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Thailand Kayaking
Fri 10th.The Lai Thai: Leave Chiang Mai bound for Phuket where a man holding a sign that says 'Amadna Mcinnes' takes us to our overnight
hotel - only one problem - they aren't expecting us. We spend a frantic 10 minutes explaining to no avail, try to 'phone Symbiosis - no joy, then
finally 'phone Paddle Asia who clear things up, the hotel miraculously find our details and
allows us into our room. Now worried that Amanda's mobile may run down we leave the hotel to look for a charger - fail but find a nice bar and have
a beer (happens a lot doesn't it). Brian comes in and joins us, he is well travelled, lives in Phuket, has irons in many fires and tells us the
secret of his success is to not have a job! still he buys us another beer before leaving. On our way out we talk to a Canadian ex-pat who advised us
where the 'phone shops are and sure enough we find one. It has a charger for 290 Baht (about £4.50) so we buy. Rush back for a wee and pack for 4 day's
kayaking before spruce up and go to dinner at the restaurant recommended by Michael (of Mike's Bar - the one we stopped at earlier). This turns out
to be a delightful place called Thamachat (Natural restaurant) with rustic decor and good food. Pick up some extra T-shirts and discovered the food
market
with all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff. Phuket is an interesting place but full of westerners. It's hotter than in the south, the Airport
road has lots of construction supplies - bricks, cement, timber etc. Motorcycles: you've never seen so many mopeds but at least the helmet law is
enforced. In town there are lots of engineering machine shops, it has a roundabout and traffic lights which have a clock that counts down until it's
your turn (in common with some other towns). Our hotel is not very pretty - just a white cube although it does have a lively karaoke bar. My watch
(like me) is still going but may be a little slow.
Sat 11th.Quick breakfast in the hotel then fight our way through the foyer which is packed with a paddle tour group (I hope that isn't what
we've booked) and off to the minibus with Guy. It's a 3 hour drive to Khao Sok and on the way we pass through miles of rubber plantations and the place
where The Man With The Golden Gun was filmed (Scaramanga's pad). A third of the way there we stop at a filling station for a comfort break (and to
tighten a leaky hose on the van) and 2 thirds of the way we stop at a market for supplies (although we avoid anything from the writhing tank of
catfish). We do get Jackfruit (doesn't go with beer), Sweet Tamarind (string of seeds covered in date like stuff), Salak (brown prickly outside with
sourish, sweet and juicy inside) and Langan (a kind of smooth skinned Lychee). Arrive at the reservoir and board the boat (a long narrow one as described
before) and speed the hour or so to the village. On the way we pass between very high karst cliffs - one peak had hundreds of fruit bats circling above.
We reach our floating village 
and have lunch, then go out for our first paddle - make some adjustments then thrash around for a bit. Set off for a short
jolly along the coast and find a troupe of Dusky Langurs being boisterous, some Chinese Pond Herons and a Sea Eagle. We return just as the wind picks up
and it threatens to rain. After a bit of a rest the wind dies and we go out again, this time we see.... nothing! but we can hear Hornbills and the
beautiful song of the White-rumped Shama. Go back for coffee and biscuits, have a shower together (romantic isn't it), then it's dinner time - well
beer'o'clock anyway. During dinner our guide Eel (or Iyall or Eyall) arrives and tells us to be up at 06:00.
Sun 12th.Rise and shine! after a poor night's sleep there's just enough time for a coffee before having a quick kayak lesson and do some final
tweaking 
(They are Dagger sea kayaks if you're interested). This time of day the birds are very active and we see Sunda Squirrels, BulBul - all sorts
including black capped and black crested, then a Crested Serpent Eagle roosting about 10 metres away and 2 metres up. Saw Greater Coucal - a ground
dwelling bird that is very hard to spot, Black-capped Kingfisher and White-rumped Shama - actually saw one today! An Oriental Hobby swooped in from the
open water and a snake swam across our path (probably a very lucky sign). Saw both White Handed Gibbon and more Dusky Langurs and in the distance could
hear the mocking call of the Helmeted Hornbill - All this before breakfast! (scrambled eggs for me, Pineapple pancake for Amanda). After a rest (to let
our breakfast go down) we set off for a trek which starts with a 20 minute boat ride, on the way we see an Osprey and an Eagle. When we dock (tee-hee)
there are 2 other boats there and as we start on the trail 4 very tired looking people come down the path (I hope we are up to this). Actually we don't
see that much life on the way up except a large bees nest and at the halfway point we tread especially quietly as Eel thinks there's a rare Banded Pitta
in the undergrowth - we don't see it. At the rocky top we have a fabulous view of the park and lake.
