A Virtual Cave Bear

Well... this is a very disappointed little bear. Sigh... Some people (who shall remain nameless) went on another caving expedition today and refused to take me along!! Can you belief it??? Whimper, sniffle... sob. But apparently this was a "serious" caving trip and everyone needed to wear life jackets and helmets and of course, they don't make any of those in little bear sizes. So... I had to hear about it secondhand and see it via photos.

The cave this time was called Tu Lan and it was an Epic Adventure. This is everybody getting fitted with their gear.

First they had to trek through the jungle, ford a river and climb up cliffs to get to the mouth of the first cave.

Then they went into the cave and had to go down a steep ladder into the depths. This cave was only found a few years ago, so not a lot of people have explored here.

After traveling through the first cave via an underground river... and then an above ground river, they got into the second cave which was also traversed via an underground river. Until finally they could see daylight... and turned around and came back again.

This is a valley between the first and second caves. It is completely surrounded by mountains and jungle... only one way in or out... via cave and underground river!

Everyone had a lot of fun in the caves and then there was the trek out... through overgrown floodplains...

And scary plank bridges over chasms...

And the rivers to be forded...

Yup... another river...

But it was a good day. Mama started to wonder if maybe I could have come but... she had put some money in a ziploc bag in her pants pocket and... it was completely soaked at the end of it. So even my ziploc baggie scuba suit wouldn't have worked. And a wet bear is a very unhappy little bear!! Good thing I didn't go! One guy from Sweden had a fancy Nikon camera that got totally soaked going through the underground rivers even though it was in a water-proof bag. Yup... little bears are better off at home when water is involved...