Expedition 2003: kayaking and rafting tour
to Laos and Cambodia

PaddleAsia is offering an incredible series of historic journeys starting on August 23rd, 2003.  Absolutely no experience is needed.  From the whitewater rivers of southern Laos to rivers of the Cardamom mountains of southern Cambodia, this will be a wonderful chance for you to discover this part of SE Asia in the most personal and culturally enlightening method possible, by traveling down waterways.  Visiting villages by water instead of land offers a very different, a very comfortable, and a special point of view.

Date: August 23rd to August 31st

The rivers of south Laos offer stunning natural scenery as well as many different ethnic groups. Wildlife, especially exotic tropical birds such as hornbills and parrots, is fairly abundant.

Our first river is the Xenamnoy.  It’s set in a deep valley with a type of forest that is very different from the jungle regions north of here.  There are also a bunch of spectacular waterfalls!  We’ll visit some and, if the water level is just right, possibly run one of the smaller one in our raft.  Those who don’t want or need the adrenaline buzz can stand on the banks and take photos. The rapids on these rivers are a bit bigger than those on the rivers we’ve already seen.

The next river is the Xekong.  It eventually flows all the way into Cambodia.  We’ll start out at a very remote village.  It’s about seventy kilometers from the town of Xekong and we’ll have to take a serious off-road vehicle to get there.  We'll pass through forests which are noticeably different from those of northern Lao.  We'll see many new species of trees.

Once we reach the village, we’ll take a break, then set out.  We’ve seen flocks of parrots, hornbills, and a wide variety of other tropical birds on this river.  Its inaccessibility and ruggedness surely must influence the abundance of wildlife here.

We’ll pass through several ethnic groups.  Each group has its own special village design.  That’s one way of telling who they are.  Each village has its own dialect and style of clothing.  We will visit many of these villages and spend nights in some of them.

Our goal is to reach Attapheu, a distinctive town known for the abundance of wildlife surrounding it as well as for its own beauty.  From Attapheu, we’ll head south toward the Cambodian border.

Date: September 1st to September 9th

Northern Cambodia is our next target.  Gone are the days when you have to worry about getting robbed by bandits.  Tourism will be the saving grace for this formerly war torn country.  Cambodia is now a safe and open land in need of income from tourism.

This will be our first time in this part of Cambodia!  We have some wonderful contacts who are helping us set this part of our multi-destination expedition, but it’s virgin area for paddling.

We’ll paddle down the Xekong and sections of the Mekong.  There is a very good chance that we’ll see the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins in one area of the Mekong.  There is also a good chance of seeing some endangered wildlife.

Date: September 11th to September 19th

Our last destination is southwestern Cambodia.  We’ve found some wonderful rivers in this region.  They range from mild to mildly wild.  Each is different.  There’s some exciting and challenging bits of road travel necessary to access the different rivers, but that’s all part of the thrill.  What an amazing place Cambodia is.  The people are charming, though desperately impoverished.  Still, they would give you the shirt off of their back.

One river we’ll run offers continuous rapids.  The rapids range from Class II to Class IV.  The boulder-strewn river is set in a valley with an access road just up from the river.  This will be a one day trip.  The river ends up in a tidal saltwater river.  The town, Kampot, offers nice accommodations and plenty of places to eat. 

The next location is Sihanoukville.  A bustling port town, Sihanoukville offers splendid accommodations and eateries.   It also offers a river which starts at some falls and ends in a national preserve mangrove forest.  This one day trip begins in the hills and finishes in the sea!  

From there, we’ll take a ferryboat ride to Ko Kong.  This town is right on the border with Thailand.  A bridge is under construction.  Unfortunately, Thais will most likely be coming over to visit the casinos as gambling is illegal in Thailand.  On the other hand, the Cardamom Mountains, the largest area of remaining primary jungle in SE Asia also ends near Ko Kong.  This is why we’ll be there.  The Stung Mumbai  river starts at the top of one of the mountains and rushes all the way down to a mangrove forest.  This is a world-class river!  It’s has the scenery, the rapids, and it’s in mysterious Cambodia… enough said.

After Ko Kong, we’ll head back to Phnom Penh, then onto Siem Reap.  You’ll have the option of visiting Angkor Wat or visiting the Tonle Sap (great lake).  For a very special cultural experience, we can visit a small fishing village with a school that I was fortunate enough to visit on my last journey to this region.  The students are extremely interested in learning English.  It’s obvious that they are studying hard.  You will have the opportunity to teach an English class to these lovely students.  It will be one of the most touching things you’ve ever done.  It’s a lovely way to interact with the beautiful people of this famous part of Cambodia.

You can join each trip as we work our way down from southern Laos down to southern Cambodia, or you can pick and choose specific sections.  Each has it’s own very special characteristics and charm; each is significantly different from the others; each will be a memorable experience...