Friday 26/02/10

A tourist day was had on a boat trip in the Andaman Sea on a standard tour.

We had an early start to meet the transfer bus in Krabi at 8:00am and were taken to Ao Nang to meet the boat. We spent the day visiting various islands and bays for snorkelling in clear, warm water, including a visit to Maya Bay (famous for the film, The Beach) and lunch was supplied on Phi Phi Island. The boat took us past Viking Cave, which is no longer accessible to tourists, but we could clearly see the scaffolding used for the birds’ nest gatherers.

The trip back to dry land was quite eventful. We rescued a German snorkeller who obviously had not seen the film, Open Water, as she had lost her boat and then we hit a dog fish (a member of the shark family) which was cut by one of our propellers.

Whilst it was a good day, it reconfirmed that beach holidays and tourist resorts are definitely not for us!

Thursday 25/02/10

We started the long drive north by driving to Krabi. We called in on a show cave enroute called Tham Khao Kop. The cave is entered on a small boat paddled by two staff. Part of the trip (disconcertingly) involves laying flat out in the boat whilst being boated through a very, very low section for about two hundred metres – this is not a trip for ones with a wide girth!

After the show cave we went in search of another temple cave. The cave, Tham Khao Pina is a multi-layered cave in a cliff. There are concrete steps up to each level with many Budda statues. At the top is a large chamber.

On reaching Krabi, we found a hotel and then went down to the port area. We took a longtail boat out for a two hour trip in the mangroves. Part of the tour included visiting a cave on one of the islands close to Krabi.

Wednesday 24/02/10

A strange start to the morning … just as we were leaving at 8am, we heard the National Anthem being played over the town PA system. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood still, even cars and buses stopped in the road for the duration!

A cave south of Trang was our target for today. It was a wet cave that needing surveying and has the potential of being quite a long system. We found the cave entrance without too much difficulty and kitted up. Going into the cave we followed an inlet but soon reached a pool of deep water. Neither of us fancied crossing this pool with no other cavers as support, so we surveyed out to the entrance.

The map showed another cave a few miles south of us, so we headed off to find it. There is an impressive sign on the roadside and driving down a track, we were soon at the cave. As with many caves in Thailand, it is also a temple. It turned out to be a small cave that did not go very far. A quick survey was undertaken of the cave before we headed back to Trang.

Tuesday 23/02/10

We continued our drive south and made it to Trang, checking on a couple of caves on the way. The first cave was only a name on the list with no details. We knew the village it was near, so we drove there and looked for signs. All signs were in Thai, but by better luck than judgement we found Tham Phra Ya Pichai Songkram. This cave was once a tourist attraction but at this moment is run down and in need of restoration. There is a wooden boardwalk that runs to the cave entrance but this is falling apart in places. We made it to the cave entrance, got a GPS fix, but did not enter.

Nearby, at a temple, is the cave of Tham Phra Phut. The cave is run by monks and has some electric lighting in it. We surveyed the cave, dodging bats (again!) and on getting out were given a bottle of drinking water by a monk.

We drove on to Trang and found a hotel for a couple of nights.

Monday 22/02/10

Waking up to fine weather we headed back to Tham Nam Lot. On parking up we were met by a local farmer who lived near the track to the cave. He showed us the way to the cave and left us to survey it. The cave was full of bats and other creatures. It was difficult surveying with hundreds of bats flying close by! There were many cave fish in the stream and we also encountered a snake, a crab and some cave shrimps in this cave. We were stopped on the upstream leg of the cave by a deep water canal and a low ceiling. The downstream leg was very small and full of bats – so we left that for the next generation of cavers!

When we got back to our car, the farmer met us and indicated that there was another cave up the hill. Grabbing our caving kit, we followed him up a dry river bed to another cave entrance. This too was a stream cave and full of more bats! This cave had its fair share of creatures too – a snake, a small crab and spiders (one large one decided to crawl up MC and onto his chest – until it was knocked off into the water!). The cave ended at a sump pool, so we surveyed out and headed back to the car.

Once changed and having said our goodbyes to the farmer, we continued our drive south and reached Thung Song, where we found a hotel for the night.

