Thailand tour operator

PaddleAsia is the result of over 32 years of kayaking experience and a lifetime of love for the great outdoors. Founder and Director, Dave Williams invites you to experience the wonderful world of exploring nature's delights in the comfort and convenience of a traditional kayak.

No experience is necessary for most of our trips. For most trips, all you need is a sense of adventure and a desire to try something new. Most of our guests have either never paddled before or haven't paddled since childhood. You can do it! And, perhaps most importantly, our all-Thai staff will make your tour safe, fun, educational and enjoyable. They are the best of the best when it comes to guides and service.

Dave - Director, instructor and founder

So there I was, working at a factory. After thirty-six years, I was still caught up with the same boring dream that most of us share... a dream that some day, a long, long time from now, I'll be able to not work. I decided to risk it all to follow my dream and work at something that matters more to me than anything else - Nature.

Dave Williams is a lifelong naturalist. When not in school, Dave would be outdoors. He has an intense love for nature and all forms of life.

He was born in Roswell, New Mexico a few years after the famous spaceship crash. He lived in Florida, Indiana, Hawaii, and Virginia. He moved from Virginia and headed for the tropics in early 1993. Since then he has lived in Thailand in both Phuket and Krabi.

Dave started paddling in 1978 and has paddled more than half his life. Dave lives to paddle. He has paddled some of the most treacherous rivers in North America and has a great deal of kayaking experience. He has, of course, traveled and paddled extensively in Thailand and in the rivers of Laos.

Dave is a lifelong student of natural history, ornithology, biology, and botany. He has a very broad knowledge of the birds of Thailand and a good working knowledge of the mangroves and other plants of Thailand. Wild edible and medicinal plants are of extreme interest to him. He’s also interested in all facets of seamanship, oceanography and survival skills.

Dave has raced both mountain bikes and road bikes at a highly competitive level in the past. He has also spent a lot of time rock climbing. Fitness and nutrition has been a big part of Dave's life since he was a teenager.

Tom comes from Phatthalung Province in Southern Thailand. He has a unversity degree in tourism from Ratchapat University, graduating in 1997. He has been in the tourism industry 1997. CPR, First Aid, Swimming and several touch-up first aid courses since then.

He loves taking care of people and showing them the wonders of his country. His personality is one of his many strong points. Guests find having Tom lead them to be both fun and educational.

Moo was born and raised in Bangkok. Moo originally came from extreme poverty. She taught herself English and over the recent past, she has taught herself to read and write English. Moo is a success story!

She moved to Phuket over a decade ago. She has a love for life that is beyond words. For some strange reason, she's always happy...

Moo and Dave have been married since 1993. They live outside of Phuket Town with daughter Mook ('Pearl' in Thai), granny and their five pampered dogs and three cats.

Moo is our PR person, a guide, tour leader, cooks at times and helps with trip planning and coordinating. If Moo is on your trip, you'll be taken very good care of.

Our other guides are Kitti (left) and Run (right). Both Kitti and Run have been in the paddling industry for over a decade. Both have wonderful personalities with a strong desire to make sure that your valuable vaction time is both safe and extremely fun.

Kitti is from Nakon Sri Thammarak, a big Thai town on the east side of the Malay Peninsula.

Run was born and raised on Ko Yao Noi in Phang Nga Bay. Run is also our mountain biking guide.

When you're on our Phang Nga Bay trip, the guy who runs our company longtail motorboat is Bang Hab (Bang is a polite term for a Thai Muslim). We met Bang Hab through the Homestay Project on Ko Yao Noi. We immediately hired him to work with us as we could tell that he was a special man.

Bang Hab used to be a subsistance fisherman. Now he's gainfully employed in the tourism business with us and fully realizes the value of protecting the environment in his area. He was born and raised on Ko Yao Noi in Phang Nga Bay. He gets it.

In Tarutao National Park we support a couple of the local sea gypsies. Cabu is a very friendly guy and we fell in love with him right away. He does all of our transfers once we're on the outer islands and he has a helper too. The two of them shoot ahead of us and set up our comfortable camps.

The sea gypsies are at the bottom of the pecking order in Thai society. We strongly believe in helping nice people who work hard and so we have hired Cabu to be our longtail boat skipper when we're in Tarutao. You'll love Cabu's friendly and helpful ways.

We no longer visit Taruato due to mass tourism and the government's lack of environmental responsibility in protecting this formerly stunning destination, but if you find yourself in that area, look up Cabu and hire his longtail. We still care deeply for him and his sea gypsy friends.