After our last two very relaxed and restful days at the beach, today we wanted a bit more action. We opted for a full-day tour from the travel agency at our hotel. These tour agencies are located all over Phuket, so it's worth comparing prices. All offer discounts upon request, but the amount varies and depends on how well the salesperson gets along with the tour operators. Our salesperson seemed to be well-known there and, after some negotiation, was able to offer us a discount of 351 tp3t. This included transportation, a mini-tracking tour to a waterfall, a hot lunch, and the 7 km rafting tour for just over €30.
We left our hotel at 7:30 a.m. We were picked up by a very comfortable Isuzu pickup truck with a fully equipped interior. Apparently, you can earn quite well in the tour business! From the meeting point, we were to continue by bus. This was the first time we saw how they planned to fill a whole day with three hours of itinerary. We were the first on the bus, and by the time everyone had arrived, it was already almost 9 a.m.
Shortly after 10:30 a.m., we arrived at the rafting area on mainland Thailand. From there, we continued to the starting point in a small, covered pickup truck with passengers sitting in the back. The drivers seem to be suffering from a chronic lack of time; in any case, we roared up a narrow mountain road with numerous switchbacks at over 80 km/h – as I said, without our seatbelts in the back! Once at the top, everyone grabbed a life jacket and jumped into the inflatable boat, which our guides had just inflated (very confidence-inspiring). Then we paddled to the starting point behind a dam. Since the river doesn't have nearly enough water for a rafting tour, the water is dammed in two large pools and released twice a day. You can raft for about 15 minutes – if you miss the time window, you have to wait for the next wave.
The locks opened and the trip began! We were in our boat with two Kazakhs and two guides. Interestingly, we had four passengers and only three oars, which meant we were constantly turning and often going backwards down the river. The tour through the rapids was a lot of fun, and with around 50 boats on the river at once, it felt a bit like a bumper car ride. We were moving very fast and after just a few minutes we were one of the first boats on the river (even though we were the last to start). This meant we were traveling faster than the waves and often had to dock at the bank and wait until there was enough water in the river again. The best way to spend the time after that is to spray the other boats as they passed by or to scoop the water out of the boat.
After an hour, the fun was over, and we were treated to a warm lunch. The Thai food wasn't the best, but it was better than we expected. Afterward, we continued on to a mini-tracking tour to a waterfall with a swimming opportunity. "Mini-tracking" because we were once again driven up the mountain in one of our beloved pickup trucks for 15 minutes, and then had to walk the last 50 meters. It was still beautiful, and the water was finally refreshingly cold. We heard the rattling of rattlesnakes in the jungle surrounding us. But we didn't see any. Unfortunately, our visit was quite brief, and after 20 minutes, we were already on our way back.
After that, the interesting part of the day was over for us, and we had to prepare ourselves for waiting again. Two and a half hours later, we took the bus back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped again at a monkey cave. Here you could observe and feed monkeys "in their natural habitat" – the same as always... We weren't particularly motivated to see it, but since we'd be sitting on the bus for another hour and a half afterward, we went over and watched the tourists as they jumped on them and tried to protect their bags from the monkeys – actually quite funny.
After almost 12 hours, we finally arrived back at our hotel. The tour is fun, but the wait times are a bit annoying. Anyone planning a tour like this should, however, book other activities in addition to rafting, such as elephant rides or ATV riding.
