There was some more
heavy rain today in the early morning and when we walked to breakfast
across the road. Afterwards we wandered down to the visitor centre
and arranged to hire some kayaks. Not long after, a plump middle-aged
woman appeared and led us down the road towards the river. Before we
got there, we turned off to the left and she took us through a small
fresh-produce market that we hadn't seen before and then onto a path
that ran parallel to the river – and to her house, where there were
several kayaks stacked up. She pulled out two and we dragged them
down to the river and climbed aboard – Zoe and I on one and Kate
and Sarah on the other. The clouds had parted by now and it was quite
hot and sunny. As we made our way upriver, the girls offered only
token assistance with the paddling and Kate and I were soon working
up a sweat with the sun beating down on us. Kate even reached the
point where she wrapped her skirt around her head to keep the sun off
it.
After I while, I
spotted a spot where a clear creek entered the river, passing over a
series of rock steps before it met the dark-green water of the river
itself. Zoe and I paddled over and beached our kayak then climbed out
and stood in the shade while we waited for the others to arrive,
waving as a boat of rangers went past. It began to cloud over as we
were all resting and suddenly it started to rain – as usual turning
from a few light drops to a heavy downpour in no time at all. We did
our best to shelter under the vegetation but eventually just gave up
and hopped back onto the kayaks and resumed paddling upriver. We were
hoping to reach the Butterfly Lodge, a collection of bungalows that
had been set up on an island in the river by the Wildlife Alliance
and then sold to a local man, who had then closed them up for some
reason. We had heard that there was a suspension bridge over to the
island and were curious to see it and the lodge, but weren't sure how
far upriver it was. Eventually, we rounded a bend and there it was.
We beached the kayaks and climbed up to where the bungalows were,
then spent a little while walking the paths, exploring the 'resort'.
We couldn't help feeling that it was a real shame that it isn't open
any more - run properly, it could be an amazing place to stay.
We then climbed back
onto the kayaks, paddling over to a small set of rapids nearby to get
a little boost back down the river. As we paddled home, we all took
turns rolling off the kayaks for a quick swim. It continued to rain
the whole way back, and by the time we reached the village and
returned the kayaks the girls were shivering - and we all walked back
up the main road looking like drowned rats. I mentioned on the day
that we arrived that we were checked in by a woman wearing pyjamas.
Something you notice as you travel around Asia is that pyjamas aren't
just for wearing to bed. They aren't even just for evening wear. In
some places, it's apparently perfectly acceptable to wear your
pyjamas all day – to just go about your general business, ride a
bike, eat in a restaurant, run your shop, whatever, in some colourful
sleepwear. And Chi Phat is definitely one of those places. And today
seemed to be a bit of a pyjama day, with lots of the women walking
around in cosy-looking jim-jams, making us all rather jealous as we
trudged soddenly up the road.
Back, finally, at
the bungalow we changed into dry(ish) clothes (it's so humid and has
been raining so much that everything feels a bit damp) and then went
over to the centre to use the wi fi and have some lunch –
beef-skewer rolls again. I should explain a little about these. We
discovered them on the first day as we walked back from the
waterfall. A pregnant woman was manning a small cart with a charcoal
grill on the end, where skewers of beef and chicken (feet and another
unidentified part – possibly heart) were cooking. These she added
to a bread roll, along with a delicious orange sauce and a serve of
some sort of pickled vegetables. The whole lot costs 50 cents and is
absolutely delicious – and we're addicted to them. Over the past
few days we've figured out that the woman and her mother migrate
around the village to take advantage of the changing customer bases –
near the school to catch the students as they leave, near the
volleyball court to serve the players and spectators, outside the bar
to serve the drinkers... so we have to spend a little time tracking
the cart down when we're feeling peckish.
After we had eaten,
Kate, Zoe and I wandered down to the little market we had walked
through earlier on the way to the kayaking to see if we could buy
some fresh fruit or vegetables. The range was pretty limited, but we
did manage to get some cucumbers. We then spent the rest of the day
generally lazing about, before having another nice meal at 'our'
restaurant for dinner.
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