A note to Sleazeweazel
I have been asked to post this by Terry Bolger, who has been living in Laos for the past four years. Cavers from Texas and New Mexico (and elsewhere) probably remember Terry from the 80s when he was finishing his piled higher and deeper in Buttock, TX. He was active in Lech, Gypcap, West Texas, and Mexico caving. DirtDoc xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hi Sleaze, You may be able to hide from the authorities in the Lao karst (if you're lucky), but you can't hide in cyberspace. Some of your postings from Nong Khiaw were forwarded to me by friends. Welcome back to Laos! Anyway, you were not the first farang to go to look for the Huai Ngom stream cave. I too saw the Huai Ngom sinking and resurfacing on the Lao topo map some years ago. I went there in April, 2003, and have the pictures to prove it! ;-) >From the village of Ban Pakngom, I took two young guides with me and we >followed the Huai Ngom upstream for about 5 km to where it resurfaces from >underground. However the cave entrance was completely sumped, even late in the >dry season. We looked on the hillside above the resurgence for a dry 'fossil' >entrance but didn't find an alternate way in. So there is a cave diving lead >there for someone. I estimated the outflow at about 1.5 m3/s at the time. I also considered getting to the upstream entrance. I think the way to get there is not 'over the mountain', but to come at it from the other side of the mountains. However it is a long walk in through slash-and-burn uplands, and I didn't have camping equipment with me. So it's still on my 'lead list', which keeps growing longer since there is so much exploration to be done in Laos. Cheers, Terry Terry Bolger Vientiane, Laos
