The listed price for this activity was 2300 baht if I remember correctly, but we managed to get it down to 1300 baht. Apparently, the other people who were with us on the trip said they got their package, for 9km of white water rafting, for 1000 baht! It was rather incredible how low low can go so if you never bargain, you'll never know!
For this trip we caught the minibus at 8AM and it was a couple of hours to this Buddha Cave that had tonnes of monkeys hanging around. It was incredible to see the monkeys being so comfortable with humans and also the locals selling various fruit out in the open for tourists to feed the monkeys with. The monkeys did not dare to go near any of the stalls! I regretted not going into the cave though, cos it required a bit of money and I didn't have any with me!
About half an hour later we reached the place and they rushed us and shepherded us hurriedly to keep our stuff in the lockers and listen to the briefing. Before we realised we were life-jacketed, helmeted and seated on the raft with a guy from Kuwait. He was nice, spoke fantastic English but possibly not the outdoorsy type. The water was ice-cold and we had some splashed on us by our impossibly cheerful guides and fellow overly-enthusiastic holiday-makers.
The entire rafting experience took roughly one hour, with our Captain joking merrily with us all the time and steering us clear of dangerous-looking rocks or when we got stuck in-between them. They even pointed out snakes hanging from the trees above us. It was a bit scary when Sequeena lost her balance and fell into the river (the chances are very slim though so there's really nothing to be scared of). She drifted for awhile before another raft picked her up and was fine other than a knock just below her knee.
We also had a guide named Jack. Initially I thought he was named "Chek". His voice was loud and hoarse. He looked young but was possibly even younger. And he called himself, "Chek! Chek Sparrow!" Of course I looked incredulously at him, repeated his name and laughed a little before he stopped me and told me in all seriousness, "My name is really Chek!"
When we came back we had lunch, before heading off the the waterfall. They drove us up there and with a 15 minute walk, we were at the waterfall. It. Was. Freezing. Also I wished I had the guts to jump from this mini-cliff into the center of it all but I didn't. I just need people to egg me on to do stupid things like this with me and when I know there's no backing down, and I had no choice but to do it, I would! I did however, try to get close to the inside of the waterfall and to get the water to pound my back like a masseuse who used to be a sumo wrestler but I failed at that! The force was just too strong. According to the locals I had to get in near enough before turning my back on it and just going backwards. But I just couldn't get near enough! Also the rocks at the bottom were slippery. I found it hard to get a grip on anything!
But well, it was fun and at least I tried!!
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