Joylani and I don’t consider ourselves outdoors people, but we’ve come to the conclusion that we do a lot of outdoorsy things as a result of traveling. At home, our outdoor exertions were limited to about 20 minutes of walking a day, between our apartment and the train station and the train station and our offices. But being in some of the most beautiful (and undeveloped) parts of the world, we’re constantly outdoors. Swimming, walking, hiking/trekking, and cycling, among other things, have become frequent activities for us. In the course of our travels, I think we might do more outdoors activities than a lot of people who consider themselves the outdoors type, whatever that is. And although neither of us are exercise junkies, fitness buffs, or consider ourselves super-healthy, as we’ve traveled we’ve become more confident in our abilities. A turning point for Joylani was the Annapurna Trek, both physically and mentally. Her bad knee that’s plagued her for the past couple years hasn’t acted up since then, her endurance has really improved, and we joke that it’s the first time she’s ever had visible leg muscles. Most of all since the trek, I’ve noticed that she’s willing to walk any distance or hike any trail. I’ll ask, “You wanna catch a sawngthaew?” or “Let’s just take a tuk-tuk.” Looking at a map, she’ll say its only x kilometers, so we walk more often. And hiking, she’s much quicker and doesn’t tire or rest much anymore. Once she told me, “Yea man, that Annapurna was tough. Since then though, I feel like I can do anything.” It was in that spirit, that we decided to rent mountain bikes to ride to some nearby caves. The caves are 15 kilometers north of town, but the route was along the paved main highway, so we thought it would be easy. We got the bikes in the early afternoon and set off. It was pretty hot. Not as hot as some other days, but definitely hot enough that shade was much preferable to sun and resting a more appealing option than exercising. And it was bit more hilly than I expected. It wasn’t a lot of hills, but the road was a continual undulation of upward and downward slopes, although it was more uphill as we were heading upriver. We stopped once and gulped down a bottle of water before hopping back on our bikes to the caves. When we arrived at the village indicated, on the hand-drawn map we got in town, we turned off the highway onto an unpaved road. I’d say dirt road, but it was more rocks than dirt. It was tough holding the handlebars as our bikes bounced hard and jerked every which way over the rocks. Good thing we’d shelled out the extra .50 cents for mountain bikes, because I don’t know what we would’ve down without thick tires and shocks. Luckily, it was only a kilometer or two before we came to the river. Crossing the river on a bamboo bridge, we then walked about a kilometer to Tham Nam cave. We passed one cave on the way and there were a couple others in the vicinity, but Tham Nam was our destination.

me, my headlamp and waterproof batterypack, and my tube, ready to go in the cave…yes, its that little hole behind me

We arrived to find a little bar/restaurant, some inner tubes stacked up, and some headlamps. The cave wasn’t what either of us were expecting. It didn’t have a big arched mouth, but was rather scary looking. Basically a small river was flowing out of the limestone cliff and there was a foot or two of space between the water’s surface and the roof of the cave mouth. A group of three guys went in ahead of us, while we strapped on our headlamps and sat in our tubes in the cold water. There was a rope in the water and strung through the cave, so we waded into the river, sat in our tubes, grabbed the line and pulled ourselves into the darkness. The line zigzagged into the cave. Immediately inside the temperature was already cooler, the air misty, and much darker. The water near the entrance glowed green from the light outside. Looking into the cave, it was pitch black and all we could hear was the echoes of the three guys that had entered a few minutes before us. We pulled ourselves along the dark tunnel, looking at the cave walls, which were covered with all sorts of interesting surfaces. Like the other caves we’ve seen, some parts of it looked smooth and rounded, some parts looked like hanging drapes, some areas were covered with patches of small crystals, and there were small stalagmites hanging from the ceiling.

can you guess what Joylani’s thinking? 

As we penetrated deeper into the cave, the air was thick with mist. It was hard to see anything, as our headlamp beams becamse visible beams and then just reflected right back at us like headlights in thick fog. A few hundred meters into the cave, the water was too shallow to sit in our tubes and the ceiling was too low to stand, so we got out of our tubes and carried them in a crouch/walk for a few meters until the ceiling rose again and we found a sandy island inside. There were a few other people there, who left for the entrance just as we got there. The cave kept going to the left and the right, so it was like we came to a T-junction. But neither side had a rope and Joylani wanted to go back, so we looked around for a minute or two before heading back. On the way back, we discovered another rope tied to original one. We followed it down an offshoot of the main tunnel, where it also stopped at a “beach.” Leaving our tubes, we crawled on the clay under the super-low ceiling behind the “beach,” which brought us to another place where the river flowed. There wasn’t much to see or do, as we didn’t have our tubes and there was no rope, so we headed back. On the way back, Joylani (of course she would be the one see it) spotted huge spider. Knowing how much she hates bugs and especially spiders (I’m sure anyone that’s read our blog for any amount of time knows the same), I wasn’t too surprised when she screamed, panted a few times, and said, “Matt. That’s the biggest spider I’ve ever seen.” I wasn’t too surprised because Joylani often speaks in hyperbole about bugs. But when I’d crawled to the open space where she was and I looked up, it was true: there, on the cave wall, was the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life. It wasn’t one of those fat hairy ones with a lot of body mass. Rather, it had medium-sized, sharply-shaped black body, with long legs that were thick near the body and came to sharp points at the end. I have no idea how dangerous it was, but the fact that its legs could cover my entire face was enough to get us back to our tubes FAST. We pulled our ourselves back towards the mouth of the cave, via the rope. A few minutes later, we were back outside in the late afternoon sunlight. The ride back to town was a death ride. I hadn’t eaten anything except a pancake and few slices of fruit for breakfast. My thighs burned as I pedaled and even Joylani was going faster than me. I caught up to her a few times on the uphills, but I was dying. The dusty air was irritating my sore throat and a late afternoon breeze was blowing against us, slowing us and making my eyes water. On one long uphill, we got off our bikes and walked them up the hill. We did eventually make it back to town beat, sweating, panting, etc. Today was one of those days that embodies the outdoor spirit: uncomfortable, difficult, and scary, but scenic and rewarding too. Even after today’s 30km bike ride and cave expedition, I don’t consider myself an outdoorsy person. But I do enjoy trying and experiencing things even if they’re too hot or too cold, scary or difficult, uncomfortable and even comfortable, too. And as the trip goes on, I see Joylani increasingly doesn’t let the unpleasant/difficult aspect of things get in the way of experiences and fun. For those that have been following our blog, I’m sure you’ve seen her adventurousness increase as her fears diminish. Many times in the past six months, she’s both surprised me and made me proud. Those of you that know her can see how today is a good example of how she’s changed; suggesting cycling 15km to and from our destination, following a rope several hundred meters into a dark cave filled with water, and not freaking out when seeing a six-inch spider. Of course, we’re both changing and growing in many ways, but today was just an example and reminder of one way in which Joylani has.

bad photo, but you get the point