a date with a caveman...

Wednesday February 27th

Heather and I have decided we’re living the “SEAsian Kim experience”. Tuesday we checked out of our bungalow guesthouse on Railay and caught a longtail boat back to Krabi Town…leaving the laid-back, beach worshipping culture behind and arriving, a little after lunchtime, back into seaside city life.

We wasted no time in dropping our stuff and searching for “Caveman Mel” – a kayaking day-trip guide who’d been recommended by Kim, Allyson and Chris when we met up with them for dinner in Battambang, Cambodia. Kim had drawn us a little map of Ao Nang and highlighted the restaurant this supposed Caveman worked at…but had also said that everyone knew who he was in the area, so we should just ask around.

Easier said than done. After asking in about 3 tour offices and getting blank stares, we hit the jackpot. A young girl was more than helpful…when I mentioned the name Caveman Mel (took a few tries to get the prononciation correct…) she looked up a number, called, got another number, called that one and was finally rewarded with the number of, supposedly, our Caveman kayaking guide.

Luckily – like I said – we hit the jackpot. What we’d been told of Mel was this;
He was a local guide, who catered to smaller groups interested in educational kayak trips. he worked in a restaurant and was against shrimp farming (huge plus for Heather) and was an expert on Mangles (what would normally be referred to as mangrove swamps by people, like me, who aren’t science buffs). I spoke with Mel on the phone, and he seemed legit, so we booked his tour for today. At 8am this morning, we were picked up by Mel, and proceeded to pick up the other two kayakers to complete our group of 5 for the day.

We pulled up and were immediately inundated with other tourists who were also spending the day kayaking in the mangrove swamps…with larger outfitters. We were confident that we’d chosen a good guide, and were rewarded by the fact that he was attached to no overhead operation. Mel’s apparently been leading trips for over 15 years – he was one of the first to lead kayaking tours in the mangrove swamps and nearby caves (hence – caveman Mel) – and he aims to have smaller groups that can focus on learning about what they’re interested in.
This guy was perfect for us, and we pretty much had all his attention as the other two with us were French Canadians, one of whom had a bit more trouble understanding everything Mel was saying.

Mel – well, this guy’s a character, as so many we’ve met along the way have been. Looking at him, you’d think he was a stereotypical beach bum. He showed up in fisherman pants, a floral Hawaiian-esque button down shirt, had long hair tied back in a half-ponytail, and rocked his Oakley style sunglasses, even at 8am. Throughout the day he’d switch into “caveman” mode, lower his voice and thunder “Attention please, if you want to stay lucky, follow me...welcome to my cave...ha ha ha” and launch into the history of the cave we were heading into or some environmental factoid about the unique ecosystem we were touring. To top it all off, as we were heading back at the end of the kayaking portion of the day (we still had to go to a freshwater stream for swimming and tea, obviously), he started singing Take me home, to the place, I belong, West Virginia, Mountain Momma, take me home, Country Roads…

Heather and I were rolling. Tom, you missed a good show – and we figured you would have thoroughly appreciated the throwback to leader’s school closing ceremonies, courteously of Mel.

We spent about 5 hours total kayaking and exploring caves in the area, had an hour for a banging good lunch, and finished off the day with a swim in a freshwater stream, reminding us of Lake George in its warmer months, before getting hit with a random late afternoon rainstorm. Heather and I were on cloud nine, especially me as this was the first physical activity, other than reading on the beach, I’ve done since getting sick. And to top it off, we were kayaking in the mangles of Krabi, Thailand…as we’ve done in so many instances, heather and I just kept looking at each other and saying how amazing everything was.

So, thank you to Kim, Allyson and Chris for the recommendation (and the insistence on kayaking with Mel above all others).

And don’t think I didn’t ask Mel for his autograph on his brochure at the end of the day. Apparently, I’m not the first to ask. Regardless…if anyone’s ever in Southern Thailand and wants to kayak among mangroves – I’ve got a guy for you to call.