14 January Jai’s and Chat’s Raft (12 kilometers paddling)
Jai and Chat
overslept, which cut into Chris’ plan for an early start, but today’s paddle
would be the shortest of the trip thanks to yesterday afternoon’s tow. We headed
northeast through a narrow valley, passing the raft of Uncle Sae, who buys the
catch of all the rafts around and sells it to the outside world. On his scouting
trip, Chris saw one of the villagers deliver a live 170-kilogram Giant Mekong
Catfish to Uncle Sae. Here the river became increasingly wide.
It’s 05:16 and
kayakers begin to stir! Space is tight on the Uncle Bpan’s raft.
Morning reflections
We paddle
northeast beneath high limestone cliffs.
Iew and I took a
shorter route bypassing the the raft of Uncle Sae (barely visible
on the far
shore one third of the way from the left) while Chris, Areeya, and David
(two-thirds of the way from the left, but too small to see) follow the shore.
Cliffs glow in
morning sun as we near the trailhead for the Golden Rock.
Near today’s half-way point we saw the Golden Rock high on a ridge. Chris didn’t have time to visit during his scouting trip, but hoped to do so today. He had been told that there’s no trail to it, nor could we see a trail from the river. David and Areeya opted to skip the climb and paddled onward. Thick brush grew along the shore, making landing a challenge. We started bushwhacking up into the forest toward a small shrine, then found a well-made trail with concrete steps, making the ascent easy, if a good workout. Like the sacred Myanmar namesake, this large natural rock appears impossibly balanced atop another rock. While the one in Myanmar is covered with layers of gold leaf, here Buddhist devotees had simply painted it a gold color. I was amazed at the devotion of the people who had hauled up an immense load of concrete to build the trail and a shrine building at the top.
Areeya and David
look very lonely as the rest of us begin the climb to Golden Rock.
Chris leads the way
up the concrete steps.
A shrine near the
Golden Rock
The Golden Rock
Iew and Chris descend to our kayaks.
But this dry brush
makes the last bit challenging.
Chris is glad to be
back with his kayak!
Breezes had completely died down during the second half of the day’s paddle, letting the water’s surface become a mirror of mountains and sky. We had lunch at the raft of Jai and Chat, followed by a restful afternoon. I did a bit of laundry, which quickly dried in the warm sun.
Chris cruises.
The wind dies
off, transforming the water to a mirror.
Granite boulders
lie exposed near the shore.
Late in the
afternoon, a motorboat with party rafts passes by.