Wandergliding: Canoeing at Khao Sok

October 27^th, 2024

My afternoon activity was a 1½-2 hour canoe down the river that flows through the Khao Sok village. I had heard that I wouldn’t be paddling but my guide would be. We started right at the bridge in Khao Sok with my almost toothless guide (he had two on the top and maybe three on the bottom that I could see), and unfortunately, I didn’t quite catch his name as the lisp from missing teeth didn’t help. He still had a contagious smile.

We hopped in the inflatable canoe and started down river on our four-kilometre journey. Rain was falling from the sky as we passed by some tubers. I had my long, cheap rain jacket on but decided to deploy my tiny umbrella to shelter myself from the precipitation. Passing another set of tubers, I couldn’t help but mention that I felt like the Queen of England, sitting pretty in the front, fairly protected from the elements as I was propelled down the river by my paddler in the back.

The start of the paddle:

Coming around a bend, I noticed a number of inflatable canoes on the bank of the river and a tarp shelter just on shore a number of people gathered around a fire burning. We pulled in and ended up joining them…I guess this was part of the tour.

Pretty cool setup:

I’ve seen many campfires before, but not one where bamboo was a large component of the burning material. Bamboo doesn’t actually burn very well. The cool thing was that a few of the bamboo pieces were capped at the bottom and they were boiling water inside it to make coffee. To complete the experience, the concoction was served in bamboo cups. I’m not a coffee drinker, and even if I was, I don’t think I’d be drinking one in the middle of the afternoon, but some tourists were enjoying it.

Water was boiling in the closest bamboo shoot:

Some canoers setting on their way:

Back on the river:

These leaves were massive, probably 4-5 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Me and my toothless guide:

There was a moment of hilarity as the woman on the left fell through her tube, but first. Her friend was laughing the loudest.

After about 20 minutes, we set off on the river again, but it wasn’t too long until we reached our pullout. It was a fun little excursion, but it definitely could have been longer.

I loved the stacking of the flotation devices on this truck.