. We exited the cave as swarms of cave swallows were returning for the night. After a little break there, the raft guide (male) pulled us back up the river through the cave to the entrance.
Back at Cave Lodge I finished showering just in time for the Christmas dinner party. It was a fine feast and I can't remember the last time I ate so much. Unfortunately due to the amount I ate, or more likely due to some questionable preparation of some previous meal, I got sick during the night and had a couple of different vomiting sessions. Too bad the outdoor toilets were so far away as I didn't make it all the way there on the second round...
I felt better by late the next morning (Tuesday, 26 December) although I didn't have much of an appetite all that day. Everyone had left that day so the guesthouse was pretty empty and the village and surroundings were no place for a solo traveler. You really need at least another person for any exploring due to the remoteness. I walked around the small village around Cave Lodge for a little while but still wasn't feeling that super. So I decided to head back to Pai so that I could take a bus the next morning from Pai to my next destination, which couldn't be reached directly from Soppong.
As I was packing up, the guesthouse owner got word that I was leaving and offerred me a ride to Pai since he was driving right through Pai on his way to Chiang Mai just then. I eagerly accepted the ride and arrived in Pai about an hour later. Once in Pai I discovered that the bus to Chiang Rai - where I wanted to go next - was way too expensive since there was no direct service and only a private bus. Plus it left way to early in the morning and I would have to change buses enroute too. So I decided to go back to Chiang Mai for the night where I might be able to meet up with Ivo and Helen. Then I could go to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai at my leisure. So I had only 30 or so minutes to spare before the last bus left Pai for Chiang Mai.
Arrived in Chiang Mai around 8 PM and luckily Julie (as in Julie guesthouse where I've been staying in CM) had a room for me.
When I arrived at Cave Lodge (guesthouse) I was surprised to see the 4 Canadians there whom I had met at a waterfall near Pai. They had rented a jeep from Pai to drive to Soppong and where heading out to go see a cave and do some swimming and they invited me along. We piled in the jeep and drove back to Soppong and on to Coffin Cave. I think many caves in the area are called 'Coffin Cave', since many of the caves contain old (really old ~2000 year) wooden coffins. We hiked a short ways up a steep track and explored the shallow caverns. The caverns were large and shallow enough that you didn't need any lights. After hanging out there for a bit we went back down the trail, across the road, and down to the river for a quick, refreshing swim.
Then we headed back to the guesthouse and walked down to Lod Cave, one of the largest caves in southeast Asia. They now require you to have a guide to enter Lod Cave, so the 5 of us, plus another Canadian girl that we ran into at the guide stand, hired a couple of guides (all guides are female) who carry lanterns and show you around. Everyone else wanted to take a bamboo raft through the cave (even though its possible to walk/wade) since a river flows into, through, and out of the cave and is quite navigatiable. It was pretty cool, if over priced by Thai standards, and we got off at various points to explore some side caverns. It was quite a big cave, but not as big as the caves I saw in Malaysian Borneo a couple of years ago. Pretty impressive though, nevertheless. We exited the cave as swarms of cave swallows were returning for the night. After a little break there, the raft guide (male) pulled us back up the river through the cave to the entrance.
Back at Cave Lodge I finished showering just in time for the Christmas dinner party. It was a fine feast and I can't remember the last time I ate so much. Unfortunately due to the amount I ate, or more likely due to some questionable preparation of some previous meal, I got sick during the night and had a couple of different vomiting sessions. Too bad the outdoor toilets were so far away as I didn't make it all the way there on the second round...
I felt better by late the next morning (Tuesday, 26 December) although I didn't have much of an appetite all that day. Everyone had left that day so the guesthouse was pretty empty and the village and surroundings were no place for a solo traveler. You really need at least another person for any exploring due to the remoteness. I walked around the small village around Cave Lodge for a little while but still wasn't feeling that super. So I decided to head back to Pai so that I could take a bus the next morning from Pai to my next destination, which couldn't be reached directly from Soppong.
As I was packing up, the guesthouse owner got word that I was leaving and offerred me a ride to Pai since he was driving right through Pai on his way to Chiang Mai just then. I eagerly accepted the ride and arrived in Pai about an hour later. Once in Pai I discovered that the bus to Chiang Rai - where I wanted to go next - was way too expensive since there was no direct service and only a private bus. Plus it left way to early in the morning and I would have to change buses enroute too. So I decided to go back to Chiang Mai for the night where I might be able to meet up with Ivo and Helen. Then I could go to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai at my leisure. So I had only 30 or so minutes to spare before the last bus left Pai for Chiang Mai.
Arrived in Chiang Mai around 8 PM and luckily Julie (as in Julie guesthouse where I've been staying in CM) had a room for me.
posted by Dustin at 8:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home