I never claimed to be an expert on anything, especially Thai caves. ( expect maybe, how to break things )
I am learning big fancy words from watching these videos. I never heard the word "brilliant," used in the way the British divers used it. Brilliant has never been a word in my vocabulary. I would have said, "fantastic." The word "transfixed" was not in my vocabulary. As in the people are transfixed with this story. I would have said "captivated," or maybe "astonished." One news story reported that the boys entered the cave as a initiation into their club, and possibly that the new participant's task or assignment was to get to the back of the cave and inscribe their name or symbol on the wall. If that is true, then maybe they were purposely intending to get to the back of the cave quickly. The coach seemed to have a new construction helmet and head-light in the second video. I wonder if the rescuers brought that to him, or just brought him some batteries. A helmet does not seem like a necessity for this kind of caving or even this kind of rescue - just a very-bright water-resistant head-lamp, ( or water-proof for emergencies such as this ). It does seem like a real caver needs to push any leads from inside the cave from where the boys are, but that could get the caver killed too. I was under the impression that there was more cave passage beyond where they were found, and the passage was maybe going upward. How does anyone know that the safe-room does not flood in the peak of the season ? That seems like a risky bet, if you don't know the answer. I will try to learn a Thai word by the end of all of this. I am working on learning the word for "goodbye" ( pronounced "la goeen" ), or maybe "thank you" ( pronouned "caca cuin" ) The map that Mr. Skinner posted is the best I have seen so far, but one can not enlarge it enough to really get a feel for what leads might be worth checking out. I would look for roots or leaves or a different colored dirt, or signs in the ceiling of some organic matter dripping in. There is a caver on this list who has a story about being trapped in a flooded cave and finding a back-door entrance. That is my favorite caving story. D.L.
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