This expedition has been a month or so in the making as the itch to get out and explore slowly got stronger and stronger. I arrived In northern Thailand in mid September to begin a two year contract working for an outdoor education provider, based on the banks of the Maekok river a mile downstream of the Myanmar border. The first few months of my contract saw me running sit on top and raft building sessions but never venturing more than a couple of kilometres away from the resort. I was dieing to explore the river in its entirety. However the prospect of running 150km on a sit on top really did not appeal, after a week or two of research I managed to track down a company in Bangkok that imported mad river canoes at a very competitive price. though juggling the logistics of the delivery some 400km away was no easy feat.
with the first hurdle overcome the next problem was paddles. Finding a half decent paddle that wasnt going to cost the earth was turning into an impossible task. In the end i resorted to making one. I have zero skills in wood work and im sure that is very evident from the photos. Shes not pretty, but she is mine and i loved the process of making it. I used an old reclaimed piece of timber and a fair amount of epoxy resin to fill in the chunks where i got carried away with the machete.
after a few light training runs polling up to the Myanmar border to test out the boat and paddle I was very satisfied with the result. The Christmas break provided the perfect opportunity to give them a proper test.
According to google maps the Thai portion of the river is 150km long until it joins the Mekong, I would have loved to have paddled the full river but as I only had 3 days from work for the trip I decided to choose a more achievable finish some 50km upstream. I knew little about the conditions of the river downstream other than what I could gleam from a few friends. December meant that the water level on the river would be near its lowest and I wasnt expecting much assistance from the flow. I was advised that there was one serious rapid downstream but the rest is mostly flat. I took comfort in the fact that boat taxis regularly navigate this stretch of river from Thaton to Chiang Rai in around 4 hours.
On the 23rd December I quickly unpacked from a 4 day trek simply swapping my gear over from my rucksack and into some dry bags then it was off to the market in Thaton to shop for supplies. I find doing expedition food prep in small Asian villages is often considerably easier than back home. With a wealth of fresh veg, dried fruits, preserves and rice whiskey easily found in one local store. After returning to the Base It was just a short 100m portage to get to my start point. An expedition from my own doorstep.
I set off around 3pm on the 23rd with the plan of getting a couple of hours under my belt before making camp for the night. despite being the coldest month in Thailand the weather was still a perfect 25 degrees. the river begins through rice paddies and fields growing all manner of crops from bananas, oranges, rubber and coffee to name but a few. Unfortunately the river pays the price for this oasis with a huge amount of water extracted everyday.
After 5km I was into uncharted territory and pleasantly surprised at how fast the shallow river was carrying me towards my destination. I soon left the open fields and roads behind and entered into a steep sided valley. As the sun dipped behind the peaks i Decided it was time to set up camp. Despite being only on the water for two hours i was surprised to find out that I had already covered just shy of 20kms.
With the Hammock up and A fresh batch of water filtered it was time to get started on dinner, fresh veggies, rice, soy protein and the standard Thai staple a big spoonful of MSG for added flavour. I savoured the feeling of being alone again after a hectic start to the season and treated myself to a healthy measure of rice whiskey before bed. I made the poor decision of not putting my Tarp up to take full advantage of the incredible nights sky but paid the price as the fog rolled in in the early morning. waking up cold and wet.
I quickly fired up the stove and got some noodles on the boil, whilst it cooked away I used the time to whip up some chopsticks out of some bamboo that was laying by my hammock. with breakfast done it was time to take down camp, filter some water and get on the river again for 08:30, I was planning on a big day on the water today and also wanted to take full advantage of that special little pleasure that is paddling in the quiet morning mist.
having left the more populated agricultural land behind me, I was now in an area inhabited by a few different hill tribe villages, Most of which had migrated from Myanmar in the 80's and 90's. it is a joy to see people that have such a deep connection to a river that is critical for their survival. As I silently floated by I saw many people going about their morning routine. Bathing in the river, feeding their buffalo and laying out their fishing nets for the day. I must admit i did derive some pleasure from surprising the odd local or two. The looks of confusion where common as a white guy floated passed in a plastic boat. where possible id stop and share a cigarette with some and give them a chance to check out my gear. the process was nearly always the same, 3 knocks on the outside, a little pat on the inside followed by lifting up the bow to check the weight finished off with a chuckle and a nod of approval before i went on my way.
