Gary, myself, Angie, Brett & Richard had been waiting since last year to do this tour, so finally the day had come. Richard met us at our hotel so we could all go up together.
The tour is held off Phuket Island in Phang Nga province, ample food, water &soft drinks plus transfers are included. The car that picked us up at 12.00pm was amazing, a brand new SsangYong Radius SUV, what luxury, DVD players, reclining seats, definitely first class.
After about 1.5 hrs we arrived at our starting point for the tour. We were given drinks, fresh fruits (and spring rolls that Richard had bought with him). Then it was time to inspect our ATV’s. Every ATV is numbered and there’s a huge checklist to go through and every mark, scratch etc is recorded. Then our lead guide who said to call him A1 as that was the number of his bike called us all over to my ATV to show us gears, brakes, steering, lights etc.
Hey, hang on, something is wrong with my ATV, the steering is not working, after some checking etc we find out my bike is no good and will need to be towed back to Phuket with us when we leave. A1 tells me I can use his ATV and he will use another one!!
The ATV’s we used were new Adly 320cc Quad bikes, they still had the plastic on the seats and much more comfortable and powerful than the ones we had last year for our 2hr Phuket ride. After a safety briefing and a few laps of training around a track we were ready for our adventure. There is also a guide following us in a Rhino ATV loaded up with food esky’s, our bags etc.
The tour was just fantastic we are riding on off road trails past local farms, plantations, through the jungle and remote villages. Then we come to a huge muddy section, A1 goes through first, then I followed him, well at least I thought I did but I ended up bogged. Not again, this happened to me last year as well. Nothing I did could get me out, I tried reversing, I did everything A1 said but all I was doing was digging myself deeper. In the end A1 got on my bike and he couldn’t even get it out. Easy fixed, the boys towed my ATV out!!
Then it was time to go up a steep rise, then as soon as you hit the top a nice little drop down, I had trouble getting to the top, I’m a bit of a chicken but once there all was ok and the excitement really started to grow as this is where we enter the river.
It’s all very safe and the lead guide would yell out what gear to put the bike into etc. The sights are amazing; in places it got quite deep so we had to hug the bank. After quite a while of riding in the water we go back onto land and turn a corner. It just keeps getting better, in front of us in the middle of nowhere is a beautiful waterfall.
In a flash Richard is off his bike and into the water, our guides set up soft drinks, water, fruit, biscuits and chocolates for us, then everyone hits the water. Its absolutely freezing, in my photos of all of us sitting under the waterfall there’s a couple of Richard and one of the guides that looks like the water is only knee deep under the fall, its not, they are standing on huge rocks under the water, its actually very deep. It was just perfect and so refreshing.
Little did we know that our day was going to get even better!!
We are going up to the peak of the mountain. Most of the way up is on a cement road, we would pull over when cars or bikes were coming not that there were many, or when cows, ducks, chickens or goats would decide to cross near us.
At one stage we thought something had happened to Gary, Brett & Richard as we couldn’t see them behind us so A1 got on the walkie talkie to the guide who rides behind everyone. We waited a few minutes and then they all came up alongside us.
Richard had seen a huge scorpion on the road so decided to bring it up to us, for some reason he thought I would like to see it and maybe even hold it!! Yeah right!! Get that thing away from me. So what does he do, puts it on my bike and off he goes. Now I’m stuffed (I think its dead but that’s not the point) if I keep riding, the bumps will make it land in my lap (bet that’s what he wanted to happen) so I had no choice but to very quickly pick it up and throw it off the bike. Ever heard about payback Richard???
Once at the top of the mountain its time for a drink break and time to look around and take photos of the beautiful views, I cant believe how high up we have come, its just fantastic.
Then its time to get into low speed for the descent, we leave the cement road and head back into the jungle, in the distance we can see a huge dark area which we are heading for, it’s a massive rubber tree plantation, an instant cooling effect as the sun cannot get all the way through.
Its only about now that I realize the atv has a Speedo, well I was to busy looking around at all the sights in total awe of everything, we are doing 36 kilometers an hour but that was only for a short distance.
After our descent we once again pass many local villages where children (and their parents) would come running out waving to us. We did not want this tour to end but sadly after 3 hours riding around Phang Nga province we are back at the starting point.
Once again plate after plate of delicious sandwiches, fruits and drinks are bought out.
For the trip home we are in a new Mercedes minibus, again very flash, Gary & Richard have huge footrests and tables in front of them, but us in the back are happy as well as our seats lay right down (plus swivel around). The trailer with the broken ATV is hitched to the back and off we go back to Phuket Island.
I cannot recommend the 3hr Phang Nga Atv tour highly enough, I’ve left it to late to write my report as it’s hard to recall all the magnificent sights we saw, the photos tell the story. It’s really a 6.5 hour day with transfers and we paid 3800baht each, totally worth every cent, I would class this tour as up there with Marks Sailing Tour, something very special that we would do again next trip.
Heres the link to all our ATV photos.
Picasa Web Albums - Cathy - ATV Phang Nga...