The next day we went down to breakfast and asked at the hotel about local sea kayaking trips. We had read in our travel guide that the area was known for kayaking and it was something that we were both interested in trying. Our hotel had brochures from all the local companies so during breakfast we read through them and decided on a full day trip with kayaking in the morning and snorkeling in the afternoon. We booked the trip for the following day, and then went out to explore the town.
We found a great little local place for lunch. The local places tend to have the best food and the best prices, but they don’t usually have menus and the ones that do don’t have menus in English. Our method is to find a spot that is busy, look at what people are eating, and when we see something that looks good, point to it. The locals find it very entertaining that a couple of farang (foreigners) are interesting in eating the real local food, not the westernized versions that you often find at the larger places in town.
After lunch we walked to the bus station. Not wanting to get stuck on a private bus again, we wanted to book our ticket at the government station a few days in advance. Our book said that the station was 4 Km away and we thought it would make a nice walk. We got a little bit lost along the way, and 4 Km turned into 5 or 6. When we finally arrived at the bus station it was 6 pm. We walked up to the ticket window only to have it shut in our face. Apparently we would have to come back tomorrow.
We took a taxi back from the bus station, and when we were dropped off we were greeted by the hotel manager. Our kayaking trip for the next day had been cancelled due to weather. A huge storm was expected to hit the coast, and they were predicting rain for the next five days. Bummer! Undaunted, our hotel manager suggested a company that ran half day kayaking trips in an inlet about an hour away. The inlet would provide protection from the storm. We were disappointed to miss out on the snorkeling, but we still wanted to try to kayaking, so we agreed to the half day trip.
The next morning our guide picked us up at 8. We rode around and picked up a few more kayakers, and then headed about an hour north towards the inlet. They gave us coffee and tea while we filled out paperwork and got fitted into our life jackets. Then we settled into our kayaks and off we went. It took awhile for Leon and I to get used to paddling together, but we devised a system that worked and then we were really moving.
The scenery was spectacular. All around us these huge limestone cliffs rose out of the water, creating a pathway for us to paddle through. After about an hour of kayaking we were through the cliffs and into a mangrove forest. The going here was a little rougher. The mangrove forests are very dense and you have to manuvere your paddle around the branches above the water and the roots below. It is easy to get caught on a branch and tip. The passage ways are very narrow and there are a lot of sharp turns. Along with the challenges, the mangrove forest also brought some pleasant surprises.
There are two types of monkeys that live in the forests near Krabi. The gibbons are small, black tree dwellers. They rarely come out of the trees, but fly through them singing. We were lucky enough to see one swinging over our heads. The long tail macaws are much more social. They came down to share our snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon. One hopped aboard our guide’s boat, and then swam to our kayak to get more fruit and some fresh water. He helped himself to Leon’s water bottle, and then caught a ride on the front of our boat to the edge of the forest, and then hopped off to join his family.
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| Krabi |
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