Chiang Dao Cave Temple

Cave Temple, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

When I booked our stay at the Chiang Dao Nest I'm not sure I knew about the cave temple. Or if I'd seen it mentioned as a local attraction it didn't really register.
Our first attempt to visit was nearly a disaster. We'd been told that we could hike on a nature trail along the mountain side and arrive at the temple in about an hour. That sounded good.
But it was very hot. And the trail was very poorly marked and much steeper and rougher than we could have imagined. We quickly came to realize we hadn't brought enough water.
Still it was beautiful and exotic in a very dry and smoky sort of way and we pressed on. But after about 45 minutes it dawned on us that we were in the middle of nowhere. Not even close to the caves. That was when the path we were on began zig zagging UP the mountain side.

We had passed a little hand drawn sign quite a ways back, written in Thai. We decided that that was probably the trail we needed and we'd simply taken a wrong turn.
So we trudged back to the sign and bravely clambered down the absurdly steep path, hoping that this was indeed the right way.
Hoping but also doubting and then actively worrying. By now our water was gone and we were very hot. I ran ahead and began passing smoking piles of ashes. Workers had been burning slash here. The trail completely vanished. We had to go back!

The decision to give up and just return the way we'd come was just plain hard to make. It meant somehow going back up that steep slope and that was going to be tough. It also meant a solid hour of hiking to get back to our starting point. We had come so far on hope and bad information. In the end there was no choice at all. We had to go back.

It was actually frightening. India came unglued at one point--I think when we were about to do the climb back up. She was basically hysterical and began wailing that she had malaria! And it was clear that Joyce was close to heat exhaustion, if not already there.
I myself began having heat cramps in my legs! Something I'd read about but never experienced. And I was carrying a very limp Eden, who we found out later, had picked up a tick to bring back with her.

We obviously did make it back out. But we had been very foolish. I found it rather hard to be civil to Stuart, our host at the Nest, who had sent us out on this jaunt.

The very next day we decided to walk down the road to the cave temple. A downhill walk of about a mile. But just as we were leaving, the local police, who had been collecting the hotel tax from the Nest, very kindly offered us a lift in the back of their pickup truck.
It was an amusing way to enter the complex. Police escort.

What greeted us there was a surprise and delight to all of us.
This photo was taken at the entrance to the cave, where in ages past part of the roof had caved in, allowing light but not rain to illuminate rocky shelves. As you can see, the Thai took full advantage of this magnificent gift of nature.