Lazy day today because there’s not a lot happening here except for the caves which I was looking forward to. I rode down to the starting point after some breakfast at one of the few restaurants on the way.
Being a solo traveller, I had to wait for a couple of other tourists to arrive to fill a boat, or pay for the whole thing myself. So I sat beside the river for half an hour and chilled out.
Luckily two guys turned up,one from Thailand and one from Laos.
Unfortunately, both were chain smokers 😁
We took the boat across the river and walked into the caves to the launch point while they puffed away. Once in the boat, I convinced them not to smoke, as I was at the back.
The journey through the caves was really nice, as it was a huge cavern with a river running through it. It would have been between 10 and 30 metres wide at it most points. After a while, we stopped and walked while the driver negotiated some rapids upstream. We walked past stalacmites and stalactites as my fellow travellers dawdled with their cigarettes.They and others there were grabbing, pushing, prodding and knocking the stalacmites for some reason – something that would mean instant eviction from Jenolan Caves back home.
We continued and then disembarked again for more rapids before emerging and visiting a village. It was completely empty of people, so after 15 minutes we left and retraced out steps. The river and the village looked very nice.
The only lighting in the caves was our headtorches which made it difficult to grasp the whole picture.
Overall, the caves were impressive, the largest and longest I’d ever seen, but I can’t help thinking how the experience could have been much better. As for the chain smokers … don’t get me started.
In the village, there is very little happening. I think I only saw three places to eat. I spoke with the guy who runs one of them, and Covid meant absolutely no tourists, so it’s been difficult, but they live in hope of tourists returning.
The other one I went to (a few times) was this quirky setup with covered tables on platforms above chickens, geese, fish etc. I wouldn’t want to drop my phone, but the old couple running the place are really friendly.
