Khao Laem

Time passed quickly when you were enjoying yourself. So night fell suddenly on us. I thought we were still enjoying our fried chicken with sticky rice, or dangling our legs into the cold water. We quickly broke lightsticks and prepared for night paddling. We had not been actively looking for places to stay, and had a vague idea where we were.

So that was how we ended up at Khao Laem. And yesterday at a floating riverboat on Khao Laem Lake, we had plotted Plan B, our alternative to the Umphang-Death Railway route. Plan B was to be a much simpler paddle down from Khao Laem Reservoir into river kwai noi, a journey of 170km to kanchanaburi where we will end our journey at the death railway.

The only problem as we saw it was to get over the dam to get to the river, and this we decided to solved by the most versatile solution - money. We rented a song kraew to portage our kayaks and gear across the dam to Thong Pha Phum, where we were told there was a good launching site.

I was quite reluctant to leave Khao Laem and the boat house, which had been so comfortable. The past 2 days at the boat house were spent leisurely. With a private attached jetty we could swim or kayak whenever we wanted. With power sockets scattered around the boat house, we could spent days here just being hooked up to a laptop and mp3 player. And did I mentioned about the cool mountain climate here?

Thong Pha Phum

The song kraew came at the appointed time of 12pm and we loaded up our gear and kayaks. I wished to believe that song kraew was invented for kayak travelling. No other vehicles less a lorry would be able to hold the length of our kayaks at more than 4 meters. There were plentiful of these nimble taxis around, so plucking them out of the streets for a 'special operation' was not difficult.

We had wanted to launch at the town's bridge which spanned the river, but the driver suggested that there was a much better launching site near the talaat (market). The banks at the bridge was too steep for a good launch and could be muddy, he told us.

It turned out that launching at the market was a lucky and excellent decision. It gave us the opportunity to stock up - fresh lunch of fried chicken and sticky rice, coconuts, water, rice, etc. There was a strong urge to get tapioca desserts and watermelons to go along. We were carrying 7 days ration for Plan A, but fresh food were too enticing. Our ration can be reserved. We didn't really care we had to carry them, as we were also mindful there might not be places along the river for supplies.

Following The Bamboo Rafters

The river began its journey through dense bamboo forests. There were many families chopping bamboos along its banks. These chopped bamboos were floated down the river and collected by a group of young men. When I saw them they had already collected enough bamboos to string together a raft. They were 'chasing' bamboos stuck in the undergrowth by the river's banks, or were just waiting for the next batches of bamboos to float down. The bamboos were destined for construction sites or replacement for houses and household usage.   

Following The Bamboos - It was a sustainable business to chop bamboos along the river, as there were just endless bamboo trees.     photo: Huey

Fast Water

The river was fast and there were many sections of rapids. We had thought there would be some big rapids but all those we passed were navigable. We knew the rapids were ahead by the sound of rolling water. It was usually an urgent low volume gushes, but there was a bend where we suddenly heard loud splashes.

"Huey look!", JB shouted.

Water was furiously splashing down from a 10 meters waterfall. It was an awesome sight and we we paddled to get near it. Throughout the day there were to be more waterfalls, mini to good sized ones on both sides of the river banks.

After encountering many of these waterfalls we were able to discern between the sound of rapids and waterfalls. The rapids were never beyond Class 1, so was more a send off of speed than an obstacle for the paddle. It was a rush of water over a bend or shallow, or rocks. It sounded bubbly. The waterfall on the other hand splashed. Whichever it was, these sounds of splashes and gushes added a spa-like sound quality to the already pleasent paddle.

Waterfall ! - One of the many many waterfalls we saw along the river. This was one of the highest, and was great for a cold, splashing bath!         photo: Huey

First Night on The River

Time passed quickly when you were enjoying yourself. So night fell suddenly on us. I thought we were still enjoying our fried chicken with sticky rice, or dangling our legs into the cold water. We quickly broke lightsticks and prepared for night paddling. We had not been actively looking for places to stay, and had a vague idea where we were.

"Since we did not covered a lot today, let's do a few hours of night paddling?", I suggested.

JB was reluctant. He reasoned that we did not know the river and there could be bigger rapids infront, or even obstacles we might not know. He wanted to stop at the first available place.

But the banks were steep to climb for a camp and everywhere was just bamboo forests. There was this sand bank but we thought the river might rise at night and swept us off. We were in a situation where we could either gamble forward, or take what we could find now. Due to the strong river flow, there was no turning back once we gave up a place.

"This could do nicely!", I said.

"Huh?", JB could barely make out the boat house in the darkness.

The river was taking me away from the boat house and I could not wait for JB to respond. I went in for it. The place was obviously occupied as a work station or something.

"Let's just borrow it for one night. Low light and noise. We go very early first thing tomorrow.", I whispered.

"Agreed.", JB hushed back as he rolled out his entire kitchen set.

 

<<Continued...>>