While I was in the idyllic mountain resort of Sangkhlaburi for five days, I thought I would break up the monotony of “just doing nothing” and going on one of those all day ‘mini trek-adventures” which are very much the rage these days in rural Thailand. The tour was like a rollercoaster ride - it started out very slow, gradually picking up steam before hitting a stretch of many twists and hair-raising turns, then quietly easing back to the starting point.

It all started innocently enough as I boarded the small motorized boat with about 14 other passengers - mostly Thais from Bangkok on holiday plus two German dudes who I didn’t speak a word to the entire tour and a friendly Spanish couple in their late 30’s - for an easy boat ride across Vajiralongkorn Lake and Reservoir , the largest body of water in Thailand. Before landing somewhere on the opposite bank of the lake, we passed a partially submerged temple. Upon reaching landfall, we walked through the bush to a Karen Hilltribe Village where we had lunch and were entertained by a group of young children playing a game which resembled soccer. From there, members of the tour group hopped on the back of some elephants, as our mahouts navigated thru the rough, bushy terrain and across a fast moving stream. So far it was a piece of a cake

After disembarking the elephants, the adventure ‘really became an adventure” as we had to navigate across several streams with some relatively modest currents, being careful to avoid falling as we walked across some rather slippery rocks. A little treacherous but manageable. Several of the tour members fell into the stream, getting drenched in the cold water before being pulled up by some of our tour guides. I nearly fell several times, but I caught my balance each time and managed to complete this part of the journey unscathed. To be honest with you I was concerned somewhat about my gimpy right leg and about losing my prescription glasses (with sunglass clip-ons) more than anything else.

The adventure shifted into high gear on our bamboo raft trip on a jungle river. All the tour participants were asked to grab a bamboo pole and help our tour guides-raftsmen navigate. The river was by no means calm - there were places where there were some relatively modest rapids. Several times, I caught myself slipping on the bamboo floor of the raft but righted myself just in time. As my raft was the last one to depart, we brought up the rear for the most of the journey and I had the opportunity to watch several of the tour participants being thrown overboard. Despite the dunkings and spills, everybody was in good humor as evidenced by all the smiles and the laughter.

My oarsman was a rather reckless driver as he misnegotiated some rapids and ran into the riverbank, launching me overboard into the cold river waters. Fortunately my glasses remained on my nose, but I lost one of my flip-flops in the process; one of the young boys who accompanied us dove into the water and retrieved it for me. Some ten minutes later, my oarsmen rammed the raft into a clump of vegetation that jutted out from the riverbank. During this 2nd collision, my gimpy right leg went through two of the bamboo slats. Somewhat shocked about this the latest turn of events, I quickly righted myself, pulling my leg on top of the raft. Escaping serious injury (I could have broken my leg), I was asking myself - What was my driver smoking? I’ve read somewhere that we have tendency to laugh after averting near disaster - Well here I was laughing my ass off after nearly getting wiped out! Needless to say I was quite relieved when the bamboo-rafting segment was finally over - my right leg was still intact, I still had my prescription glasses and I still had both of my flip-flops. On the boat trip back to the hotel, it began to dawn on me how lucky I was to survive this adventure all in one piece.
The Great Hanumann lived to die another day!

Factoid: Formerly known as Khao Laem Lake it was recently renamed after Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Thailand, misadventures, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.