Sunday 21/02/10

Another cave on the “hit list” was Tham Men. This cave was visited by the B.E.C. in 1998, but not surveyed. It had some promising leads to follow up. When we got there it was a well developed show cave and when we asked if we could enter by ourselves to explore the further reaches of the cave, we were told this would not be possible. We explained that we wished to survey the cave and that our trip would take longer than usual! We were allowed to survey the cave, but only the show cave.

We spent around four hours in the cave which was impressive in size and had some stunning formations and surveyed what we could.

With still some daylight left, we decided to look for another cave on the list which was only a few miles away. To reach Tham Nam Lot required driving along a dirt road for a mile. As we drove along it started to rain and we didn’t want to get stuck if the road turned to mud, so once we had found the walking track to the cave, we headed back to town - once we had driven for a few miles we were out of the rain shower.

Saturday 20/02/10

The plan was to find Tham Than Nam Lot Noi from Martin’s list and we reached the vicinity without too much trouble. Tham Nam Lot was also on the list for that area but with no real details of location etc. so we intended to search for this later.

We saw a sign for a cave off the road (“Tanlod Cave”) pointing down a concrete road. At the end of the road was a path down to a large cave entrance. We thought that this may be Tham Nam Lot as the little description that we had matched, so we got changed and went to explore. The cave has a stream running into it and a lot of flood debris around the entrance chambers. The stream soon hit the dipping cave roof in a choked (with flood debris) duck. There is a bypass of this duck and soon we were into a larger river passage. We followed the stream for a few metres before reaching a large, deep, pool with bamboo fishing rods around it. The cave passage turned to the right and the stream flowed into another large pool. We crossed the waist deep stream and walked down the sandbank at the side of the second pool. The cave turned slightly left but we were stopped by a deep, “swimming” streamway. Could the cave continue round the corner? With just the two of us, we decided to play safe and not start swimming – the cave will still be there for another day. We surveyed the cave back to the entrance and when we got out there were a lot of locals around with some small boys swimming in the pool at the cave entrance.

We drove down to Surat Thani (2 hours) and booked into a hotel on the outskirts of town.

Friday 19/02/10

The day was spent driving (7 hours) down to Chumphon.

Thursday 18/02/10

The plan was to find another cave from Martin’s list, although this cave only had a village name and national park but no GPS reference. It took a bit of driving and asking various policemen but we eventually found the right area, but in a different national park to the one on Martin’s list. There was a visitors' centre in a national park office but when we enquired about the cave we were told that it was closed because it was too dangerous! The man in the office would not tell us exactly where the cave was, so we had to go for another drive around!

We found a cave nearby in the village which we believed was the one we were looking for and got a GPS fix and photograph of the entrance. The cave did not, however, match the brief description supplied. We do not know if we found the right cave – or another one.

On the drive back to town we stopped at a cave that was signed from the main road (Dawadong). We thought we would get a GPS fix on this one, just in case it was missing from the database. On the walk up a mud track to the cave a man on a moped stopped and told us both to climb on the back to go to the cave - we had found a cave guide. We had a tour of four chambers in this cave by lantern light. We then had the hair raising trip back down the path on the moped to the car.

Wednesday 17/02/10

We drove south from Lan Sak and had an easy 4 hour drive to Kanchanaburi. We found a hotel in the town (“Luxury Hotel” at 700 B per night) and grabbed a quick lunch of chicken and fried rice before going on the tourist trail. We visited the Thai – Burma railway museum, which was about the building of the “Death Railway”. We then headed down to the river and walked across the bridge over the River Kwai.

In the evening we had one of our best Thai meals in a restaurant in the town (“Apples”) before heading back to our hotel.

Tuesday 16/02/10

After breakfast we drove up to the cave, Tham Khao Phraya Phai Rua which was situated at a temple. We parked up and were met by a cave guide who, we established, was going to show us the cave. We showed him our caving gear to try to explain that we wanted to survey and photograph the cave but didn’t get very far.

At the temple site there were a lot of small tents and what looked like army cadet training going on. An army officer came over and had a few words of English. He ended up coming into the cave with us (complete with gun). The guide took us through various chambers and small tunnels and the army guy insisted on carrying our bag of camera equipment most of the way. In one small tunnel a snake was encountered that the guide and soldier were uneasy to see. We quickly passed through the tunnel only to see a bit of the snake in a small hole in the cave wall.

