We had not intended to be at Khao Laem.
The Curse of the Pre-Expedition brought us here. We had wanted to paddled from Umphang in Northern Thailand to Kanchanaburi. This was what happened:
Curse No. 1Call it pre-expedition curse or whatever. Before the start of every kayak expedition I participated, something went wrong.
Everything was fine until I reached the airport. Then it was with exasperated horror when I discovered my portage bag was tearing at the sides, spilling gear. A portage bag is a big drybag with back carrying straps. It is extremely useful. Such a backpack will hold all loose gear (water bottles, drybags, etc), so as to lighten the kayak and free your hands to carry it.
5 cable ties later, I thought it was fixed. But when I reached Thailand new tears were discovered and buckles and clips were just falling out of their sockets! I had only used this bag for 3 expeditions and it is already dead. And as it happened, my kayak shoes and walking sandals decided to peel at the sole, too. I was flapping. In all 3 cases, I suspected the glue that pressed different pieces together was second-grade. So much for 'waterproof capability', 'rough gear', etc.
Safely in Bangkok at 7pm, we made a mad dash to a supermarket to stock up food supplies, then to Mor Chit Northern Bus Station to catch the 10pm bus to TAK or MAE SOT. Turned out that it was a long weekend in Thailand and everyone was trying to get a ticket. Most counters were closed and people were jamming the open ones. There seemed no way North tonight. And our 7-day paddle was in danger of missing its crucial start date.
And then, Praset our taxi driver made a bold offer...
Curse No. 2
“I will send you there !”, Praset leaned into his taxi to take out a map and knowingly moved his finger to TAK.
“saem roy haa sip kilo.” Praset declared, paused, and called his wife to ask how much he should charged us.
Tak is about 350 kilometers away to the North, normally 6 hours by bus. In this season and with a so-called “VIP” bus, the ticket price is 500-600 bhat.
After some haggling over the price we decided on 3500 bhat after factoring in hotel in Bangkok, bus tickets, start date, and expected comfort service.
We reached TAK early morning and were immediately escorted to a minibus for a 2hr ride to Mae Sot. And at Mae Sot we unloaded our gear again and put them on top of a song kraew for a back-breaking, mountainous 4hr ride to Umphang – our start point.
I had called a local guesthouse a day earlier to enquire about river conditions and availability of rooms. We had planned for a 7-day paddle down the MaeNam Khlong to Kanchanaburi. I was getting pretty much excited by the magnificent view of the mountain and glimpses of river bending in the gorges below. The locale was exotic, the air was fresh. and…
“YOU ARE STUPID !”, it was like being woken up with a slap out of my own world. Eahh?
“I think those who try to paddle down the river are stupid!”
“It will be stupid to try to paddle the MaeNam Khlong to Kanchanaburi. Who told you to come here?”
We were sitting in the office of a particular resort, and listening to the river guide telling us we were stupid in as many ways as his limited English could do. Here’s one more:
“Got tigers. River flows into caves, disappears into small streams. Grade 6 rapids! Dangerous! Can die! Never heard anyone would want to do this!”
OK. We got the point. Can you please tell us if the river is doable?
“You can take our raft for a trip to see waterfall, ride elephants. Leave tomorrow morning.”, he brightened up.
By this time I was close to strangling him, so I mastered up my best thai vocabulary and made a grand speech about the spirit of exploration in a desperate attempt to regain some pride.
“OK maybe you go and try. You can die!”, another guide chipped in.
Umphang, Thailand - Mae Nam Khlong flowing beautifully in early morning light. photo: Huey At that moment, I knew we had been planning with inaccurate information after all. We went back to our room and cooked ourselves some camping food, as the restaurants were by then closed. After a day’s of traveling into one of the most remote mountainous part of Thailand, we were left high and dry.n an exploratory trip like this local knowledge was most crucial.
After I calmed down I reflected on what the guide said. The one big obstacle was that MaeNam Khlong, at some point of its journey, disappeared into a gigantic underground cave system, only to emerge kilometers later. The guide had not heard of anyone following the river into the cave, and said there were large timbers blocking the cave entrance. He said it would be suicidal to try. It was not possible to do a recee as the river is now swollen with Grade 6 rapids leading to the cave entrance. Rafting there to see was out of the question.
To dimiss their concerns was taking unnecessary risk. Well, we sense this might happen. But still we came, as the idea of finding a northern river route down to Kanchanaburi was just too exciting to resist. That was Plan A, we had a Plan B.
I sent a message out to our trip safety coordinators, Chan and FH2o: “We were called stupid. Plan A no go. Tigers, rapids, etc. Plan B now. Leave tmw immediate to TAK. Will update again.”
With peeling shoes, leaking drybags, dissolved plans - a bad start to an expedition was becoming a curse or a tradition!
