Thanksgiving Jungle Hike!

After a great night of sleep, it was raining monkeys & elephants when we woke up in our bungalow over the lake on Thanksgiving morning. We missed spending time with our family and eating turkey & Busia's dumplings, but at least we kept a tradition of a Thanksgiving morning hike - but this was certainly a unique one!

The rain broke and we made our way down to the dock for breakfast. Filling up with energy for the main event of the day, a jungle hike.

Thanksgiving breakfast of champions

Long Tail Boat

We got onto our a long tail boat with our guide for a 15 minute ride to the start of the hike. We really had no idea what the hike would entail; all we knew was that it was a "jungle hike" with a cave, and that we were sure to get wet.

Leeches, Spiders & Mud

We've been fortunate to do so much great hiking on this trip. From Fjords in the Faroe Islands, to gorges in Austria and deserts in Jordan. This one was quite different. It was slippery, we walked through water, there were leeches (we pulled one off Sadie's foot), we saw spiders as big as our hands, it was awesome!

Starting strong!

We were told this was a "walk-away" tree. At night it goes for a walk in the jungle, but always returns before daylight.

Jungle elves.

Nam Ta Lu Cave

After a 1.5 hour hike up through the jungle, we arrived at the entrance to a cave, which had been discovered by communist fighters who retreated to the mountains. Because it was still on the shoulder of rainy season, our guide let us know:

1. We could only go a couple hundred meters inside.

2. There was a part where we'd have to swim.

3. Nine People died in this cave in 2006.

He dwelled on #3 a bit too long for the faint of heart!

Headlamps On

Headlamps on, in we went. There is certainly a mysteriousness to being inside a cave, trudging through water, seeing interesting rock formations and stalactites all around.

One section we did have to swim through some cold water, but we all made it through with smiles on our faces.

Cave hiking! Happy Thanksgiving!

In total we spent about 30 minutes in the cave and then returned back to the jungle for our hike back down to the boat.

We cruised down and just before arriving back at the long-tail boat, we were treated to a troop of monkeys across the river!

The monkey on the left looks a bit familiar, but we couldn't quite place her ;)

Now that's a fitting way to end a real jungle hike! Definitely a Thanksgiving we won't forget.