Stickman Readers' Submissions February 6th, 2013

A Trip into Mae Hong Son: Part Two – The Underground River



As our guide leads us down the steep track towards the cave entrance the dense, surrounding jungle is still heavy with fog at 0900 am. Andrew and I are on day two of our trip into Mae Hong Son and we were up at first light preparing ourselves for the tour into Mae Lana Cave. The exploration of this cave is the primary reason for my being in Mae Hong Son. For Andrew, the extensive tour into the underground river system will be his first experience of this type of activity. We picked up our local guide, at a check point back along the road, where he advised us that the two kilometre underground trek was 500 THB each and would take approximately four hours to complete the round trip.


After roughly an 800 meter downhill walk from the car park the track levels out to reveal a small stream running under a cliff face. Our guide informs us that we’re at the entry point into the cave and we ready ourselves for the four hour trek underground. A few minutes later, with head lights in place and camera gear set, we work our way through a crevice, in the limestone cliff face, and enter the cave. The following is a picture essay of our trip into Mae Lana Cave:

He Clinic Bangkok


Mae Lana Cave


The track to the cave entrance; thick fog in the surrounding jungle


Mae Hong Son


The stream that flows through the cave system



Mae Lana Cave


Headlights in place; Andrew and the guide about to move into the cave

Mae Lana Cave


Moving from the light zone into the darkness

Mae Lana Cave

CBD Bangkok


Knee deep in the underground river

Mae Lana Cave


The open spaces of a wide point in the cave system

Mae Lana Cave


A few minutes rest on the underground beach

Mae Lana Cave


Checking out the orange colours of the formation

Mae Lana Cave


More millions of years old amazing formations

Mae Lana Cave


Shaking the river stones out of the shoes

Mae Lana Cave


Brilliant colours high up on the cave ceiling

Mae Lana Cave


Another impressive flowstone

wonderland clinic

Mae Lana Cave


An impressive stalactite at about the half-way point


Mae Lana Cave


Down into the river again


The needle from the roof


Mae Lana Cave


More jagged formations protruding down from the cave roof

Mae Lana Cave


More wading time as we continue on

Mae Lana Cave


A climb up for a closer look

Mae Lana Cave


For all intents and purposes, we could be on another planet

Mae Lana Cave


Pristine cave pool

Mae Lana Cave


The enormous orange flowstone at the end of our trek

Mae Lana Cave


The small waterfall we’d come to see; slightly disappointing compared with the journey in


Mae Lana Cave

A bit more time to admire the surroundings before heading out

Mae Lana Cave and it’s underground river; an amazing adventure to say the least.


Safe travels,


Mega



Stickman's thoughts:

Nice photos.

nana plaza