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

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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 are in the process of rebuilding our sauna, with a new boiler tank and new steam room, in a new 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.  

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.

Over the past few years we have been constantly upgrading our bungalows. We still have some cheap simple bungalows and rooms but also have 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.

FINALLY- THE BOOK. THE RUMOURS ARE ALL TRUE!  Ah, yeah...John has written his memoirs- the shocking honest story of his 28 (at least) years in the Golden Triangle, more than 20 of them at Cave Lodge- the longest running guest house in Mae Hong Son Province. The book details a vast menagerie of experiences that have to be read to be believed. Amazingly, it is all very true. We all hope it will become a bestseller so the Cave Lodge can offer free helicopter pickup service from Chiang Mai for all of our guests. The tentative title is CAVES, COFFINS AND CHAOS- A GOLDEN TRIANGLE COCKTAIL. It covers a lot of the incidents that happened over the decades at the Lodge, years of trekking, caving, archaeological discovery, and, Mountains, Mayhem and Madness (another possible title!). The book draft is now in the editing stage- cleaning up the clunky bits and the grammar, Next step is finding a publisher who is willing to risk their reputation with such a controversial book...shouldn't be too hard. There are plenty off disreputable publishers out there, but it is John's first book and he is a little nervous. Anyway, if we can't find a publisher to share in the immense profits this book will generate, we will produce it ourselves. So keep a look out in the bestseller lists, or in your local sleazy bookshop, or maybe we can figure a way to sell it or (if desperate) give it away on our website. Might even stick a few chapters on the site here one day as a tease. So hang in there, the truth will soon be revealed....

DANES SPONSOR THE BUILDING OF A HUGE SCHOOL DORMITORY IN BAN THAM LOD SCHOOL: A very generous donation of around 700,000 baht from Danish citizens, with coordinating support from C&C Travel, a Danish tour company whose guests stay at Cave Lodge, is financing 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, has coordinated the construction to ensure that all of the money is well spent, and that it goes a long way. The construction also provides 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 help 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 started to help build a small dorm in Huoy Haeng village with an initial donation of 15,000 baht for the frame and roof. Hopefully soon we will be able to finish the building. Thanks to all of our guests who have trusted us with their donation. All the money is carefully spent to maximise the benefits.   

Lots of other adventures 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 

Actually it is so easy to reach us 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 truely worth spending a few days. Meet some real locals, awe yourself with awesome natural attractions and walk amongst stunning scenery and karst landscapes.

HOME | ABOUT US | ACCOMMODATION | CAVING | KAYAKING | TREKKING | MOUNTAIN BIKE | COOK&WEAVE | BIRDWATCHING | PREHISTORY | LATEST NEWS | LODGE PHOTOS ||CAVE PHOTOS | KAYAK PHOTOS | TRIBAL PHOTOS

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