Swissden Road Trip Day 2

Today we set off early for Lod Cave and made sure we knew where we were going so we never spent time driving in the wrong direction.
Now the drive to Lod Cave was pretty amazing, up and down mountains, small villages, etc. The only reason we saw small villages was because we got so lost again. It turned out we drove straight past Lod Cave and did a full circle, through small villages, dirt roads, steep and bad dirt roads. All the time we are asking for directions and are told go straight! 3 hours later,We finally get to what we thought was Lod Cave but turned out to be a resort with bungalows not to far from Lod Cave. Hungry and tired we stop here to have lunch. The place is pretty cool, fire place in the restaurant where you can sit around and enjoy a beer or two, close to the river and well.... Cozy!
We decide, we might as well spend the night here and we can go now to see the cave or it will all be to rushed in the morning. So we eat, check in and head for the caves. Now we have Carine on crutches and Linda dying with pain from sore joints. We get to the park entrance and we get a guide. Not to sure what to expect, we ask if it will be ok for the girls. We were told should be fine as we go on bamboo raft through the cave but might miss cave 3 as there is some walking in the dark.
We walk a bit and get to the cave entrance which has a river going in. This was amazing. We all jump on the bamboo raft and head on into the cave. The cave is pretty big with stalagmites all over. As we get further into the cave the guide is shining here super bright lantern showing us things. Next thing there is a splash in the water, fish, huge bloody fish! I bought fish food to feed the fish but didn't expect to see them so far in the cave and that big. I think they also feed on the bat droppings as there were thousands of bats in there as well. We managed to all see the 3 caves, which was well worth the trip, it was truly amazing and well worth the effort. On the way out, they push you back to where you started and you are supposed to jump off a bit before the exit and walk. But seeing we had two girls with us, one on crutches and one like a old lady, they were kind enough to take us back to where we jumped on so they never had to walk up and down the rocks to get out the cave. Then as we were almost out, going against the current, the back of the raft gets caught in the current and almost tips us all in the river. Lucky we only got or shoes wet and not the cameras!
We got back to the cabin and organized a sauna for the 4 of us. So we had 1 hour until the sauna was ready so Alex and I head down to the river to fish as we assumed that if the fish are that big in the cave they must be that big in the river. After digging for worms we head to the river with a bamboo rod, hook and line. Nothing, not even a tap. We saw some local kids by the river cutting big pieces of bamboo and they decide to help us. They dug for something close to the river under rocks and put that on the hook. I sort of understood that there were no big fish in the river, they were all in the cave so was keen to just catch anything. I gave the rod to the kid and wanted to see him catch a fish, just to see what fish it was. Still nothing, so Alex and I gave up, gave all my hooks and line to the kids and head for the sauna which should be smoking hot right now. So we all gather in this home made sauna which has herbal steam. We close the door and all have to stand as there is not much space in this sauna. From the shoulders up we are cooking and sweating, shoulders down, freezing cold due to the fact that there is a gap in the door at the bottom. There is also a big gap in the roof connecting the wall so we block it up with a towel. A few minutes later, we are over this sauna and leave.
That evening we sat around the fire chatting to people and enjoying dinner and a few drinks.

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