A walk in the park

[Dougal]

Not really that much about walking but I wanted a snappy title.

Despite my having been coming to Thailand for over ten years I don't think I have seen that much of the country and so as Khao Sam Roi Yot park is only twenty minutes drive from the house I was determined to go this year.

The park is on the coast about 20 Kms south of Hua Hin and as its name suggests is a bit hilly. Lots of birds fro the ornitholigists amongst us.

Anyway to cut to the chase. There are a variety of caves in the park and this seemed like a bit different to just admiring the view.

The first cave we went to was about 3Kms down the end of a rough dirt road, lots of potholes and rocks. Fortunately we had the ideal vehicle for off road driving - a hire car.

All there is as at the cave is a car park and a sort of hut thing that was shut. There is a toilet but after looking at it from the outside I decided that I didn't really need to see what the inside looked like.

Getting up to the entrance to the cave is a bit of hike: Piccie >



The women are my sons minders so no jokes about what we were all going to do in the cave.

As you can see the path is well laid out with nice steps and safety rail, actually we had a bit of a struggle to find the entrance, I don't think they get that many visitors.

[Dougal]

Having found the entrance you climb down a ladder to get inside.



There are larger pics in my gallery but I haven't worked out how to link the thumbnails yet.

[Dougal]

Not knowing what to expect we hadn't brought a torch so we couldn't go any further than this. Even this close to the entrance it was very, very dark. The following pics are taken by pointing the camera and letting the flash illuminate the cave.



In this picture you can make out the start of the path through the cave, the little black thing at the bottom left is one of the route markers.



If the pictures look a bit skewed it is because I really had no idea what I was lookiing at - the stalactites are really vertical. Try wedging a book under the edge of the monitor.





Obviously without light it would be madness to try and go any further, so we had to leave it there.

Tonight I will sort out some more pictures of deeper in the cave when I came back with a torch.

[otherstuff1957]

Very nice pics! I did a lot of spelunking back in the states when I was in school and I understand that there are some very interesting caves here in Thailand. Maybe next year I'll get a helmet, lamp, etc... and start doing some exploring!

[laoshi]

You wanna put some tasty birds on those rocks and you'll have a decent thread on your hands here...

[Dougal]

Maybe next year I'll get a helmet, lamp, etc... and start doing some exploring!

That would be the sensible option. We went through in walking type sandals but I could see a few discarded flip flops in the cave. God knows how they would get anybody out if there was a real accident, even in a sissy cave like this one.

[Dougal]

You wanna put some tasty birds on those rocks

I'll have to leave that to DD, he does it so much better than me.

[Goddess of Whatever]

Last year, me and my friends went to Nakornsawan for the wedding. In the day time, we visited the cave around there, do not ask me what's the name, I don't remember.

Here's piccies!!



It's very dark inside there and cold too! different from outside which was so hot.



This picture was strange. In the cave, if you look at that black spot and turn away a bit fast and back to look at it again, you will see like there's a guy with long beard and hair look at you back.



Sorry Dougal if I ruined your thread (actually it's what I always do but never really want to mean it). Your piccies just remind me about this place.

Btw, I wish to see you in Hua-Hin when I can make it there.

[Goddess of Whatever]

I got it!! we visited the first one "Tam Wang Khai Muk".

;-)

[friscofrankie]

The helmet's a good idea. Took a hike through a cave in Phuket a few yes ago. "Pung chaang" was a stream all the way through this mountain. Bled like stuck pig from the head after bouncing off a stalactite.

[dirtydog]

I wonder if they have caves here with caveman drawings in, maybe one of our members could fake some up in one of the lessor visited caves, although the teakdoor.com underneath may make it look like a visionaries painting from the past anyway back on subject the best caves I ever saw were in Malta, although in the UK at Kent they have one cave that has like 60 miles of underground caverns I believe, they even rent out areas of it to store wine.

[Dougal]

Sorry Dougal if I ruined your thread (actually it's what I always do but never really want to mean it). Your piccies just remind me about this place. Btw, I wish to see you in Hua-Hin when I can make it there.

Post away GOW. The colours of those rocks are much more varied than the one we went through. Was that black material a different type of rock or some sort of discolouration?

We won't be back in Hua Hin till 1st April but Mrs Dougal and I would be pleased to see you. I am told my wife's Som Tam is good (I can't eat it but my youngest loves it).

[Goddess of Whatever]

That color was different type of rock, it's cool but scary.

I might go to Huahin on Songkran Festival, if you are there, that's cool.

[Dougal]

I might go to Huahin on Songkran Festival, if you are there, that's cool.

We are very definitely there for Songkhran.

[Dougal]

OK back the cave.

Son and I went back the next day with a torch so that we could go all the way through the cave.

[Dougal]

The path through the cave winds around a bit and some of the direction signs are not that easy to spot.

[Dougal]

There is one place where you have to climb over a sort of wall, but as oyu can see there is a nice ladder. At least you know you are going in the right direction.




The black dots on the roof are bats by the way.

[Dougal]

There is only one place where you need to crawl on hands and knees.



Unfortunately it at this spot that I noticed the insects on floor, they looked like a cross between a cockroach and grasshopper. I have no idea what they were living on.

The other unfortuante thing that happened at this place was that the torch decided that it had done enough for the day.

You feel bloody silly standing there in pitch darkness.

After our eyes got used to the dark I could see a very dim patch of gray somewhere above us, but nowhere near enough light to be able to find the way out. The bats also decided that this was a good time to get some exercise, although we could not see them, it was so still in the cave that we could feel the disturbance of the air on our faces as they flew past.

After a few minutes I tried the torch again and we got a few more metres before it faded out again. For the next ten minutes or so we were doing stop starts, turning the torch off and on to get a few more yards, but it was pretty obvious that the periods of time between the torch batteries fading were getting shorter and shorter.

Then by a f**cking miracle we heard voices back down the cave. A Thai bloke and his girlfriend were coming through and all we had to do was wait for them to arrive and then tag along with them. I like to think that someone woudl have noticed our car in the car park sometime and coem looking for us but then maybe not. Anyway I was bloody glad that the other couple arrived when they did. I'm sure I have also contributed to the Thai couples general impression that all farangs are idiots.