Paddling in Thailand

While it wasn't the primary aim of my recent trip to Taiwan and Thailand, I certainly had going for a paddle as one of my goals. The first real opportunity came when visiting the island of Ko Samet on the Gulf of Thailand. Surely there would be kayaks of some sort to paddle on this tourist oriented island! Why they even had a Buddha statue on the beach to summon up the paddling spirits for me…


At first, I began to despair as none of the gorgeous beaches appeared to have kayaks for rent, although I was sure I'd seen people paddling some distance offshore. I'd have to extend my search further along the beach...


Well, here we are. A kayak of sorts. A bit on the heavy side, but definitely a kayak. Now to see if it's for rent and at what price. Being with my son, we decided to opt for a double and had it towed across the beach to the water. It was much too heavy to carry easily! Checking out the hatch - partly full of nasty black bilge-water - I decided to leave my shoes and towel ashore. The life jackets were not that form-fitting and the paddles probably doubled as agricultural tools at some point during the year, but we were going kayaking nonetheless!


Given the nature of the equipment, we only went out for an hour or so, but it was so good to be on the water in such beautiful surroundings. We paddled south, trying out the boat's abilities in a few rock gardens and so on. Not that manoeuvrable as it turned out, but it took any groundings with barely a scratch. I wanted to try it's surfing ability, but sadly the seas were much too calm with hardly any swell. I didn't go paddling again during the stay. I've been spoiled by more modern, light-weight boats and my light Greenland sticks. I kept reminding myself that kayaking wasn't the goal of this trip...