Today was the last day of our trip, tomorrow we would be home. We flew out at 8pm and we were determined to make the best of the day. We woke up early to pack our bags and set off on one final adventure, Kayaking through the National Park. Our tour picked us up at 8am an we were off to Than Bok Khorani National Park. We picked up several others along the way and we all crammed into the back of the truck. In particular I remember a VERY talkative American girl, the kind you see in teen movies that give American teenagers such an awful reputation. She talked for 30min solid, without even taking a breath, to the girl sitting next to her (Megan). Thankfully when the truck finally stopped the talkative girl, and nearly everyone else, got out and went on a different tour. Only ourselves and Megan, an a French Family of 4 were left.
When we arrived at our final destination, we were greeted by two friendly guides, Nana and ‘Big Boy’, and shown to our Kayaks. Rebecca took the front and I took the back and soon we were paddling through the mangroves. Nana had great English, as he lived in California for a while. While we paddled through the mangroves Nana explained the local finishing industry, landscape and animals of the area. The river was incredibly peaceful and beautiful.
We soon found our selves following our guides through a cave, just high enough in spots for us to fit. We could see light on the other side and it soon opened up to reveal a beautiful lagoon. Lush vegetation climbed the cliff walls with a circular opening at the top that let the sunshine pour down. Nana opined out several monkey’s that were high in the trees, we watched them, as they watched us. Unlike some of the other tour’s we’d been on, there was really no pressure for time here. We could stay as long as we liked until we were all ready to move on.
We continued down the river, passing oyster farms and beautiful cliff views. Through another cave we saw a small shack, where the rubber tree workers would stay. One we paddled to another cave, this one much larger than the previous, once through we stopped to have a look at the ‘walking fish’ these looked like giant tadpoles. They were lazily roaming about the shore while crabs scurried around them.
Backtracking on our journey and headed past the original docks we started our on, and headed towards, Tham Phi Hua cave. Here we stopped, tied up our boats, and joined the other tourists there heading in to a cave just above sea level. Once inside, Nana pointed out a few cave drawings on the ceiling, though to be over 3000 years old. We stayed for a while, soaking in the beauty of the cave and the history of the drawings. This was without a doubt a high light of my entire trip.
When it was time to go (we were the last to leave) we headed back to the docks for some lunch. It was amazing; cashew chicken, sweet and sour chicken, veggies, seafood soup and juicy fruit for dessert. With our bellies full, we hopped back into the van and headed towards Ta Pom to swim with in the fresh water pools. Rebecca and I took a quick dip and then opted for ice cream and sunshine. We relaxed and chatted to a few other tourists. Then reluctantly boarded the van to take us back to Krabi Town.
We had three hours to kill before our Taxi arrived to take us to the airport. We showered and ‘re’ packed our bags. Then into town for some last minute shopping and gifts. Finding ourselves in the day-market we bought all sorts foods; mango sticky rice, mini pancakes, unknown meat on a stick, devilled eggs, salad rolls and of course pineapple. Just around the corner from our hostel we found a very cute shop stuffed full of leather goods and gifts. Then we headed down to the night market for some coconut ice-cream.
The time was passing quickly, only 30 min until our departure. Trying to hold on to our last minutes in thailand we headed to the bar at the top of the hostel to watch the mesmerising sunset one last time.
At 6:45 on the dot our taxi arrived. We waved bye to Krabi and to Thailand and headed to the airport.
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