Anyway, since tubing sounded rather boring, I opted to do a kayaking trip down the same river, but starting much further upstream. Before we got into the kayaks, we visited Loup cave, one of many caves in the region. On the way to the cave, the guide suddenly pointed out a group of trees and asked if I knew what they were. I didn't - because I had never seen teak trees before. The leaves were huge, about 30 cm long and almost as wide.
The cave was a fantastic experience. Aside from two wooden ladders for the initial climb into the cave, there was no infrastructure inside: no lights, no paths, no roped-off areas where the ground suddenly disappears. We were provided with head lamps by our guide, and he also showed us where best to step. I loved discovering the rock formations in my lamp's dim light. I never had the overall views you can see in the following pictures - they were only possible thanks to my camera's flash.
It had been raining on and off all day, but just in time for our kayaking, the rain stopped for good. The clouds lingering on the mountains resulted in really beautiful views:
