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Tham Lod Cave, Traditional Village and Looping Along The Loop

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  Setting off early the next morning we headed to Tham Lot Cave, somewhat of a throwback to Australia, it was re-discovered in the mid to late 80’s by Australian explorers! Pretty interesting, but not as interesting as the wonders that lay within. The cave itself is a natural limestone structure, 1.6 meters in length with a fresh water stream running through the middle. Having hired one of the village ladies (all the money you spend in or around Tham Lod actually goes directly to the village community with I love), we wound our way along a dirt track canopied by bright leaning trees. Stopping outside the mouth of the cave – and I now know why they call it the ‘mouth’ of a cave, it looked ready to engulf anyone who came close! – our guide, with a towel on her head (apparently this is a bit of a fashion that started many years ago and the reason behind it… well, has been lost to time) squatted down and lit an ancient looking oil lamp. It was going to be a dark journey
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Waterfall Swimming, Geyser Egging... Mae Hong Son Loop 1

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Not sure if its come across in any of my previous blogs, but from a very young age its been known that I am a little, well accident prone. So after much consideration and advise gathering from a plethora of sources it was decided NOT to hire a scooter to drive around Northern Thailand, and instead hire a driver with a local guide – a decision I do not regret. After another long and leisurely shower in my hotel, I headed out to be picked up in yet another HiLux (are they made in Thailand?!) and introduced to the delightful Sunni (driver) and Winai (guide). Both from the same Karen Hill Village (which I’ll get the fortune to experience in a few days). They jumped out, shaking hands, grabbing my baggage and popping it and me into the vehicle. First feelings? Complete and utter awkwardness, as if I was pretending to be something I wasn’t, some rich person being ported from here to there in comfort… I felt like I was cheating, not travelling the ‘right way’… upon realising that th
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Chanelling Chaing Mai

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Have you ever realised you’d stopped breathing… when you’re watching a thriller… waiting to see if the victim will survive, when you’re driving and you see an almost-accident? Cutting into a steak for a dinner party and PRAYING its medium rare and not… well… dead. That is Chaing Mai… Its being in China for six month, then freaking out while in the forest, then… Chaing Mai… and suddenly your heart is beating slower, your breath is deeper, the sun is… sunnier? Admittedly I might be biased, while my time at Kindred Spirit was the most inspirational and awe inspiring experience of my life, my innards were not so inspired… and thus upon arriving in Chaing Mai at my hotel only to find a large square shower head with ‘rain shower’ option… I almost died… not to mention the pristine white toilet with complete flushing capabilities. I promised myself I’d spend the two days in Chaing Mai in the hotel, enjoying the pool and just relaxing (and general colon repairing), unfortuna
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Turtling In Thailand - My Week As A Kindred Spirit

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The most life changing experience started at… 7am… its been a rather long time since I’ve seen 7am… so that in itself was intriguing… and not in a good way, lets be honest… Lets not day by day this experience, its not interesting for anyone other than the people who experience it (read   A Tale of Two Cities – you’ll see what I mean), but I will say that EVERY day I appreciated the simplicity (by which I mean… not complicating life the way so many do, with who is what and what is who and blackberry and blueberry and apple and god help me it sounds like I’m making a fruit cake!…) of existence, the wee puppies biting at my ankles, the kittens with twisted tails, the pigs who didn’t give a flying… well a flying anything as to whether you were there or not, the chickens bricking themselves constantly – will they ever get used to humans? The family fires burning and just… actual… life. Yeah I said it, life… I suppose my farm girl origins might affe ct my perspective, but coming he
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