Lod cave and the after party

9/3/22After seeing the girls off I've booked onto a trip to Lod cave it's about 1and a half hours from here on windy roads and I'd prefer to watch the scenery than drive it . I'm joined by Alex and Will on the tour and they're chatty people which makes it a lot easier. Along the route we stop off at a few little view points and our driver (fireman sam) is really good at using Google translate to tell us about the various things of interest. At the caves we pay 500 baht which includes fish food a bamboo raft ride through the cave and our parrafin torch assisted guide. As we enter the cave there is an area to feed the fish and when I throw the food in they literally jump out the water in a frenzy. We walk into the cave with our guide pumping her gas torch like her life depends on it. The cave is full of Stalagmite (up from the water) stalagtites (dropping down from the ceiling) I remember this as thinking of how tights look on a line. The cave is full of bats and swallows and the noise is incredible. It's so difficult to take photos to actually show you how big this place is. The way the stairs lead you through the cave and how the calcium carbonate dripping has etched look a like items along the route like frogs crocodiles and bhuddas. We're also shown a tribal drawing 9000BC to 5500BC the cave was inhabited by the Hoabinhian hunting tribe with remnants of teak coffins that are unusually long and thin.The cave was first excavated in 1969. As you climb up and down the terraces of limestone steps you are greeted half way with a bamboo raft as we climb aboard there are 4 little stools to sit on. There are 1000s of fish in the water and because its so clear you see huge catfish big enough to tip this raft. The journey back is not too bad and after such a good day with will and Alex we agree to share a sundowners at my friend Pato's bar. We opt for the passion fruit mojito and enjoy them so much I'm still in the same clothes I wore at midnight. What a wonderful dayRead more