Today we got picked up by a tuk tuk at 7:30am. We drove an hour to our kayaking start location. The sun was not too hot yet, around 27°C. I don’t know how we will cope back home if we find 27°C cool!

We were in a double kayak which is fun but harder for two equally uncoordinated people. We started by going across the Mekong horizontally. The river stretched to 2km wide and with a fast flowing current from rainy season it was hard work. Once we made it to the other rise, we paddled downstream for 10km.

Our journey took us away from the main flow of the river and into sandy islet areas with mangroves. The current flowed fast here and we had to use our paddles as rudders to avoid the trees and sand banks. We stopped for a snack and a rest on a larger sand island. Our guide has brought bananas and bamboo sticky rice; a treat Robin has grown very fond of.

The sand in the Mekong is full of flakes of what appears to be gold. In reality, it’s pyrite or fools gold. I remember going gold panning in Lego land and earning a bag of the stuff.

After a short rest we paddled another 5km to the dolphin pool we had visited by boat the day before. Fatigued, Robin and I found a small patch of water plants growing and clung on to avoid a never ending paddle against the current to stay in one spot. Once again we saw dolphins playing and jumping in the Mekong.

Before long, we had to kayak back across the 2km wide Mekong to reach our end point. After the kayaking we were exhausted so we had some food and showered before having a rest.

We had dinner before watching some tv and having an early night. Another early start travel day tomorrow.

-M