On our third day, we went to Phang Nga, which was around 3 hours away from Krabi, for white river rafting, all terrain vehicle (ATV) tour and elephant trekking. Pheww.. Even saying them in one breath was tiring.
The rainfall on that day made it more thrilling during the rafting. It was cold as rain water soaked my clothes and the chills got into my skin, but I did not mind a teeny bit. For me, it was a fine trade-off to the hot, humid weather that I am accustomed to.
The great company of the raft guides also made it extremely fun as they purposely splashed water on everyone in the rafts. And all of us returned the splash in good spirit. I realised that to be able to splash lots of water with the paddle required a technique, which sadly, I wasn't able to master, so in the end I was wet from head to toe. Grrr.. but our clothes got dried pretty fast once the rain stopped and the sun came out again.
The battle of the ATVs. I wish I could own one of them but the ATV wasn't as great as the river rafting though. I guess I was hoping for more, like what the brochure picture showed when we bought the full day tour.
Elephant trekking was kind of scary for me at first, because of the swaggering movement of the elephant and the position where I was seated. It was a bit lopsided because I'm heavier than Cp so I felt like the whole carriage was going to fall on my side.
I kind of suspect I also had a fear of height although I don't feel anything close to nausea or light headedness. I only had this weird feeling like I was going to fell off and hit the ground every minute, so could this really be a minor state of acrophobia?
Our big, strong elephant brought us into the jungle and stepped along the river bed. Everthing about the landscape was surreal and beautiful. It could have been better if I could have just curbed that creeping fear of falling off from the elephant.
On the next day, we went kayaking at Ao Thalene. I've never known that kayaking through the soaring limestone cliffs could be so therapeutic. It was so peaceful and cooling that it's almost meditative.
This was me in one of the hidden caves. I didn't dare to venture deeper because it's dark.
And one of the monkeys greeted us as we kayak through the maze of mangroves.
Overall, the kayaking activity was the most valuable experience in my Krabi trip to me. This was a part of nature that I felt was becoming more rare to see as a city dweller. And so I hoped I could kayak again and witness the same natural beauty.
