Tham Jang

Today I was determined to go to Tham Jang,the nearby cave that was closed yesterday. Mike was busy but we agreed to meet at 1pm to go tubing. I walked to the cave at 10.30. This cave was used by the Lao to hide from Chinese invasion a while back. The entrance was at the top of a steep climb and afforded good views of Vangvieng. This cave was very tame and set up for anyone. It was tastefully lit up with orange,red and green lights and had a concrete walkway running through it. I was still impressed though as it had some very interesting formations. I can always be fascinated by cave formations and can't get enough of them. No two caves are the same. I definitely consider myself an amateur spelunker. I explored 25 caves in The Philippines alone, my total caving experience probably extends to over 50 caves. Sure, some of them weren't amazing or large but you can't always have it all! Swimming in caves is one of my favorite activities and Tham Jang wouldn't disappoint.
After exploring the upper cave I went back to ground level and just across a small bridge was a small crysal clear swimming hole that was part of the river running out of the cave. The guidebook said that is was possible to swim 80m into the cave and that's what I wanted to do. My only concern was what to do with my backpack. I got into the water and hid my pack as well as I could amongst some rocks. The water was cold at first but I quickly became comfortable in it. I put on my waterproof headlamp, purchased just for this sort of thing, and started swimming. The cave turned right and still had some natural light in it. The cave then turned left and entered the cave proper. It was pitch black but the water was so clear, I could see rocks jutting up from the cave floor that were possible to stand on. I rested on these as it was tiring swimming against the current. I only swam in for 5 minutes and then turned around. I wanted to go to the end but was concerned about my stuff. As I swam out of the cave I got some bewildered looks from some Thai tourists taking photos! My plan was to wait here, sitting on a rock in the water, until I found someone to join me in the cave or someone who could watch my stuff.
A heavily tatooed Italian couple, Luka and Simone showed up. I convinced them to swim into the cave with me. I had the only light and acted as our 'guide'. They were fascinated by the cave, as was I. It was really cool to be in the cave in the water. We swam right to the end. The water disappeared under the rock. I drank some of the water. It was very tasty and about as pure as water can get coming from an underground cave spring. I had no ill effects later. We swam out and Luka and Simone left. I hung around to dry for a bit. I met some friendly Lao people and talked with them and took photos. I made it back to Kangaroo just in time to meet Mike at 1. We walked into town to get our tubes. It was December 31 and apparently we weren't the only ones who wanted to tube today.