After dreaming of a visit to the little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for more than a decade, I never imagined I would go there twice, much less within the same year. Yet on rare occasions in life, seemingly far-fetched possibilities can suddenly become real opportunities at the least expected of times. 

On our last evening in Bhutan back in January, we met the co-owners of Bhutan Swallowtail, the small, innovative company with whom we had booked our tour. We were honored to learn that Sonam and Tashi had taken an interest in our blog and the "Before It's Gone" theme of our travel. They shared about an initiative of their own design that encompasses elements of cultural and environmental preservation through the promotion of historically significant--yet largely forgotten--trails.

It only took one motorbike taxi, one longtail ferry, one "sorngtaaou" (shared pickup truck transport), and one minivan to return to Prachuap Khiri Khan from the little island of Koh Chang. Back in the scenic town, we enjoyed the night market and repacked for the next leg of the cycle tour heading north to Bangkok. The next morning we braved the ridiculously large population of urban monkeys guarding the 396 steps up to a derelict temple complex perched on a hilltop overlooking the bayside town. It was certainly worth the sweaty effort and proximity to primates expecting a handout for the views north and south along the coast.

Leaving Prachuap Khiri Khan, we adopted a leisurely pace essential to survival in the 90-degree-plus sunshine and made camp on a beach at Khao Sam Roi Yod National Park. The following morning we cycled in between dramatic karst pinnacle formations to reach the trailhead for another famous feature of limestone: mesmerizing caverns open to the sky. We hiked up to the entrance for Tham Phraya Nakhon, featuring a pagoda-like "meeting hall" built for King Rama V's visit in 1890. In our typical fashion, we arrived about ten minutes too late to see the structure illuminated by rays of light filtering down through the opening, but the tree-filled cavern was a lovely blend of nature and culture nonetheless. Next we explored the aptly named Jewel Cave (Tham Kaew), featuring the usual cave formations but with the sparkly addition of calcite crystal deposits and the bonus of bat colonies and a whip scorpion sighting.