Heading along in Sappong

I really need to work on my titles... With a sore ankle (and lip- Rose got pierced) we headed back to the small bus station to catch the afternoon bus to Sappong. The drive was a tough one as the route covered is quite winding and if you are at all prone to motion sickness, you'll definitly lose your cookies. Luckily I have always been very lucky with not getting it, but I still felt the twinge every now and again.
We arrived in Sappong in late afternoon and headed for "Cave Lodge" a spot North of Sappong, near (big surprise here)Tham Lod cave system.



We just started walking with all our bags and eventually someone spotted us and gave us a lift to the junction where the lodge is near.


Cave lodge is a really neat place owned by an Australian man named John Spies. He is a really good photographer and before creating cave lodge, lived with the Lahu and other local tribes. Some of the photos from his time spent with them are incredible.

We stayed there 3 days and used it as a base for our explorations into the local tribes. The food prepared here was delicious and they offered many opportunities to go visit the caves by kayak. (I didn't have enough extra time/money to do that or I definitly would've) Rose did this the first time she came to Cave Lodge.

That first night Rose lead me to the back side of Tham Lod, where thousands of bats left at early evening time and thousands of swifts entered into the cave to roost. It was hard to get an accurate barometer of how many there were using my little point and shoot digicam with limited flash range, but you can get an idea.