The Asian cave tour continues. We are staying in Sabang so that we could visit the subterranean river, which is a large cave system with a river that runs into the ocean.

Our hotel offers tours but we decided to risk it and try to find a tour on our own. We have found that when you book through a hotel, the markup is 2x for exactly the same tour. So after breakfast, we walked the 5 minutes down the beach to the pier where the boats set off.

It worked and we got tickets for the tour over to the cave. We got into a traditional Bangka boat with a verrrrry loud motor and rode the 15 minutes over to the entrance.

We were given hard hats and then we walked down the trail to the mouth of the cave. There we got headsets for the audio tour and got into a boat that paddled us in. It was all very well organized.

The audio guide made a big deal about not opening your mouth in the cave while you’re looking up, to avoid bag guano falling into it. This was enough to keep Millie still and silent for the whole 45 minute tour. The audio guide was great and had a mix of cave facts, pointing out of funny landmarks, and calming music.

We went about a kilometer in. It was pitch black at times and some areas were huge. Of course none of it can be captured by camera. But I loved it.

We waited for our ride back to the pier. Millie fell asleep despite the loud motor.

On land we stopped for a mango smoothie and a beer before heading back to the hotel. How could we not?

Then we spent the afternoon at the pool. Mille got a yogurt she has been trying to order for the last 24 hours. Then she kept asking for “challenges” in the pool. I told her to do two somersaults in a row and she did it like an expert. She kept upping it and maxed out at 5 in a row without a breath. I’m thinking synchronized swimming might be in her future?

For dinner we walked down the beach to find a little shack, again to avoid paying the hotel premium. We ordered Pork Sisig and a fried fresh fish. I didn’t know what sisig was but have seen it on menus. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten in weeks and I will be ordering it again elsewhere. The very garlicky fried fish was also great.

Nick continued to try to convince me to move to a tropical beach location. If I die before him, I expect he’ll be one of these old white men we see who never button their shirt and drink beer on the beach all day.

I will end this post with two hilarious dogs we saw today. The first was at the ticket counter and had the same hairstyle I always give Millie. She was named Jelly and had a dress and a diaper. The second was just hanging out on the beach.