As we couldn’t explain what we were there to do, we decided to just start surveying in the chamber past the snake. The two Thais soon worked out what we were doing and stayed with us as we surveyed the cave. When near the entrance Emma suggested that they could carry on out and we would continue to survey. This they understood and we finally had the cave to ourselves. We continued the survey and when almost finished we were met by our guide and two young lads – one in monk clothing. All three stayed with us as we surveyed and photographed our way out.

Once out we were met by our army caving friend and other officers and given drinks and a present of a water melon. After group photos, we headed back to our hotel for a shower. We decided to go back to our market stall for food as it was tasty and cheap and we knew we could order (and be understood!) fried noodles and chicken in Thai!

Monday 15/02/10

We packed up our things and left Lom Sak. EP and MC headed south whilst the Shepton expedition headed north to Nan.


The drive south was on good roads and light traffic and we made it to Lan Sak by 5:00pm It was here that our first cave that Martin had listed was situated. We found a hotel close to the cave that was made up of individual cabins next to small lakes. After checking in, we drove into the town to find somewhere to eat. The town did not seem to see many foreign tourists and we ended up at a café in the market and managed to order some food in Thai!

Sunday 14/02/10

We decided to go back to Cave 25, now that we knew where it was. We were joined by Jo and Tiggy from the Shepton crew and set off earlier than on Friday! We parked up and set off walking through the jungle. All was going fine until we met a herd of Buffalo on the path. They did not appreciate us being there and looked none too friendly. We retreated up into the jungle and waited for them to pass. We made it to the cave and Emma, Jo and Mike kitted up to explore.

The first 10m pitch was rigged and we followed the small waterfall into the cave. We soon met another small pitch which Mike descended first. At the bottom we were met by a small chamber with a sump pool in it so the cave ended after 30m. The cave was home to many large spiders (much to Jo’s delight), bats and a large crab. We took some photos and surveyed out.

The walk back was warm work and almost back at the car we met the Buffalo again! A quick detour and we skirted round the herd and got back to the car.

Saturday 13/02/10

Emma and Martin spent the morning have a Thai massage. The afternoon was spent loading cave positions onto our GPS and going through the list of cave leads that Martin produced for us.

In the evening the Shepton expedition members rolled into town and the night was spent at Yuphin’s bar.

Friday 12/02/10

Martin stayed at home to prepare for the invasion by the Shepton Mallet Caving Club (7 members) whilst Phil took Emma and Mike on a jungle trek to find “Cave 25” near Tham Yai Nam Nao. This cave has not been descended before due to a small entrance pitch, so we loaded our bags with ropes, drill and bolting kit to explore.

With a later start than planned due to GPS problems and some route finding issues, we parked up and started to walk at 1:30pm. The walk through the jungle was hot work and Phil was busy showing us the evidence of Elephants in the vicinity. We found what we think is the cave entrance at 4:00pm – just in time to turn round and head out before dark!

Thursday 11\02/10

We checked out of the hotel and set off north to look at some temples and caves that Martin had GPS fixes for. Martin found the temple in the Tham Saeng Tham Phramonawat Forest Park and we headed off for 500m into the jungle to the cave – Tham Muet. This turned out to be a small rock shelter but the name translates to “Dark Cave”, so is there a bigger cave nearby?

We then headed south towards Lom Sak. On the way back we stopped at a temple to survey the cave in which this temple is situated (Tham Pha Pu). Whilst Martin and Phil surveyed, Emma and Mike followed behind to trial their new Distox and PDA for electronic surveying.

The lunch stop was at a lake where you eat on bamboo rafts that are towed out into the middle of the lake. After a couple of hours Phil raised the flag and we were towed back to shore to complete our journey back to Lom Sak.

Wednesday 10/02/10

A later start due to a puncture repair!

The four of us headed upwards above the cave visited on Monday to Tham Yai (Pha Sawan), to try and find the link between the two. Martin and Phil finished the survey of some loose ends, whilst EP and MC bolted and rigged an 18m pitch to survey and photograph about 120m of passage – which whilst beautiful, did not connect. Very noisy fruit bats were plentiful, with a “Hairy Mary” and gecko also spotted.

Tuesday 09/02/10

The same four visited Tham Nam / Tham Dam, surveying and photographing. Unfortunately, the main lead ended in a very muddy sump so we retreated to a spectacular side passage with some amazing calcite “stripes” and EP spotted a bright green snake.

We then climbed up to another cave, Tham Jaeng, on the other side of the hill, although no link was established between this and Tham Nam. EP and MC then climbed up some very steep steps on another part of the hill to investigate an entrance which had been locked by the monks (Tham Khao San Hin).

Monday 08/02/10

We packed Martin’s pickup with our caving gear and the four of us travelled north to Loei. After checking in to a hotel in the town (bargain at £7 per room per night), we drove out to a cave “Tham Pha Sawan”. The entrance of the cave is lived in by monks and it appears to be used as a school for boy monks.

Martin and Phil surveyed the cave whilst EP and MC scouted for leads, hoping it would connect with a cave that Martin and Ivan had visited above the hill recently. EP & MC also photographed the cave.

Sunday 07/02/10

Our first proper caving day, we headed north east to Tham Yai Nam Nao Cave in Nam Nao National Park together with Martin and Phil. This is a multi-entrance, wild show cave and approximately 10,105m long. The heat and humidity of the cave, forced us to keep a steady pace and we headed to the “Sump Bypass”, a climb over a crawl which often fills with carbon dioxide and dependent on the season, becomes flooded with water. Once at the Bypass, Mike drilled and placed three spits so a ladder could be rigged up the climb and a rope down the other side. An electron ladder was left in situ for future trips should the Sump Bypass be impassable.

We headed for the stream and wandered up a couple of hundred metres taking photographs, before retreating to go for some noodles (Pad Zeou).

Saturday 06/02/10

We were met by Phil Collett and Ivan Hollis (both members of Shepton Mallet Caving Club) at Bangkok Airport and together with Phil, we drove 410km up to Lom Sak. The warm journey was broken up with a short stop to visit the monkeys at Thep Bamrung Cave, near Wichian Buri and to eat our first proper Thai meal of BBQ’d chicken. We then headed up to Lom Sak, where Martin Ellis (also SMCC) and Yuphin live and where we were to stay for two nights before heading off for some exploration. We spent the evening in Yuphin’s bar, drinking beer and eating some delicious food and Em was very surprised when a birthday cake appeared!

Thailand 2010 Friday 05/02/10

Em’s birthday, celebrated by flying from Heathrow to Mumbai (although we waited 2.5 hours to get through security, delaying the plane), arriving in Bangkok the following day.

What next (...or now for something completely different .......).

If we had not encountered the "diesel" problem in Lebanon, we would still be there now and be hitting Turkey and then Eastern Europe in the spring and in the warm weather. 

Instead of staying in the UK, Mike and Emma have decided to make the most of their sabbatical and head off to Thailand for some exploratory caving, before returning to Lebanon in mid-March.  So, we have decided to continue the blog and include our Thailand adventures, even though its not next to the Med!!

Day 138 Monday 01/02/10

We had an uneventful crossing, arriving in the UK at 1:30am and drove back to Tipton through snow showers. We arrived home at 6:30am – knackered!

On the drive back from the tunnel we started to hear a squeek from the Land Rover. A universal joint on the front propshaft had become warn and was about to break! This was our only mechanical fault on the whole trip. Luckily Jonathan Maddock has managed to fit us in tomorrow to fit a replacement before we drive to Heathrow on Friday.

Now the packing starts for Thailand!

Day 137 Sunday 31/01/10

After a late morning start we continued our journey to Calais. We were booked on the 1:45am tunnel crossing to England. The drive was 11 hours of motorway driving – easy but boring. We stopped in Reims for a Chinese meal before continuing to Calais and the tunnel.

Day 136 Saturday 30/01/10

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 6:30am and looked out onto 5” of fresh snow! We set off at 7:00am to drive to Stuttgart and the roads were still thick with snow. It was a slow drive out of Budapest and along the motorways of Hungary but as we reached Austria the snow was clearing.

We had a long day (16 hours) of driving and made it into Stuttgart by 11:00pm to meet Karen – a Lebanese caver now working in Germany. We stopped the night with Karen at her flat in a snowy Stuttgart.

Day 135 Friday 29/01/10

Whilst Szilvi, Anton and Emma went for a walk in the snow to a nearby hill, Mike stayed behind to cook everyone a meal. We wanted to cook an “English” as a thank you to them, so Beef in beer with Yorkshire Puddings was on the menu.
Later that evening there was a party at Szilvi and Anton’s flat with more friends. This was a perfect send-off for us before leaving Hungary in the morning.