Kayaking on the Mekong

On our third and last day in Don Det, the most famed island in the region known as the Four Thousand Islands in Laos, we decided to take one of the kayaking tours promoted there. At 180,000 kips (around US$ 22), it was expensive, but then again it included breakfast, lunch, kayaking, dolphin-watching and two waterfalls. During the last night we had met Patrícia, a Spanish girl whom our French girl Anaís had met in Cambodia, and after she joined us we bought out kayaking tickets. Erica and Dan preferred to stay put and relax all day long, and who could blame them? Part of me was jealous.

We woke up at 8 am (SO HARD!) and after a quick breakfast headed to the shore. Each of us received -two essential survival pieces of equipment: a life jacket and a Chinese-style pointy sun-hat. We received some very quick instructions on the tricks of the trade, and soon enough we were all sliding through the Mekong. The girls shared a two-person kayak. I asked to go solo. Like a boss.

Spanish Patrí, French Anais, Brazilian me :)

Kayaking looks fun, and it is, but it’s no easy business. It requires a lot of effort from your arms to paddle your way down the river. The Mekong has a really faint current in that part of its course – which is great for control, but also means you have to do all the propelling work yourself. Kayaking alone is even harder – whenever you have to rest, there’s no one else to keep your momentum, and the kayak comes to a full stop, require more effort still to get it moving again.

Soon after we started, I looked to the back of my kayak to take my water bottle, and found a f@#$% big spider as a loving passenger. As I frantically tried to shove it off the boat, I flipped the kayak over and fell on the water. Luckily, there was no applause.

Our first stop was a waterfall. We parked our kayaks at the shore and went to check it out.

Here was the biggest disappointment of the day.  I had brought my camera along because the guy at the ticket booth guaranteed there was going to be a dry bag to everyone. It turned out that the dry bag was not really dry at all. My camera was wet and there was water inside the lens. As of now, it’snot working properly still, I just hope it will be back to life after it completely dries up… Still, the waterfall was beautiful.

The (hopefully not) last pic of my beloved camera

After that we returned to the kayaks and tried to spot some dolphins. That was the most miserable part of the trip. We were all there, just past noon, starving and enduring the relentless sun with not a single breeze around, keeping silent and paddling careful not to scare the dolphins off. The stupid things showed up very far away and didn’t get close.

We parked again in another island, this time one that was actually in the Cambodian side of the border, where we had a hearty lunch of rice, bread and watermelons, and took an hour resting under a merciful shade.

When that was over we took up our paddles again and kayaked for another hour and a half, until we reached yet another island, the one of the big waterfall. We helped loading all the kayaks into a truck, and the hopped on ourselves and hit the road.

We reached the big waterfall shortly, and it is indeed beautiful and impressive. No wonder the French soon concluded it was impossible to use the Mekong as trade route with China back in the day. A pity it’s not possible to swim there, as the currents are too strong and the terrain too dangerous.

Finally, the truck took us to the shore and we got into the kayaks for the fourth and last time for our way back to Don Det. Although we were very tired by then, it might have been the most pleasurable paddling time of them all. The sun was setting and it wasn’t too hot, there was a gentle breeze blowing, and the scenery was just gorgeous.

I had even a final gift from the universe: upon arriving to the Don Det island, I saw a bunch of guys jumping into the river from a high platform, looked like real fun. I went to investigate and found out it was a kind of trampoline built on the edge of a balcony from a nearby restaurant. I guess it was around 10 meters high. It was just perfect.

Well, some of us kind of chickened out…

Patri the Brave

All in all, it was a great day. Caressed by the beautiful sunset below, tired but happy, we went back to our bungalows to meet Dan and Erica for dinner, and prepare for the journey  next morning.