9 November Nakakiri Resort & Spa (Ban Hin Dat)
32.6 kilometers
For
breakfast I went for muesli, bread, and hot cocoa while others browsed the
market and waited until our first rest stop to eat it. Our resort had a handy
gravel shore to launch the kayaks. Chris chose teams for each kayak, and these
turned out to be such good matches that we kept them for the entire trip. Chris
and Chow took the inflatable kayak—the largest and hardest to paddle—and handled
it admirably. Areeya squeezed into the cramped middle seat in the inflatable and
didn’t need to paddle at all. The rest of us had sit-on-top polyethylene kayaks,
which are easier to paddle: the Dutch couple Hans and Lieneke went in the red
and yellow one, the British gentleman David with Thai lady Iew took the yellow
and blue kayak, and the charming Mathilde (sister of Lieneke) and myself rode in
the red-white-and-blue kayak. We loaded up at 7:15 a.m., then set off on a
pleasant warm and partly cloudy day. Low clouds clung to mountains before
gradually fading away.
We are almost ready
to begin at 7:20 a.m.
We are about to
launch!
View
back to the suspension bridge that we had walked across yesterday on the hike to
Phuttha Chethiya Khiri Pagoda
Vajiralongkorn Dam just upstream has peak releases in the
evening for hydroelectric generation, then less during the rest of the day,
which made for low water with challenging conditions in spots today. Chris told
us that the peak releases take hours to progress down the river, so later on in
the journey we would be getting higher levels, then eventually the releases
would average out. With this morning’s low water we navigated small rapids and
tried to avoid getting stranded on a gravel bar, though one pair of our group
did get caught and had to walk their kayak to deeper water. Dense clumps of
bamboo and small trees hung over the water while majestic jungle trees towered
high above. Sometimes Mathilde and I would detour under the arching curves of
the greenery. Lots of bird calls and song emanated from the jungle. Chris
thought he heard a hornbill, but we didn’t see it. Small flocks of lapwings
chatted among themselves while flitting just above the water. We often saw the
bright blue flash of white-breasted kingfishers perched on a branch above the
water or flying about. Herons and egrets were a common sight along with many
small birds. Little waterfalls spurted out of the limestone walls from cracks or
caves and one big waterfall came over the top of a cliff. People live along the
river in small farms and we saw the occasional resort or getaway house. Boat
traffic was almost non-existent, just a few fishermen in tiny boats seeking out
a good spot.
Morning clouds
caress the mountains.
Iew and David pause
for a chat.
Chow, Areeya, and Chris often take the lead.
Iew is a steady
paddler!
A
morning idyll
Mathilde and Areeya dig into to their carry-out breakfast from the market.
A backwater
near our rest stop
Chow, Areeya, and
Chris power by!
At Wat Prangsi we climbed a pinnacle to a golden chedi and views. Many
statues stood in the park-like grounds below the pinnacle, and rows of bells
line the stairs on the way up.
Our kayaks rest
beside the river as we walk across a highway bridge toward Wat Prangsi.
A mythical naga
shelters the Buddha from the rain.
We had to slip past
this fellow before beginning the climb.
Five golden chedis
stand atop the pinnacle.
Another chedi rises
from the summit of a neighboring pinnacle.
A view down the
Khwae Noi 
A
little farther downriver we find this waterfall pouring out of a small cave in
the cliff.
Our largest waterfall today comes over the clifftop.
Hans and a
well-protected Lieneke arrive at our raft house.
Resort staff help us out,
then pull the kayaks onto the raft.
The kayaking concluded upon reaching our raft house at 3:30 p.m., then we had a
late lunch in which I went with an omelet, vegetables, and lime soda. The day
felt long and I rested in late afternoon while the group headed by car to hot
springs.