Tham Lod (Through Cave) at Cave Lodge

Hey Raderstorfs! We made it to Cave Lodge and met John Spies...a cave master from Australia who had discovered and mapped many caves here in N. Thailand. We stayed at a paradise in the middle of the jungle in a bungalow last night! Heavenly.

Once there we wasted no time figuring out how to get down to Tham Lod...a cave that is large enough to boat through. We stopped inside the large cavern to walk through 3 separate caves. YES Camille managed to do a little caving (shocker, eh?). It was phenomenal.

At the end of the cave (the second opening) we watched and thousands of birds called Swift streamed into the cave to perch for the night. Literally a managerie of them racing into the cave for well over 30 minutes. They perch in the ceiling of the cave, just like the bats. Though the bats were leaving as the birds entered.

Cave Lodge is just outside of Sappong (9km) a small village here just inside the Mayanmar/Thailand border. We're just along the Nam Lang River watching the water buffalo eat and bathe. The food is delicious. I had a muesli this am that knocked my socks off with plain yogurt, pinapple, watermelon and banana. Rusty is eating every new Thai dish available and still sneaks a taste of a pepper regretting it immediately every time! Mild spicy here is flaming spice in America! WHOA!

We are now in Pai for the night, a small touristy town that has exploded in the last 2-3 years from a quiet town to buzzing with hotels and activities for visitors. The night market is quaint along the river. The air is cool and refreshing. When in the villages, the tribes are constantly burning leaves, for fertilizer and such. The stench which is almost unbearable to me, is one the tribesmen grow accustomed to. So the little towns actually have fresher air than the villages. We are staying in this tropical paradise bungalow. This is a picture of "the lobby" of our guest house.

Pai kind of reminds me of Buena Vista CO with all the rafting, caving, trekking companies. Everyone here is smiling, it's impossible not to. We could easily stay here for 3 or 4 nights. We head to the gulf-side beaches tomorrow to stay at Camphon and take boats out to Ko Tao, which is the place to be apparently. Phuket and Ko Phi Phi are over touristed, according to many of the travellers we have met. Yes gorgeous but very crowded. We will not see as many crowds in Camphon.

We wish we could checkin with each of you separately to see how your February's are going. Hope the skiing has been great and the long weekend! We look forward to seeing you and just enjoying your February stories and catching up. Love and friendship to all of you,
Camille, Rusty,Courtney, Charlie and Jeremy