Nakhon Nayok

So for this weekend I decided I wanted to do some kind of water sport thing, rafting, kayaking, canoeing... something! I did a bit of reading around and decided to go to Nakhon Nayok. It's only about 100km from Bangkok so I could do it as a day trip since accommodation there is pretty expensive and there isn't really enough to do for a full weekend.

After finding out the various buses and talking with some people, I made my very simple plan of 'show up and see what's what'. I don't like complicated plans. I find trying to stick to them too stressful. So Saturday morning I got up nice and early, jumped on the 69 to Mochit, one of the major bus stations in Bangkok and got a Van to Nakhon Nayok.

Well, I got off after about an hour and a half at the bus station in the town. The station was tiny. There were no cab points, non of the tourists I'd read about that flock from Bangkok to here for weekends. It was empty. I went up to the ticket office, tried my hand at some Thai that failed miserably, totally lost my confidence and just started trying to mime 'river'. It's more difficult then you'd think. A sudden panic went right through me as I started to worry I was just in completely the wrong place.

Eventually they found someone who spoke English and they found me a cab that would take up further up, about 10k, to where the river was. This was probably the oldest car I've ever been in in my life. It stalled every thirty seconds, but the guy smoothly kept it going. From driving around I could tell you need a car, or a charted bus or something to get around, all the spots seem to be about five miles from each other.

But eventually we found a place. Rafting was out of the question, I was kind hoping I could do what I did the last time and find something that has a lot of people who are in one's or two's and form a group. But not here. Here you come in your group. So we found a Kayaking place. I was a little nervous, I've only ever done Kayaking on smooth, completely flat and non flowing lakes. Not rapids. It was a two seater (I don't know the definition specific differences between the two, it was smaller than what I call a canoe, so I'm sticking with a two man Kayak) and I went with an instructor. It was 7km down river with a drop off and pick up. Cost about ten quid.

My instructor doesn't look very impressed

The rapids were fun, and I could handle them, at no point did I nearly flip the boat or fall in and I think on my own I could handle it. It was only a level two, I reckon I could do level three easily. The first couple of kilometers were very rapid, then it slowed down to a slow flowing river, then rapid again for the final stretch. It was over surprisingly quickly. Not sure how long it actually lasted, but I remember thinking, 7km isn't very long.

My back was killing me though and I was exhausted. Probably couldn't have done much more anyway. On the drive back the guy who ran it asked me what I was doing next.

"I don't know. Eat lunch."

"Where?"

"I don't know, where is good?"

"You can eat with us."

He also invited me bird watching, it was another thing his little company offered.

So we went back and I ate with him, his girlfriend and the instructor. After lunch he dropped me at one of the national parks. There I did a little treking up the river and waterfall, but didn't go out too far. I was shattered. Instead I bought some ice and a big drink of Fanta, found a quiet bench, had a lye down and fell asleep.

The view

Fanta and a bag of ice

I woke up just in time to be picked up for bird watching. I prepared my camera with my telescopic lens while we drove several miles off the main road, through small towns with all sorts of houses scattered around. My telescopic camera lens paled in comparison with this guys telescope. Not sure what the actual zoom distance was, but it was easily ten times greater then my 200mm. Birds I couldn't even see with my eyes they were so far away took up the whole view. Some of the birds were very strange looking, some had two tails and were so brightly colored.

Watching for birds

View down the telescope

I can capture flowers... not the birds

On the lookout

The sun began to set and we headed back to the main road after about two hours. From there he flagged a van down and told them where I was heading. There was no extra charge from him for the food, the driving around or the two hours of birdwatching. People here are just so friendly. I was in the van for about fifteen minutes when we stopped. The driver turned to me and told me to get in the other van that was at the side of the road. He refused to let me pay for the trip down. I thanked him, jumped out, and got in the other van. The first driver told the new driver where I was heading.

We got to 'future park' after about an hour and a half. It was a major bus and van terminus with a huge mall. I grabbed some food before trying to get back to Nonthaburi. I managed to find someone who could tell me which bus to get, and when I got of that bus, I knew exactly where I was. My glaring problem is that I don't know the names of places. I know when to get off, I just don't know what they are called. I had the name of the place I needed to get the next bus to written down, in Thai.

I jumped on the 69, which was rammed with people, and got my change and paper out. The ticket woman refused to look at my paper, and got very angry and just walked off. A couple of people quickly rushed over to me and asked me where I was going. I showed them the paper, and they said "before the bridge?" "yes, I know the stop, I just don't know the name." They told the ticket woman, who still just shook her head and waved her hand.

I was really, really shocked by this. Since I've been here, everyone has been so helpful, total strangers are more then happy to help as much as they can and no one has ever not helped or gotten angry in anyway. The other Thai people on the bus seemed really surprised too. Eventually I got a ticket, and jumped off just outside my apartment. I grabbed a quick drink downstairs, took a bath and went to bed. I was very, very tired. It had been a long but really good day.

I spent Sunday recovering, working on lesson plans for the week and had two swims. One in the middle of the afternoon when a swim outside on the roof is just heaven, and another in the early evening, without the sun beating down on me. I also decided to try and make sure I'm not in the situation I was in before, and downstairs I asked about the names of the various places and what I say on buses to get home.

I'm picking up the odd word here and there, but not as much as I did before. To be honest I haven't been trying like I said I would before, I learn something but I forget it later in the day. So from this week on I'm starting to make a real effort in learning more things.