“If the river is passable don’t you think we would have adventure tours on the Ping River by now?”
- Hotel Operator

We set off on a wet and gloomy morning from the banks of the hotel “Galare” just after the Mawarat Bridge with the hotel staff waving and wishing us good luck with smiling but skeptical looks incredulous that we were actually embarking on this foolhardy adventure. They could hardly wait to see us turning back to the hotel with our paddles between our legs so that they could tell us “We told you so!”

After a short half an hour paddle we heard the sound of the first dam and Huey and JP paddled ahead to scout it out. JP went through it nonchalantly and gave us the thumbs up and we all went through it elated that if this is the kind of dams they were talking about – then this is going to be a walk in the park! Those Thais must be sissies!

Another half an hour paddle later we encountered our 2^nd dam which was bigger than the 1^st. JP went through it and gave me the go ahead. I took less than a perfect line and broached my kayak going through and had to do a hard low brace to avoid a capsize. PJ was watching me with heart in mouth. “Francis! Your kayak was bent when you hit the concrete abutment!” That was close. The rest followed through without incident.

But we knew that we had the rest of the day cut out for us when we heard the roaring sounds of the 3^rd dam well before we reached it. This time they had used huge irregular size rocks to dam the river and it is hard to predict the various rocks profiles underneath the frothing waves. So we had to haul our fully laden kayaks out of the water over the sharp and slippery rocks by the side of the river taking us a good half an hour after much heaving and grunting.

We were glad to get going after portaging Dam No.3 relishing the cool air and taking in the sights of majestic waterfront homes by the river; fantasying about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. We were rudely awakened to our senses by the thundering sound of Dam No.4 ahead. JP and Huey raced ahead and found a narrow passage at the side of the dam; which we would have to separately slide our boats and ourselves over while hanging onto a piece of rope. It was not even half way near lunch time and we had done 2 tough portages already and dread to think about the damn dams ahead.

We paddled past lovelier riverfront homes and just as we dreaded Dam No.5 loomed ahead. We parked our kayaks and climbed up the concrete steps to the road that runs besides the dam to assess our situation. It soon became clear that the damn dam was too risky to run but how are we going to portage over 800 meters down the road to get to the next safe launching place? Fortunately Huey met some villagers ahead and a group of them came over. It helped when you could speak Thai and especially when you looked desperately tired and forlorned! As we picked up our boats, it started to rain and felt kind of funny carrying your heavy kayak on a wet road! They kind hearted villagers helped us with our kayaks right to the water’s edge and refused to accept any payment from us. We were touched by such helpful souls; still smiling despite the heavy loads and the pouring rain. We felt heartened and our spirits lifted despite being told that there were not 6 dams on the river but 7. Hey! 5 down and 2 to go!

We paddled past floating drums tied together to form cages anchored by the river banks used for fish farming. We seemed to find our mojo as we approached Dam No. 6 calmly. JP scooted ahead and went through it and we all followed without hesitation. It was our smoothest run resembling going through a Class 2 rapids. It felt great to be able to run a dam after the last 3 portages.

Inevitably Dam No.7, supposedly the ‘last’ dam we would encounter, came into view or rather sound; as we could hear the thunderous roar from a distance – but we would not be able to run it from the sound of things. Not when it was nearly 2 to 3 stories high with a long hole at the bottom. JP decided that it would be a good time to break for lunch and made us some hot beverages to “pick us up”. We rested while Huey tried to gather more information chatting with a local guy we met; but what he found out brought us little cheer – there would be another 2 much bigger dams ahead! We entertained thoughts of abandoning the expedition and head back to Chiangmai for Thai food and massage. Just then I spotted a dump truck had pulled up for a rest stop across the road. After talking to the driver, he offered to take us to the next put-in point which would bypass Dam No.8 and where we could stay the night at a Buddhist temple. We jumped at the chance and lifted our kayaks overhead onto the back of the dump truck. On the way we saw Dam No.8 which was even bigger than Dam No.7! We were glad that we were by-passing it. The trucker dropped us off and we had to force some payment on him as he refused to take any money from us for the ride. The temple was further down the river and there was no access for a big truck. It was a struggle getting the kayaks down from the high truck and the Cooper's and Kodiak's hull sustained some damages. As Huey paddled ahead to look for the temple, it started to get dark. I spotted Huey talking to 2 men by the riverbank but no temple in sight but I was too tired to ask questions. Any shelter will do as we were cold and hungry. I dragged my kayak up the muddy river banks and Miriam followed suit; nearly taking a mud bath as she stumbled out of her Kodiak. It had been a long long day.

30th October 2005

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