Friday, January 3 (Klong Prao area of Koh Chang)

Another day of no definite plans. I walk into town to the only place that seems to be open at 9:00 AM which is the bakery where I enjoy an iced coffee and cinnamon bun. By 10:00 I'm back at my guesthouse. Now what? I really would like to canoe up the river but I'm questioning my canoeing abilities. I've only ever canoed with a partner and am not so convinced I can handle that big "Canadian" canoe on my own and more precisely know that if I should flip the thing there is no way I'll ever turn it over on my own. There are 4 kayaks, one of which is a single person kayak. Hmm.... maybe, just maybe I can manage it despite the fact I've never kayaked before. I manage to get into the kayak without flipping it. Success!

I paddle up the river in the direction Ian told me to paddle, past the elephant stand. I paddle way up the river hoping to find the waterfall I've heard about but never came across it. I did, however, paddle until the river came to a rocky bed of an ending. I look up and there are 3 elephants headed my way. I take in the sight. Fantastic. The elephants and their paying patrons sitting atop them pass by me and I turn in the direction from which I came. Eventually I come upon the elephant stand and all 3 of the elephants are there in the water with the patrons atop them. The elephants bow down into the water and the people fall off the elephants laughing like crazy. The elephant trainers are standing on the back of each elephant tapping the elephants with a cane to get them to do whatever commands they're supposed to be doing with the paying patrons. It was fun to watch. I had a lot of laughs and the people were having a hoot. The one thing I noticed is that elephants like to poop when they're in the water. Yuck! That there turned me off of ever attempting to swim with the elephants.  Paddling through it was enough look-see for me.

I'm quite enjoying kayaking and pass on by my guest house and go to the oceans edge to check out Sunset Beach.

After a few hours on the beach Ian calls me a boat from a restaurant across the river. They paddle over, pick me up and deliver me to their seafood restaurant. After dinner they paddle me back.