John took us along with him to see the excavation of a coffin cave he found some years ago. There are potentially a hundred skeletons, around 1200 to 2000 years old. The expert who is going to make a model of what a face would have looked like is staying at the lodge.... read more

This is the middle of the dry season so there are lots of forest fires. The Thai government don't like the fires because they cause poor air quality (particulate matter in the 150 - 200 range), but they clear the leaf litter and make it much easier to walk through the forest. Also, they're quite pretty at night, I tried to take a picture of the line of fire coming down the hillside opposite Cave Lodge but no combination of settings seemed to do it justice.... read more

No photo again. No particular theme from today, just a good vibe.... read more

Lots of lovely things happened today that made me feel like I was settling in to my new surroundings. The first was that Ing-Ka suggested I try something new for breakfast. She clearly felt comfortable enough with me to criticise my rice-soup habit, and made me an omelette. Another thing was rearranging my bedroom (see picture). Another - Lii laughed when I asked her for a watermelon shake (to my un-Thai ears, the conversation went (me) "tang moo pan", (Lii) "eh?!??", (me) "tang moo pan", (Lii) continue to look blank, (me) *get watermelon from fridge, (Lii) "ah, tang moo pan", (me) "ban?", (Lii) "pan", (me) "pan", (Lii) *nods and smile "pan" then walks away laughing and talking about tang moo pan to the other Thai speaker). We played in the river with Dtae and he's getting ... read more

We had tried to find this cave on Friday with Bobby and Ryan on their scooters. Today, this became a very long walk. Many flies, scratches, and bites later: still no cave.... read more