Published on Jul, 2021
From the initial contact with Troy via Facebook Messenger with SUP Hire Thailand to our final farewell, this was a great experience. Troy listened to what we wanted to do, made some suggestions and then came up with a suggested itinerary. He even got us a great deal with their partner hotel Royal River Kwai Resort & Spa (also recommended). We went with the suggested itinerary, and we’re pleased with the price and activities. My husband and I are fit and sporty but have never done SUP before, except for a casual paddle a couple times while on a beach vacation. We did a 2 hour intro lesson with Troy himself and then continued on down the River Kwai Yai with Fadel, who is from Yala and speaks Melayu) as our guide to end at our resort. The entire trip was well-planned from pick-up at our resort to take us to the start point to getting off the boards at the river’s edge at our resort. I would recommend bringing a dry bag to keep your phone dry. You will get wet during the lesson because it’s good to practice falling into the water. The other day of activities was a morning bike ride, break back at our resort (lunch not included), afternoon bike ride and then 2 hour SUP paddle from our resort to the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai. With the recent rains, the first bike ride was a fun experience of navigating dirt, mud, and puddles. That morning bike ride was my favorite part. The afternoon bike ride was a route closer to the River Kwai Yai. We crossed the River twice. It was on roads the entire time, so I didn’t enjoy it as much. Our guide made sure we cycled safely with the cars though. If you have kids, I would recommend the morning route we took that went around farmland and on a mix of small roads, dirt roads, and trails. The guides and Troy know how to adjust the experience to the needs of each specific group. Because we showed proficiency with SUP, Troy allowed us to do the final paddle to the Bridge on the River Kwai without a guide. The staff gave us a phone number to call if we had any problems and also waited for us near the midway point to check if we were ok. Both were nice safety measures. They set us up for success, so we didn’t need any help. We got to the Bridge Over the River Kwai right as a train was about to pass. That was really cool! Thank you for taking good care of us, Troy, Fadel, and the team. (P.S. we speak rudimentary Bahasa Melayu, Malaysian language, so we ended up communicating with Fadel using Melayu instead of Thai or English. That was also a great aspect that enhanced our experience).
