Sunday 8th July, Ban Khao Sok Resort
Adventre, peril,
danger. It's all in today's blog entry!
Our third day started
well. The rain had subsided from the previous day and the sun had even come out, though everything
was still pretty wet. We could hear birds singing unlike the previous
day. So we went over to the restaurant to get some breakfast which
was good. We then headed up towards the village to see what else was
about here. This gave us our first proper view of the local scenery, and it was stunning. Huge limestone peaks, draped in velvety green vegetation with billows of llow cloud cascading over the higher points. The rest of the village, however, was fairly low key being not a lot other than more resorts, a few
bars and a couple of mini marts, but should make for a decent night out
at least. I had been looking for some anti-fogging spray for my specs
which seemed to be in a constant state of fine condensation because
of the humidity. We didn't find any. We did stop for a drink at one
particular restaurant, at the Morning Mist resort where they had Wifi
so I could update the blog, check up on stuff online, etc.
Some of the views of the Khao Sok locale
These pictures were taken just from our accommodation as we walked into the main village
We had arranged a canoe
trip down the river through our accommodation to begin at 2pm, so we had
a little lunch (pad Thai, or fried noodles, for me) and got in the canoe. I was a bit disappointed to find
that I wasn't the one doing the paddling as I had been looking
forward to a bit of exercise, it being about 4 days since I last hit
the gym. However, no. The driver was a young Thai guy who didn't
speak much English. Anyway, we set off with our life jackets on and
it was a pretty leisurely trip on a fairly fast-flowing river (due to
all the rain), but not apparently dangerously so. We spotted a couple
of very striking birds (which was what I think was a stork-billed kingfisher and something else which I think was either a Gurney's or
a hooded pitta - they look different in these references, I know, but it was the striking electric blue around their head that stood out - which get their name, presumably, because they're
well-bred) and it was going well until we came upon a narrow tree
trunk (maybe 20 or so cm across) across the river, half submerged.
Now, I noticed it fairly early on and was thinking “how do we
negotiate this?” then a few seconds later the driver used three of
his few words of English to exclaim “Oh, my God!”. We hit the
trunk and stopped, running aground on it. Again I was thinking “OK,
now what do I do to help us get over this, I hope it doesn't puncture
the boat” (though it was a canoe, it was actually air-filled, a bit like an inflatable dinghy) when all
of a sudden the stern got caught by the current, dragged under and
the boat flipped over backwards. We ended up in this brown, river,
underwater with a strong current. We'd both worn life jackets and I
remember thinking a I saw this dull brown of the murk “OK, the life
jacket will start to bring me to the surface soon”, which It did,
but took a little longer than I anticipated. I can't remember if I
was past the log when I emerged or got over it afterwards, but I was
moving down river. Jane was around somewhere and I saw what looked
like some safe area on the bank and I think I may have pulled her over to it
somehow (or not, it's now all a bit hazy). Our pilot/driver/guide had also made it over there. We got
out and were left on the bank and he was clearly mortified. We stood
there for a few minutes as he went to recover the canoe, still held
behind the log a few metres back. It was at this moment I realised I
had lost my specs in the incident. Jane later said she had initially
been trapped under the boat (though this must have been for no more
than a few seconds).
Once our man came back,
we got back in the canoe and carried on down the river. There wasn't
really much choice in this, to be honest, since there was nothing
around there and nowhere to abandon the trip and go back until we got
to the end. We reached a major road bridge over the river and I
helped him drag the boat up the concrete slope to the roadside for
our pickup. It came a while later. Too bloody long in fact, but I
guess we were supposed to have stopped at some swimming hole for a
bit etc and had no way to communicate what had happened to the tour
company (and even if he did, his phone would have been knackered in
the ducking).
We decided on the way
back that we weren't going to pay. Almost drowning on a holiday trip
through the fault of an inexperienced guide is pretty solid grounds
for this. Reflecting on this a few things come to mind, like what could
have happened. We could have hit our head/s on the log or each other
and been knocked unconscious. We could have opted out of life jackets
and fared much worse. Our guide could also have gotten into difficulty (he
wasn't wearing a jacket). On a less serious note, we could have lost
a camera, wallet, something else difficult to replace. As it happened, all we ended up was wet and I couldn't see very well. Oh, and lost my flip flops which I
had bought for about 40p in Borneo, so not happy about this. Worst of
all is thinking about what would have happened if we'd done this with
our new child to come. This really does freak me out. I guess the
thing is we had no actual idea what the trip was about, what we would
have needed on it. Given the way it started and went on for most of
the time, I would have had no qualms about bringing a kid or a camera
or anything else for that matter, but one
incident made all the difference. Still, it's not healthy to dwell on
these things
On arrival back we told
the owner of the hotel and she was so apologetic. She immediately
told us we wouldn't be charged, but that she might have to still pay
the company who ran the trip (Bew Khao Sok Canoes, in case you're
wondering. I'd give them a wide birth and I shall shortly be giving
them a severe kicking on Tripadviser.com). I said she shouldn't have
to because it was due to them using guides who weren't properly
trained. He should have been more vigilant and known how to deal with
this sort of thing. Personally I would have turned so we approached
the log side-on,but I'm no expert, though it seems it would not have
been so catastrophic, even if we did end up in the water.
We returned to our
room, showered, changed and went out for the evening. This added a
few more clothing items to our “wet list”, since the place was so
damp and humid that stuff just doesn't dry. We headed out for a
couple of drinks and a bit of internet at Morning Mist. Here we
chatted a little to some Australian guys who were over from Perth to
celebrate one of their number's 50th birthday by doing a
motorbike tour of this part of Thailand. Here I got some stick for
wearing dark glasses, as you might expect from a bunch of respectably
lairy Ozzies. We ate here also, later on, mainly because they do
reasonably priced cocktails. Their Singapore Sling was made by the
numbers (incorrectly if I'm being pedantic, it was made according to
a cocktail menu book, not the original Raffles recipe, having no Benedictine etc),
but not bad for that and very well presented with pineapple slice and flowers. Food was
fairly Thai standard, where I plumped for the gaeng phed goong or red
curry prawn which was quite good and quite spicy.
Beer to destress at the Morning Mist
You can see where it gets its name from looking at the mountains in the background. Mind you, this was sometime in the afternoon
We had a few drinks in
a bar nearby as we watched Andy Murray getting his arse handed to him
by Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. During this we were
surrounded by very well-off British kids who'd
just finished their first year at Bristol University on a trip that
Daddy had paid for. Then after one or
two too many Singha we were off to bed, having to negotiate the dark
dirt track to our accommodation by torchlight which is difficult in
itself, but made moreso by having to wear prescription sunglasses and
the fact that it was raining (for a change).
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