Beez Neez now Chy Whella - Linno Bat Cave

Linno Bat Cave

Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Sun 10 Dec 2017 23:57

Linno Bat Cave, Hpa An, Myanmar

We rested after our ferry trip but took the opportunity to head out to the bat cave at four thirty, off we went with six lovely youngsters, in our digs chariot.

No speedo so all we can say is we pootled along by the River Thanlyin that we came up today on our ‘luxury cruiser’.

I counted eighteen heads happily bobbing about in this taxi/truck. Dramatic karst scenery to our left.

A road crew hard at work just before we turned right to go over the Than Lwin Bridge that we had come under earlier on.

Clearly the steam roller didn’t do the edge so we bumped along slowly.

At the end of the bridge we took a turning. Following a sandy track under the bridge, we got out, paid out fifty pence each to use our cameras and walked a short distance to look up at a couple of statues set into the steep side of a cliff.

An information board and some images – pleased to see an old spider friend that we first met at Language School in Antigua, Guatemala lives in the cave.

All eight of us decided to climb to the top for the views and wait for the first bats to emerge.

A shelter used by the locals who come to help the bats by banging trays, scraping stones on the concrete and clapping. This makes the leaving bats fly in formation over a power line. A couple more Buddha’s half way up and one overlooking the river.

The forums on the internet had us believe the path, steps and ladders on the way up were horrendous. Steep yes, and painful in part as we had to leave our shoes at the bottom but quite do-able, even for us older versions. Lovely when I reached the top and one of the youngsters (well ahead of us) welcomed me up with a “Hello Mum”.

The view when we had reached the top.

A hungry eagle was joined by all his neighbours sensing it was time for supper.

Then just after half five it was if a bell rang and the bats began to come out.

Thousands of bats formed a wave in the air as they crossed the river. We took a few pictures then climbed back down the cliff to see them from below. All the while we could hear a few locals banging trays. This was to keep the bats following each other over a power line.

Bear sat and did a head count and reckons about a million and a half tiny bats left the cave. Now the carers scraped stones on the concrete and clapped to keep the hungry little chaps from hitting the power cable.

Of all the bats that we saw leave during a forty minute non-stop column, we only saw one casualty. He hit the floor with a thud, but was soon picked up by a carer who checked him over and took him back to the cave.

We got back to our digs and immediately set off for an eatery that had been recommended to us. Along the street we stopped to admire some impressive teak supports and watched the locals enjoying a game of televised football.

Lin Thiri II welcomed us in.

Ooo as soon as we walked in and saw the cake collection, we chose lemon cheesecake for Bear and coffee cake for me, to eat with a cup of tea sitting up in bed.

Bear had seafood green curry, rice and a papaya smoothie. I had a toasted chees sandwich with a few chips and a chocolate milkshake, so lovely to have a change from rice or noodles. With both cakes and a big bottle of water our bill came to the princely sum of seven pounds and forty one pence.