Waterlogged

Finally a unique title! But at the expense of copious amount of rain today. The morning started out promising for our overnight excursion to Cheow Lan Lake but the rain started to come, and stayed more than the previous two days. Our long tail boat didn’t use a cover and when I later asked if they could put it up, they said no because of the wind, which I’m doubtful about since we saw other boats that had theirs on.

The nature here is without a doubt stunning and would be even more so in the dry season with blue skies, but the misty clouds adds an allure if you can deal with the rain. Bring a poncho. Bring water shoes.

After lunch, we checked into our raft houses for the night. They’re cute, basic though you can upgrade to as comfortable as you want, but keep in mind because it’s an experience the prices are higher than expected.

Our after lunch activity included 3 stops. Unfortunately we were hammered with rain for much of it (and the boat had no cover in place). First up was a short jungle hike when the rains came down and the paths started to muddy. It was a brisk walk. 2nd stop was Pra Kai Perth Caves, a one way system underground. It was unlit so we used head torches. In addition to the seeing the formations inside, there were also a couple of spiders and baby bats.

When we returned to the boat, we were told to remove our shoes, for reasons we’re still trying to understand the next day as our shoes were already wet and getting wetter being on the open boat. One thought was the boat driver didn’t want any mud on the boat, perhaps he’d just cleaned it but that seems odd considering the weather. The last stop was a viewpoint of the 3 rocks which is the symbol of the lake.

Once back the raft houses, we tried to dry our clothes and shoes as best we could but I’d resigned to the fact that they would be (and were) still wet in the morning.

The evening wasn’t as peaceful as we thought as there was a big group staying here as well. I have a funny feeling it was a yolo group from Contiki given the size of the group and the flowing alcohol.Read more