Sometimes it's just not meant to be

It took almost seven hours instead of the official five, but we made it to Soppong. Very peculiar ride in a super old bus with seats so small that it is impossible for a regular-size European to fit, people sitting and standing everywhere, bags of rice on the floor reducing even more the space available for the legs... But it was cheap and slow which is an advantage in the winding roads here, there was just no way we could possibly get a sick stomach going 10km/h and with the first gear all the time. 

Another VIP bus ride, with our driver

It got crowded but at least we didn't have to sit in the aisle

Soppong is a town but there is nothing here. It is just houses and several little stores and eateries flanking the main road. Luckily our destination wasn't the town itself. but a place 9 km into the wild - the Cave Lodge. The wooden and bamboo bungalows overlooking a river were built by an Australian adventurer who has lived in the region for more than 30 years. It is very close to Tham Lod, one of many caves of this region and also one of the largest and most popular. We wanted to explore the cave but apparently you cannot enter it by yourself so we had to hire a guide and a bamboo raft to move us around. Calling the local woman that accompanied us a guide is a big exaggeration as she spoke virtually no English and her only explanation were a single word descriptions of the cave formation, such as 'frog' or 'monkey'. Most of the time we just had no idea what she was saying. Still the cave is nice and worth going into and the fact that the only illumination are the guides' lanterns makes you feel like you're the first person ever to explore the cave. Plus the entrace and guide fee contributes directly to the local community as all the guides are from the adjacent village and take turns in guiding. 

Bamboo rafts at the entrance of Tham Lod

On the raft

At dusk thousands and thousands of birds (swifts) return to the cave for the night. And it is quite a spectacle. 

While waiting for the birds, we had some company

Swifts going to bed

I convinced D to go on a two day trek to a nearby hilltribe Karen village and that is when our luck started to turn bad. It was nothing like I'd imagined and unfortunately it was exactly as D had thought it would be. For some reason I was convinced that we had ahead of us two days of spectacular views, that we would have great trek companions, that our guide would be very knowledgeable and would explain us tons of things in perfect English, that people in the village would be doing their daily stuff and that we would maybe sit with them in the evening and listen to their stories. How silly, I know! So instead, as D predicted, the walk was completely uninteresting and it felt like hiking in the woods behind Terrassa, just more muddy and slippery. Our three French comrades kept pretty much to themselves and both guides were nice but their English was limited and they explained only very little about the forest or the plants. There weren't too many people in the village but at least we took a nice walk around and got to know something about the village. Except for the children and for the women trying to sell us scarves and bags (of course I succumbed to the pressure and bought) nobody was very interested in us and so instead of the evening chat with the village chief we ate our dinner alone. Only our guide came later with a bottle of rice whiskey and managed to get himself drunk enough so that it was impossible to decipher what he was saying in the end. 

Our guide getting rid of leeches off his feet

Everybody in the village works in the rice industry

A kitchen

Our guide's house

They drink a lot here

As if the disappointment wasn't enough, D woke up in the morning with a fever and feeling completely exhausted and so the walk back to Cave Lodge felt like a fight for survival. He stayed in bed the entire day and night, confirming the trekking experience to be a complete disaster. But I was still feeling optimistic and signed up for a jeep trip to see the sunrise above the valley the next morning. I woke up at 5.30 to see this: 

#@*+!

The sun appeared for three minutes but it all turned into fog again very soon. 

At this point it was safe to say this place was not meant to be for us. It is a pity because the lodge itself is lovely and very relaxing place and we met some nice people here - Andrea and Michael, thank you so much for keeping my spirits up and for all the laughs and stories! Michel and Gisela, hopefully we'll catch up with you in Laos! foto lodge But we just wanted to go away so even though D was still a little shaky, we managed to catch an early minivan to Mae Hong Son where we hope to see the Loi Krathong festival and generally just relax and rest. 

Much better than trekking