16 January Trang
14km
The hotel provided breakfast of curry rice with
egg for me and curry rice with chicken for the rest of the group. Sunshine
reigned on our final day at sea. Low tide would have made launching from shore
very difficult, but Chris tied all of the kayaks together and paddled them over
to the pier, where we loaded them up and I hopped in without even needing to get
my feet wet! We paddled 1 kilometer along a sandspit to the easternmost point
of Ko Muk, then began the 2.5-kilometer crossing back to the mainland. Next we
followed the shore 3 kilometers south to near the mouth of the Lat Chao Channel. Here the low tide had exposed sandbars well off the mainland coast, and we
had to get out and pull the kayaks a couple times in the shallows.
Day 9: Ko Muk
to Had Yao Beach
Morning near our
resort on Ko Muk
Eew goes for a
swing!
While
Ian digs into breakfast.
View from the pier
We load the
kayaks.
Then
set off for the mainland.
Ian and Eew take a
breather.
Areeya paddles while I snap a photo.
Chris and Chow in
such shallow water they can barely paddle.
In the shallows
with Ko Muk in the background
We
continued another 3 kilometers south along Sun Beach to its end, where we got
out of the kayaks, walked a bit of road, then followed a short trail to Yongling Sea Cave. We
easily walked through the cave to a beach, where Chris had brought all three
kayaks. Coming through this ‘back door’ of the national park probably saved us a
400-baht entrance fee! Lastly we paddled the 5 kilometers to Had Yao Beach,
where sadly our journey through paradise had to come to an end.
Chris tows our
kayaks to Yongling Sea Cave.
Koh Muk from Sun
Beach
Areeya, Eew, Ian, and Chow hit the trail.
Inside Yongling Sea
Cave
A mass
of stalagtites hang from the ceiling.
Twin openings face
the sea.
Eew, Chow, Areeya, and Ian in the mouth of the cave
The mouth of
Yongling Sea Cave
Our kayaks await
for the final paddle from Yongling Sea Cave to Had Yao Beach.
Upon arrival at Had Yao Beach, Chris
retrieved his car and Chow his bicycle, then we cleaned up in showers and packed
for the onward journey. Chris and Areeya drove to their rental house in Chumphon
to prepare it for new guests while the rest of us got in a van for the drive to
Trang. The others caught a train that evening, but I stayed in the town of Trang
overnight to visit a friend I had met through Warmshowers, a hosting program for
cyclists. The next afternoon on the 17th I got on Rapid Train 168, which
deposited me in Salaya (west of Bangkok) on the morning of the 18th, when I
hopped into a taxi for a ride to Hidden Holiday House.
Laos 2023—Nong Khai to Vang Vieng, a bicycle tour led by Chris and Areeya, will be my next adventure! It begins on the 19th, and all of us kayakers except Ian (who returned home for a wedding) are on the ride, plus five others. You can join this journey at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Laos2023