Making our way back out of the Chiang Dao Cave (Bees Cliff Cave), we again saw the light of day and had to let our eyes adjust for a minute before continuing onto the Tham Nam (The Water cave). After a short hike of about twenty minutes on a jungle trail, we made our way to where a tiny grass hut stood, collecting a small monetary fee in exchange for inner tubes to float into the cave with. A bit perplexed at where exactly the cave was however, we asked the man giving us the tubes where we were to start the float. He pointed to a small rope attached to a rock, leading into a small crevice that was supposedly the cave. Unsure at whether I would even be able squeeze through the narrow crack, I timidly sat my butt down in my tube, instantly getting chills from the water that had been underground for so long, making its way out into the light.
With our entire group now in the water, we pulled ourselves along the small rope, shimming our way under the jagged rocks that formed the mouth of the cave. Once inside, we could see only about twenty feet ahead of us into this watery abyss. Beyond that was nothing more than a dark fathom of a hole. We soon needed the small light of our headlamps, also given to us along with the tubes, to guide us through this underground water tunnel. The eerie drip, drop, drip drop from water seeping through the roof of the cave, splashing its way into the water we were afloat on, made it all that much more sensationally uncanny as we continued to pull ourselves deeper and deeper through the unknown.
Winding our way through the cave, we were able to stand up in a few spots where we would walk and then need our tubes again to continue on with the rope. Further and further we went until finally the rope ended, however with my dimming headlamp, I could see that the cave still went further.
Swimming my way deeper, exploring how much further the cave went back, I was now by myself in a dark cave, unsure of what might be swimming around beneath me. Drip, drip, drip was all I could hear as I got further away from the group, feeling my way along the smooth, sparkling walls of the cave that glimmered less and less in dimming light of my headlamp. Only able to see a few feet in front of me now, I could see the cave closing in, until finally my hands soon met water with rock. I had reached the end of this abstruse passageway and with one final glance down below me into the dark, murky water; my light shone its last flicker of light, leaving me vulnerable to whatever might be in there with me.
Panic, chills, goose bumps, hairs standing up on the back of my neck all seemed to come down on me at once as I began frantically paddling on my tube back to the others, who now sounded much further away. Heart pounding, trying to keep as little of my body in the water as possible but at the same time paddling as fast and as hard as I could, I finally turned a corner where I was able to see a head lamp off in the distance. Relieved a little bit, I tried not to make it seem like the boogie man and every other terrifying childhood nightmare was behind me as I slowed my stroke down, coming closer to Tommy and my other buddy Andy that had been waiting up for me.
Relieved that they had not noticed my spastic, panic stricken swim back, Andy informed me that two of the other’s headlamps had gone out as well and wanted to get out of there before anyone else’s died on them too. With Tommy’s headlamp being the only one still shining pretty bright, we decided to do the same, and began following the rope back out towards the entrance of the cave.
After yet another bumpy tuk tuk ride back into town, we were able to watch yet another amazing sunset that evening, and were able to catch some hot air balloons drift through the sky and vanish into the distance. The rest of our time in Vang Vieng was spent along the Nam Song River, and at the Blue Lagoon, where we lackadaisically enjoyed our afternoons swimming in the cool, blue waters and jumping from an old tree that hung over the brilliant, cobalt stream below. Vang Vieng was truly an amazing place that anyone could easily get stuck at, enjoying its endless beauty, but as for Tommy, Dustin and I, we were excited and eager to head off to our next adventure in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos, where we were to spend the infamous, wet and wild Laotian New Year festival called Songkran. Also known as the world’s largest, nationwide celebrated water fight! |
| On our way to Vientiane! |
