Jump in the Lake

It was an early 8.30 start for our trip to Chiew Laan Lake. We were introduced to our Thai guide and our travel companions, a young German couple named Sven & Susi.  We had a 1 hour trip by ute to the pier, followed by another hour in the long tail boat to the lake houses.

It seems the vehicle of choice for most Thais (if not a motorbike or scooter) is a ute – preferably a Toyota Hilux dual cab.  Actually, we were surprised by the quality of the vehicles on the road – there are hardly any bombs, most seem pretty new and you can always find someone washing their pride and joy on the side of the road!

Caitlin sensibly chose to ride in the dual cab with Sven & Susi while the rest of us piled in the tray.  It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden in the back of a ute but this was another story.  All Thai drivers attempt to drive at a minimum of 80 km/hr – the preferred speed being 120 km/hr regardless of traffic or weather!  Overtaking is not what we are used to.  It’s more like tail gating the slower vehicle in front until you can squeeze past them, straddling the centre line and traffic coming the other way just squeezes over to their left.  We probably spent more time in the middle of the road or in the right lane than we did in the left – and don’t forget slowing down is not an option unless you are in imminant danger of hitting someone.  We discovered this when a little old man who we were overtaking (or should I say running off the road!) decided he was coming back into the lane and so our driver slammed on the brakes and all of us in the back went flying.  It was at that point that I thought maybe driving in the back wasn’t such a good idea.

Anyway, we made it to the pier alive and were out on the lake in no time.  The lake was created 30 years ago when the government dammed the river for hydro electricity and created the 700 odd sq km lake which in places is 90 metres deep.  A whole stack of virgin rainforest went under water and all the flora and fauna associated with that – which gave for interesting discussions with the kids on the pros and cons of dams for “clean” energy.

It is a beautiful area though, with big limestone karsts coming straight out of the water.

We arrived at the lakehouses just as the afternoon rain started and discovered that all activities are cancelled when it rains.  Great – what are we going to do with 4 kids stuck in a floating shack with no land and nothing to do?  It was about 3pm and we thought this is going to be a very long 24 hours.  There was no way back so nothing to be done but stick it out.

The rafthouses themselves were basically bamboo poles covered with bamboo matting and in places there were holes where somebody had put their foot clean through the matting so you did have to be extremely careful where you put your feet.  The houses were linked together with each other and the eating area by floating duckboards – also covered with bamboo type matting.  It wasn’t a good idea to take your eyes off where you were walking as you were at risk of either putting you foot through the matting or falling off the side.  Anyone who knows Michael well, knows that he is incapable of walking and talking at the same time and did in fact manage to walk off the side of the duckboards and fall in the water!  Luckily he just gave himself a fright and Paul managed to haul him back out unscathed.

The food was all included and very good and the mattresses were quite comfortable so we all had a good night’s sleep.  Talking to our German friend Susi the next day, she said she had had a terrible night’s sleep because their lakehouse floor was on a slope.  Ours was quite good, although Paul did say he had had dreams about waking up to find himself floating on a mattress in the middle of the lake!

The next morning, Paul, Susi & Sven were off on a jungle trek through the national park.  The girls were dead set against any kind of mountain hiking so we decided to stay behind and go kayaking instead.   At the last minute Michael decided to go with Paul which I thought was very funny as it was a 3 hour hike and this is a 5 year old boy who hates walking to the end of our street!  I will let Paul continue their story in a separate post.

The girls and I got in our kayaks and paddled off down into the jungle, where our boat driver had indicated we might see some monkeys.  Sure enough, within about 5 minutes we saw one sitting on a branch hanging over the water.  We drifted up quietly and he still sat there completely ignoring us.  We got very close and saw that he had a white face and long whiskers.  We did see a number of other monkeys in the distance but not as close as this little guy.

We had asked our guide about areas along the bank where the undergrowth and mainly giant bamboo had been completely smashed down – he said it was from wild elephants coming down to the water.  It was amazing to think that such enormous creatures could travel in this area – the jungle is amazingly thick and the terrain very steep.  He said he had seen footprints on cliff sides and all sorts of crazy steep places near waterfalls etc, so they were more than capable of going up and down the steep sides.

From then on, I think the girls were just waiting for an elephant to come crashing out of the undergrowth but unfortunately, no.

So, although we got off to a rough start, our trip to the lakehouses turned out to be quite memorable and we all had a great time.

Now for that return trip in the back of that ute..