Mountain Climbing and Spelunking in Hpa An

The first such excursion involved crossing the river to a tiny village on the other side.  The boats run every 30 minutes, so I killed some time in the shade with a group of locals.  One of them bought me a glass of a local home brew known as toddy.  It was like a really strange tasting rice wine.  It was fun to talk to the guy (who seemed to be having a great time at 10 in the morning) and listen to what he told me about Burmese culture.  We also had a pseudo competition to see who knew the most languages (just words and phrases).  I had to leave to get on the boat, but I’m pretty sure it was a draw.

The boat took me across the river, along with a monk and a few villagers.  In the distance, I could see my objective: a limestone mountain known as Hpan Pu.  There is a stupa at the very tip top that is visible for miles.

Once across, I wandered along dirt paths through some fields and through the village itself.  There was one sign in English, but I think the sign-hangers gave up after that.  Luckily, some helpful locals pointed me in the right direction every time I started turning in confused circles and squinting at everything.

At last, I found my destination.  At the bottom and just before the entrance was a nice little cave with some Buddhas embedded into nooks and crannies in the rock.  They seemed to be everywhere, on the walls, the floor, in the ceiling.  Watched by countless, unblinking eyes, I took a quick look around, then began the trek up the mountain.

It was a pretty steep hike up lots of steps and, although it wasn’t the hottest time of the day quite yet, it was still way too hot for this kid!  Since I neglected to put on some sun screen, I started to feel pretty toasty by the time I got to the top.  Not wanting to turn my already rosy visage into something truly sizzling, I donned a handy scarf thingy that I got from my friend Sandy in Thailand.  Granted, the look it achieved is something I don’t know if I’d walk around in back home…

Intense heat and a near-sunburn aside, the view was gorgeous and well worth the effort.  You’ll notice I’m barefoot in the picture.  It’s a holy site for Buddhists, so taking your shoes off is a sign of respect.  I’m relatively unused to walking around barefoot, so hiking up a rough, limestone covered path with nothing between my toesies and the ground turned out to not be such a good idea.  By the time I got to the bottom, I was about ready to kiss my shoes.  I held back though… if you’ve ever smelt my shoes before, you’ll know why.

The next day I decided to do something a little cooler.  I decided not to hike another mountain not too far from Hpan Pu and opted to go explore a cave instead.  The cave I chose is called Saddar Cave and is a relatively short but incredibly scenic truck ride outside of town.

I caught the truck no problem and flagged down a motorbike to take me the rest of the way on small red-dirt roads that weaved through small villages and fields.

Once I got to the cave, I expected to go in alone, but my motorcycle driver accompanied me.  At first I was a little put off, but he turned out to be very helpful in making sure I didn’t get lost.  The cave was massive, even bigger than the one I explored in Krabi a few weeks back.  Unlike that one, it was more than just a single cavern.  Relatively small tunnels linked several more caverns in the cool, dank, darkness under the mountain.

The rock formations were really cool.  It gave the cave a dynamic feeling, as if the walls were slowly oozing into increasingly more fantastic formations; which,  in truth, they are.

After a time in the bowels of the mountain, we emerged with a great many blinks to a scene straight out of a dream.  The cave opened up to a small, picturesque lake with ducks quacking and paddling away on the surface and wooden canoes moored to take people on a ride.  There were some locals hanging out on wooden benches, but no foreign tourists in sight.  It was awesome.

Instead of taking a ride around the lake (and going into another cave only accessible by water), I sat and talked with some of the locals for a bit.  There was a group of them that wanted some pictures with me, so I subjected them to the same treatment.  It’s only fair.

After numerous photo-ops and some refreshingly casual chatting, I parted ways with my new friends and headed back into the darkness.  The walk back seemed much quicker, maybe since I knew the way.  I made it back to the bike and headed back into town, thoroughly content with the way the day had ended up.  It was yet another fantastic day in Hpa An!