First we see a Great Hornbill flying in the distance
below then a Crested Serpent Eagle. All around are swallows and, just out of view, some sunbirds. A White Bellied Sea Eagle circles above us and I'm
blown away (metaphorically). As we start down, we see a Cicada making a racket - you often her them but it's amazing that such a small insect can make so
much noise. On a branch above us we see a very handsome bird of prey perched, Eel gets quite excited as it's a rare Wallaces Hawk-Eagle. We get back to
where the Banded Pitta might be but see no sign then something on the ground scurries away - probably a mouse deer. Then lots of activity as we see
something shoot down a tree and run off which starts a lot of other crashing about - this is a family of Pig-tailed Macaques. As we reach the boat I fall
over but we still look better than the previous group. On board it starts to rain but we see the Osprey again. As we get to the bungalows the rain is quite
heavy but it's lunchtime so we don't care. After lunch we have a siesta until the rain clears and we can go for a paddle - it seems much quieter now and
although we see Chinese Pond Herons, Greater Coucal, Dark-necked Tailor Bird, Asian Brown Flycatcher and a Grey-headed Fish Eagle there seems to be long
stretches of coastline devoid of life. The White-rumped Shama is still singing it's little heart out and the evening sun brings the lower part of the
karsts alive. We paddle back, shower and have dinner - we are the only guests now and it feels like we're the only people on the planet.
Mon 13th.Lay in today: wake at 06:15 for 07:00 paddle. Hard to find stuff today - high in one tree is a hawk we couldn't identify, looking at
the bird guide it may have been a Shikra. Also saw a rare Blythe Hawk-Eagle flying. A wild pig appeared and rooted around in plain view not taking any
notice of us - that's the beauty of the kayaks, they're silent. Saw Ashy Drongo and a rare Helmeted Hornbill. Back for breakfast and a rest before setting
off for the batcave. Quite a long boat journey - nearly an hour - then an easy 1 hour trek to the mouth of the cave. A stream runs through it and is quite
deep in places. Bats hang from the ceiling, rocks glisten & twinkle, amazed to find gnats since it's pitch black. We find a large spider, some fish
and a crab. Near the end the going gets quite tough and have to wade chest deep in water and do a bit of mountaineering. A frog tries to scare us just
before we exit the cave and walk back through the stream where fish nibble your toes. See a juvenile Little Heron and have to wade through sticky mud
to get back onto the boat. On the ride back a White Bellied Sea Eagle catches a fish and we see Oriental Pied Hornbills. It rains again. During lunch
a grey wagtail appears then we have a short rest before going paddling again.
This time we see Black-capped Kingfisher then a pair of Grey-capped Woodpeckers (these are great - so cute),
a Magpie Robin, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Dollar Birds, Osprey, Crested Serpent Eagle and as if that wasn't enough 9 Bushy
Crested Hornbills flew in, landed briefly and took off again. It's not over yet... 2 Great Hornbills flew past and landed ahead of us so we paddle on
and found them feeding (clumsily) in the top of a tree. We watch them for 15 minutes then carried on home for a shower, change, beer and dinner. Had a
Rose Apple for pudding and reflected on where else in the world you can see 4 species of Hornbill all on the same day.
Tue 14th.Our last paddle. Same routine as yesterday except Eel hears something to the west so we paddle round to find it. Tiny birds turn out to be
Olive-backed Sunbird and Brown-throated Sunbird, we watch for a few minutes then head east. Don't find much so paddle across open water to the other side.
Here we see Crested Bulbuls, Ashy Drongos, Dollar Birds, Grey-capped Woodpeckers, Blue-eared Kingfisher and Osprey. Also saw what looked like a Flycatcher
black and grey with an all-white head. This one doesn't appear in the guide book so I don't know what to call it. Further on we see Dark-necked Tailor
bird (up close) and a Babbler. We watched the Blue-eared Kingfisher catch a fish and eat it, there is the constant sound of Gibbons in the distance and
Dusky Langurs crashing about. Saw a Magpie Robin which confused me because I couldn't see its long tail. So that's about it, I hate to leave this place,
we're still the only residents - we console ourselves with the fact that tomorrow we dive...