Krabi, Thailand Travelogue : Day 2 - Kayaking at Bor Thor and Gazing at the Sky at Ao Nang Beach

Bor Thor Village

On our second of the Krabi tour, six of the Krabian soldiers went for a kayaking trip at Bor Thor, Ao Luk District at Krabi Province while the other five soldiers went on an elephant trekking tour which includes the visit to the tiger cave temple and emerald pool. I enjoyed my kayaking experience at Bor Thor but I guess I would have greater fulfillment and enjoyment if I had went for the elephant trekking tour. I just couldn’t really understand why our tour guide for the Kayaking trip was so moody that particular day. The guide, being the leader of the tour, makes a great difference to the whole trip. Count yourself lucky, if you have been booking tours which employs great and entertaining tour guides.

For this tour, I did not bring my DSLR along as I was afraid it might be too heavy and bulky for me to bring on the kayak. But they do provide dry bags which are water-proof sling bags to put your valuable items and cameras so that you can bring along with you to the kayak. So I brought along my phone. My last resort for documenting my travels pictorially.

In actual fact, the caves and limestones at Bor Thor was pretty spectacular. Those travel programmes on the caves in Thailand which I’ve caught on TV looks pretty much like the ones I see in Bor Thor. Maybe that could be one of the main attractions in Thailand – limestome caves. I’m really starting to appreciate the beauty of limestone caves.

Thankfully that the 6 of us have kayaking experience because we were not taught how to kayak or were introduced on how to paddle the kaya safely and correctly. Since the waters are pretty calm, it’s pretty easy to paddle in the waters.

First, we paddled through the mangrove river and then through several caves which had splendid stalactite and stalagmite. I came across these complex terms in geography but I always couldn’t distinguish the two terms from each other. According to HowStuffWorks website, stalactites are mineral formations hanging from the ceilings of the cave while stalagmites are formations emerging from the ground. I somehow need to make a mental note on this – just in case I will be teaching about such geographical formations in caves.

Here’s a tip I’ve found on TLC’s How Stuff Works in how to distinguish the two terms. Stalactites hold on tight to stay on the ceiling of the cave whereas stalagmites have to be mighty to stand up on cave grounds.

Tham Pee Hua Toe or the big-headed ghost cave

The big airy cave

When we got off from our kayaks and entered the cave, there’s this strong gust of wind that blows in. I’ve always wonder why it gets to windy and chilly in caves. Where does the wind current starts? Does the moving air gets trap in caves?

Pre-Historial cave paintings

This is perhaps one of the highlights of this kayaking tour – able to see pre-historal paintings drawn by ancient people with your very own eyes. How cool is that?

This cave is used to be filled with sea water but over the years, the sea water receded, leaving remnants of corals and seashells on the floorings in the cave.

Another sighting of a pre-historial paintings!

The guide says that this creature drawn here looks like a hybrid of an animal and man. But it does look more like an animal to me. But why do ancient people draw this on the ceilings of the cave? Who drew it? What does it symbolizes? Where they trying to warn us about something? It all remains as a mystery. til today.

Here’s our guide, explaining to us about this limestone cave.

I remembered telling Jamie about how it would be nice to go for kakaying during the weekend as an outdoor activity instead of checking out malls and cafes. If only Singapore has such beautiful formations… I’m urging you to travel beyond our tiny island and to discover the wonders of nature !

Kayaking through narrow caves.

After lunch at the village, we went for a swim in this “swarm-like natural pool” located in a resort. But there were too many sharp rocks at the bottom of the pool. It can be quite unbearable and dangerous if you happen to step on them as you wade in the pool.

We were all slightly dissapointed that the kayaking tour ended just like that. We paid for a full-day tour but we ended up going back to the hotel early as there was mothing much we could do at the pool.

Since we were back early, we decided to walk to Krabi to catch the sunsets, before the sky started to turn dark. It was quite a sight actually because many tourists were hopping onto the long-tail boats with their knapsnack bags and even luggages!

Ao Nang Beach

The modern traveller going against all odds.

Back at the hotel, we swam in the pool while waiting for the other group of Krabian soldiers to be back. It’s so lovely swimming in the pool with such a gorgeous view!

Dinner time!

This is another fantastic restaurant along the street to Ao Nang beach which serve really good Thai food but the restaurant gets really crowded by 7pm. And when customers starts coming in, the restaurant staff could not seem to handle the orders. We have to wait for quite long before our order came. That’s the down side but food-wise, everything’s else is delicious.