As the sun began to come out I was continually amazed by the beauty of the valley that arrived around every corner. And with the rivers swift flow I was making good easy process averaging around 7km an hour. At 11:00am I heard the unmistakable roar of a long tail boats approaching quickly from upstream. these beast with huge tractor engines really fly down the river! As the river is little more than 2 feet deep and considerably shallower in a lot of places the skill of the drivers needs to be immense. As the boats shot past me, I was soon in silence again. a further 2km downstream I caught up with the longtails as they had just deposited their tourists on the bank and where breaking out of an eddy to continue downstream without them. I sat in my boat a little confused about what was going on as the final of the 3 boat men was giving me some rather hectic hand signals that i managed to interpret either as "stop do not go." or "let me go first and wait here." unperturbed and guessing it was probably the latter I broke out behind the last long tail as it disappeared around the bend. What I hadn't noticed was the roar of whitewater that had up until then been masked by the huge engines of the longtails. I laughed to myself for forgetting about the rapid and had to quickly react and pick my line down the fairly big class 2+ rapid. with a parting cheer from the boatmen I was soon alone once again.
when I paddle im not one for stopping or moving slowly. the love for me is being on the water and as such id fallen into a nice routine of a 90 minute paddle followed by a 5 minute floating break. with this rhythm i was eating up the miles and all to soon I was back in the plains. I soon paddled through the tourist village of Ruammit around lunch time, it was sad to see tourists riding elephants here although a very unique experience to canoe alongside one, an experience id love to have again with a wild elephant one day. After coming out of the valley the town is in stark contrast full of concrete and trash. I decided to keep on pushing along.
By 14:30 I was done for the day. with a big distance of 40kms covered i was still feeling surprisingly fresh but still grateful for a lazy christmas eve at the camp spot. And with an uninspiring dinner it was off to bed by 7pm.
I awoke early the next morning, but this time to warm sunshine, knowing that I only had 20kms to cover today meant i could potter around camp and take my time with my morning routine. Despite that, I was stall on the water for 9am. After about 5km the river very suddenly came to a stop. I was aware of the dam 15km downstream, but was not prepared for the water to be backed up so far up the river. Despite the slower progress and reaching the outskirts of Chiang Rai, the scenery was still surprisingly beautiful with temples and shrines lining the bank.
Just east of Chiang Rai, the river becomes wide and flat and progress slowed with a slight headwind as i made my way through the city. around lunch time on Christmas day I heard loud music coming from the bank and stopped to explore and get myself a well needed coffee. I stumpled into the middle of the 2019 Asean flower show. after a quick look round, it was back on the water and a short paddle later I had reached the dam.
Depite being a relatively small portage of around 300m, safely lowering the canoe back down to water level on my own was a real struggle, that left me worn out in the mid day heat. from here I resolved to paddle until the first good campspot. Below the damn the rivers flow was shockingly low at around 5 cumecs less than 25% of what it had been at the start. this low flow meant it was no longer possible for me to paddle and instead I was forced into polling my way down using a piece of bamboo that I had found on the bank. Glad to finally make camp around 3pm, despite only travelling 20km i was beat. I decided to take an afternoon nap before rustling up christmas dinner.
I tried my best to finish off the rice whiskey before having another early night after a phone call to my parents and to my friend to organise the pick up in the morning. the final 20kms was a low water sandy slog, I was so glad that i chose to finish 50km upstream of the Mekong as at this water level I highly doubt if it would be navigable. I finished my trip at lunchtime on boxing day at a new major road bridge over the river where I had booked a taxi for the journey back.
the Maekok river was a surprisingly good canoe tripping river with a great diversity of scenery and paddling along the way. Im going to return to the river in Monsoon and see what its like with some good flows.
Wishing everyone a happy new year!
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