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Published: February 9th 2007
Our train arrived in Surat Thani Early on Saturday morning. After a pretty average breakfast at a local restaurant our group was driven east by songthaew for two hours, until we reached our lodge, just outside Khao Sok National Park. Upon arriving, our tour guide informed us that the admission for entering the park was a very steep 400 Baht. He also told us that once in the park, the only interesting attractions are at least a 4 hour walk from the entrance (ie. an 8 hour round hike). We were somewhat disappointed that we had come all this way and yet we probably wouldn’t even enter the national park. But once we had time to settle in to our accommodation and explore the surrounding area we realised that we were pretty much staying in the middle of the jungle anyway, so we could still say we’ve stayed in the jungle!
We stayed 2 nights at the Morning Mist Resort, which consisted of cute two story bungalows, not far from a clean, clear stream of water. Our ‘resort’ had a really nice open air restaurant, with great views of the surrounding forests and mountains. They served delicious and reasonably priced
Thai food, using home-grown ingredients, so naturally we ate all our meals here during our stay at Khao Sok. As Alicia and many other members of our group quickly discovered, they also made superb and affordable shakes, again with fresh picked fruit.
On the first afternoon we went tubing, which basically just involved sitting in an old tractor tube for several hours and floating down a river. It was very relaxing, and a great way to see the incredible scenery and wildlife. Although our hearts did race a little whenever we floated under snakes, sunbaking in overhanging branches. Unfortunately, our camera isn’t waterproof, so we weren’t able to take any photos, but we certainly wont forget the breathtaking scenery.
On our 2nd day in Khao Sok, the majority of our group awoke early to go elephant riding. Having undertaken this activity several days earlier, we decided to save our Baht and sleep in instead. After a lazy morning and a combined late breakfast and lunch we were taken on a guided walk to a ‘cave temple’, along with some of our other group members. The cave temple wasn’t exceptionally interesting (although it was a welcome change from the
We're Not Cheap...
...We just really like jam sandwiches!traditional Thai temples), but the beautiful scenery and fascinating wildlife on the way made up for it. The cave was considered holy, after a natural spring with crystal clear water was discovered, and the temple was then established.
Luckily, our guide had a keen eye for hidden flora and fauna, or the walk would have been a lot less interesting. The most notable finds included a huge spider which may not look big in the photos, but would have been at least 15cm in length, several nests of large ants which local people use in cooking, but apparently have a very sour taste and a lizard with wings, that looked like a little dragon, although it floated rather than flew. Something we would have found without the guides help though, were the monkeys. At a point not far from our resort where the stream a mountain was a congregation of at least 30 long tailed monkeys. Although they were cute (especially the babies) and very agile (as monkeys are!), we were apprehensive to get too close, as we didn’t want to catch any rare jungle diseases!
After dinner that night, our group headed out to the near by
Tasty!
We thought this was a cheese and ham roll. Apparently its sweetened minced meat. But we wern't brave enough to try it so we're still not sure! reggae bar for a couple of drinks. Unfortunately, as Alicia has repeatedly warned me, drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics for malaria would make me sick. She was right. Our night was cut short, after we left early because I was sick. After vomiting several times, I slept well, and thought I would be fine, only to awake with a constant irregular heart beat and a nauseous stomach. Taking the minibus for Krabi early that morning (with our typically erratic Thai driver) was not a pleasant experience. Boy did I wish I had taken Alicia’s advice. Our time in Khao Sok was short, but apart from my self inflicted illness, very enjoyable and relaxing.
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