Canoeing in the dry season......

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February 13th 2017

Published: February 13th 2017

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RachelAPlease

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DIY coffee and tea. A bit dismal!

We slept well enough, once an annoying woman in a nearby hut had stopped shrieking and yapping. We left our fans on, directed at the beds and it wasn't uncomfortable, although the bedding arrangement was a bit strange. Flowery sheets and pillow cases and then a kind of stretchy towelling thing on top. Do we lie on it or get under it? I used my cotton sleeping bag instead. By morning it was actually quite cool. No animal noises, just a few birds in the morning, rather disappointing.

Today was our canoe trip. We waited in reception after breakfast (the tea and coffee was disappointing, you are given a flask of hot water and a few instant sachets to make it yourself) and some other guests were waiting with all their bags. Slightly worryingly, when the minibus showed up he said he couldn't take them, he already had a lot of big bags! There were about 5 people and their luggage. The lady got on the phone and they were loaded into the resort transport and driven off. She was saying that they would have to take a taxi. We hope that doesn't happen to us tomorrow, or at least

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the price will be the same.

Canoe time was 9am in theory, 9.15 in practice. No biggie! We expected professional looking transport to roll up, canoes behind, other tourists in front. Oh no! It was a homegrown affair. Not everything described in the brochure happened, e.g. There was no free water and the fish in the river were not brightly coloured! 2 guys arrived on a scooter. One, Not, aged about 13, was our guide. They got a dusty looking inflatable canoe out of the back somewhere and loaded it and us onto the resort songthaew. I had said to Sam, they will probably insist on us wearing life jackets, like in the picture we saw. She said she wasn't going to. She would say I've paid, I'm not going to. But you didn't pay, I said, I did, for your birthday treat! OK, I'll say she paid, and I'm not wearing it! No need, as there were no life jackets.We bumped off through the village and got out at the bridge, they unloaded the canoe and we got into it in 3 inches of water, setting off with our bums and the bottom of the canoe scraping on

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the rocks. It was clear that Not's English was limited, so the promised information along the way was going to be directly proportional. It was. Banana tree, snake, monkey! Sam said, this is a shit birthday present, I want a better one. Water low, said Not. At several points we were stranded and he had to get out and push us off. There really wasn't enough water for this activity. We were crying with laughter at the ridiculousness of it. Not was laughing because we were, although he wasn't sure why. At least we hadn't chosen tubing, which would have been in the same stretch, far more close and personal contact with the rocks!

We did see quite a lot. A young elephant penned in someone's garden with its mahmout, crept up and took a photo. He/she was covered in Thai writing. Too young to be ridden but no doubt being cowed into submission. Lots of fish, one small snake swimming and towards the end a whole group of monkeys right above us in the trees. You could nearly touch them, and they didn't throw poo at us, which was a bonus. There was a cooling breeze and the

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scenery was beautiful and relaxing. About halfway we pulled in and Not said 'You swim'. No. Can't make us! There were 2 wobbly deckchairs on the bank. Again, hilarious! We took photos, wandered around for a big and then got back in. We were in the shade of a huge limestone cliff for a lot of it and passed some v expensive resorts with rooms right on the river. 1hr 15 mins after setting off we finished, the other guy was waiting for us and we piled back on the transport, back home with the rest of the day to chill out. It was fun, but not worth the price.

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