Tha Chin River Descent 

This kayak tour consists of eleven tracks along the Tha Chin River and covers the whole length of this main waterway. The 439 Km long Tha Chin River branches off from the Chao Phraya River at Makham-Thao Sub-district, Wat Sing District of Chai Nat Province. It flows through Suphanburi, Nakhon Pathom and drains to the Gulf of Thailand at Samut Sakhon Province. The lower river basin is connected to the Mae Klong River basin. Major tributaries of this river are Huai Krasieo and Supanburi Rivers. The Tha Chin River basin is divided into 3 sub-basins. Most of the areas in the river basin are field crop and paddy field. The water resource is utilized mainly for paddy irrigation. Huai Krasieo Dam is the only existing impounding reservoir in the basin. The Tha Chin River basin covers most parts of Supanburi Province.

The Tha Chin River or the River of the Chinese Harbour is known under different regional names. After it splits from Chao Phraya river north of Chai Nat, the waterway is called Makham Thao River. Near Suphan Buri the locals call it the Suphan or Suphan Buri River. Passing Nakhon Pathom the river is called the Nakhon Chai Sri River. Only near its mouth at Samut Sakhon it becomes the Tha Chin River, named after the old name of Samut Sakhon. However, for purposes of discussing the river in its entirety, the name Tha Chin is the conventional choice in most scientific documents.

Distance: 330 Km
Estimated travel time: 11 days (30 Km/day)
Departure: Makham Thao
Arrival: Gulf of Thailand











 

Prologue

After having tackled the Chao Phraya River and two of its southwards flowing tributaries the Noi River and the Lopburi River, there remained only the Tha Chin (Tha Jin) River still to complete. The River of the Chinese Harbour is known under different regional names; after it splits from the Chao Phraya River north of Chai Nat, the waterway is called Makham Thao River, near Suphan Buri the locals call it the Suphan or Suphan Buri River and passing Nakhon Pathom the river is called the Nakhon Chai Si River. It is only near its mouth at Samut Sakhon that it becomes the Tha Chin River, named after the old name of Samut Sakhon. For purposes of discussing the river in its entirety, the name Tha Chin is the conventional choice in most scientific documents, and is what will be used in this text.

The descent of the Tha Chin River was the "main piece of cake" for this year in the period of the rains, starting after Songkran, mid-April. Nearly half of the year was without rain and in many places there was drought, rivers became shallow and water hyacinth proliferated abundantly, making kayaking since April very difficult or nearly impossible. With long holidays abroad at mid-year, it was only half way through July before we talked again about paddling the Tha Chin River. Initially we planned to start off with a 3 days kayaking trip starting the 10th August, however this had to be cancelled due to an unfortunate robbery. In the end we finally managed to hit the waters on 18 August 2013. Here comes our story ... 

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