LATEST NEWS AND UP COMING EVENTS AT AND AROUND THE   CAVE LODGE

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JOHN'S BOOK: More than 2 years in the making, John's book is finished. Various drafts have used titles such as Borderline, Golden Triangle Cocktail, and Cave Coffins and Chaos. John has recently sent the latest version, Wild Existence,  to an agent in Australia. More than 500 guests at the Lodge have bought earlier versions of John's memoirs. In the cover letter to the agent he described the book as follows - "I am an Australian who has resided in northern Thailand for the past 30 years. Wild Existence: Surviving 30 Years on the Thai-Burma Border is the true account of my borderline adventures, struggles and discoveries. For seven years, I led trekking tours to opium-growing hilltribe villages. In 1984, I built Cave Lodge, a guesthouse near the Burma border, in a region of karst wilderness and massive caves I have recorded my experiences, both above and below ground, for their historical significance and because they make a compelling story. My memoirs cover extreme explorations, misdemeanours, tribes and tribulations. The Thai police accused me of murdering an Australian tourist who stayed at my Lodge. Then they shot the chief suspect. When more guests died, or lost their sanity, moments of mayhem gripped Cave Lodge. I have survived house fires, poisonous air, snakebite, tropical maladies and my decrepit Land Rover."   It's all true, shocking as it may read, but it's also a bloody good story, and hopefully a publisher will want to turn it into a book, complete with maps and lots of amazing photos. So keep an eye out- it will probably have a different title, and if anyone wants to produce the movie, let us know. We have copies to read at the Lodge, with lots of pics.

LATEST IMPROVEMENTS AT THE LODGE: Some former guests will remember our herbal sauna in the valley below the Lodge. We had many fun days steaming Tom Yum Farang in our sauna room and the partially cooked guest loved diving into the swimming hole in the river nearby to cool off before heading in for another hit on lemon grass. We have rebuilt our sauna, with a new boiler tank and new steam room, in a  place up on the hill near the main house. It will be open for the cold season and it will be pumping out healthy herbal steam for all of our guests. A few of our Shan female staff are also highly accomplished in the art of massage, and for 200 baht an hour (we take no cut, pay them directly) they will give you an exceptional body massage to loosen you right up.  

We also have a new hot water system which we fire up with dried bamboo and scrap wood, sending hot water to every bathroom from November until March. It is a piping hot system that never runs out and can be enjoyed by all of our guests- from those in the 60 baht dorm to those in our 450 baht deluxe bungalows.

With the open fire raging in the front house, hot water in the showers, our aromatic sauna and lots of warm guests, you can imagine the atmosphere in the winter time at the Lodge is seductive. Mix in a few beers or some of our fine wine (Aussie, Chile etc) with our great mix of music and the scene around the fireplace gets nicely mellow and friendly. The Lodge has always been an excellent place to meet your fellow travellers and make new friends.

Over the past few years we have been constantly upgrading our bungalows. We still have some cheap simple bungalows and rooms but also have more than ten relatively luxurious bungalows with beautiful attached bathrooms. We hand built each of these, spending a few months on each one. They are all different in size and design and they all face the river, the sunrise and the moonrise. Some are fully tiled, others have polished teak floors and are raised off the ground. All have a balcony and comfortable mattresses and bedding. Check out the pics on the accommodation photos page of our website.

For previous visitors, you will notice that our website has improved. Our good friend Steve from Australia has done all of the work in the design and layout. Thanks Steve...Cave Lodge is very happy with the site. Steve's philosophy is "keep it simple and informative."  We have tried to pack in as much information as possible about the Lodge, our adventure trips, the area and related things to do. We are very open to suggestions and comments, so please email us and tell us what we can do to improve the site.

DANES SPONSOR THE BUILDING OF A HUGE SCHOOL DORMITORY IN BAN THAM LOD SCHOOL: A very generous donation of around 900,000 baht from Danish citizens, with coordinating support from C&C Travel, a Danish tour company whose guests stay at Cave Lodge, has financed the construction of a new dormitory building in the school in our village. This building replaces the old, crumbling, inadequate dorm that houses about 40 hilltribe children from remote Lahu, Karen and Shan villages in our district. These children live and eat at our school, and by the end of 2005, they will have a brand new home. This impressive, double-storied building has sleeping areas for the children, bathrooms, 2 rooms for teachers and a study room. Mr Athit, the headmaster at our school, coordinated the construction to ensure that all of the money was well spent, and that it went a long way. The construction also provided employment for people in our community. Everyone is very happy with the fantastic support from generous Danish people, who are also happy to see their donations spent in a positive way, with no management overheads, administration costs or other budget eaters that are a part of international charity work. 100% of the donations are spent on the project!

Meanwhile, Cave Lodge helped by suggesting the project, and we assisted with correspondence between our village and Denmark. We have, on a smaller scale, been helping schools in our district for many years. Bill Fanning, an American friend set up the original fund with a generous donation and a donation box at the Lodge has encouraged hundreds of our guests to contribute to the fund. Again, 100% of the money reaches the schools. We buy rice, sardines, eggs, milk, washing powder etc for Lahu children who live at the school in Ban Huoy Haeng village and Ban Na Luang village. The dedicated teachers in these 2 villages need our support to feed their pupils. In Huoy Haeng there are 70-80 very poor Lahu and Shan children, some are refugees from Burma, and they all live at the school and rely on the teachers to feed them. We have also  built a small dorm in Huoy Haeng village with an initial donation of 15,000 baht for the frame and roof, and another 20,000 to finish the building.  Thanks to all of our guests who have trusted us with their donations. All the money is carefully spent to maximise the benefits.   

ADVENTURES ABOUND: Lots of other adventures are always happening on the rivers and in the caves around here, not to mention the border war (which does not affect us in any way) between the Shan State Army and the United Wa State Army, just across the border on the Burmese side. But that's a really long ongoing story. You can read about it in my book. Hope to see you at the Lodge soon.  John 

 It is so easy to reach us these days that the effort is negligible compared to what you can experience. Many travellers make it only to Pai, and never experience the magic of  Pang Mapha, which is only an hour further along the road. Forget the bars, farang choked streets, courses in hyperguristocology, mediocre waterfalls and hot springs and get REAL...take a walk into somewhere truly worth spending a few days. Meet some real locals, awe yourself with awesome natural attractions and walk amongst stunning scenery and karst landscapes. Go with one of our highly experienced guides, or set off on your own adventure with our infamous map....but don't do what a Norwegian caver did last month. He wanted to go for a long walk in the karst alone, and when he hadn't returned at 8pm we got a bit worried. It rained hard all night and early in the morning John, Steve and Ong went to check a few local grottos- Christmas cave and the incredible Big Knob, just in case...He finally turned up in the afternoon, coming from a Black Lahu village, after "walking for 30 hours" and spending the night on top of a limestone knob with his head in his pack. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but we didn't. We do like people who crave adventure, and want to go out and find something new. It is possible and we usually find the more they put into it the more they get out of it (the experience, not the high). We are happy to point you in a good direction and offer advice. There are unknown caves out there, hundreds of archaeological sires that remain unidentified and at least six cases of looted World War Two treasure in a cave on the way to Mae Hong Son (read John's book for details and map..)

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