Khao Sok National Park - Welcome to Jurassic Park!

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Hope you all enjoyed reading the last blog. Apologies for the mix up on the photos and the descriptions, they were all fine until the blog was published. I think a similar thing is going to happen now with this one, don't think the photos are in the correct order.
Anyway back to this blog.....
Going to Khao Sok National Park is one of the main reasons why I wanted to come to Thailand. Its located in the Surat Thani province - its land area is 739km squared. The park is a remmant of rainforest which is older and more diverse than the Amazon Rainforest! It is truly the most amazing place I've ever been too. I really can't understand why so many tourists bypass it on the way to the islands. They are seriously missing out on one of the worlds wonders!
We decided after lots of discussion to book it as a tour rather than just turn up ourselves. The way the weather was we were really pleased we did.
We met our contact at 7am on the Monday morning in Surat Thani thinking that we would be put on a public bus to get to the park but the chap actually drove us there himself which was nice. He gave us a piece of paper stating that we had to the raft houses first and to pack a small bag for the next couple of days as our big bags would be too heavy for the boat. After lots of scrambling around we managed to get everything together and they then dropped us off at the pier and took our big bags to the resort. I didn't really feel comfortable with leaving the bags but there wasn't anything we could do about it and there wasn't anything valuable in them.
Typically, while we waited at the pier it started raining so we put our bags in black bin bags as they weren't waterproof. Little did we know then that the rain wouldn't stop for 5 days.
The stunning Chiaw Lan Lake was created in 1982 by an enormous shale-clay dam called Ratchaprapha. Our guide Otto told us that there used to be about 900 people living there when they decided to flood their village so they evacuated them to a different area. Scuba divers have said that the temple is still intact below the great lake which has depths of up to 90m!!
We met Mitch and Cindy, a Dutch couple, by the boat and we all helped Otto load the boat with the supplies. We couldn't believe it when the boat didn't start and we were stuck there for an hour until a local managed to fix it. We were all soaked. It took another hour to reach the raft houses, it was an amazing view on the glass like lake but it was so wet I didn't dare get the camera out.
The floating huts were amazing, really cozy and dry! They had a communal area where we ate attached to the side and the toilets were on the hillside on land. There was a resident cat called Johnny who Otto told that 5 years ago a python came on the raft to eat Johnny but after a tremendous fight the cat killed the python. They found the body of the snake next to the cat in the morning and they couldn't believe it. Sadly, in the area pythons have been known to kill human babies, I know I'm not small but I had nightmares that first night!
The biggest surprise was to discover that it was just going to be the four of us for the time at the raft house which was really nice. Mitch and Cindy were great fun. We went swimming that first afternoon and we were really surprised that the water was so warm. It was beautiful!
Otto cooked us a great feast of rice, omlette, and chicken dishes in different Thai sauces. It was delicious.
We spent the evening chatting and trying out Otto's home made whisky! Blimey it was strong!
The following day the rain continued but everyone was still up for doing some exploring so we all piled into the long tail boat and went to a waterfall. When we got to the bak we could see two rows of water coming down the side and Otto just said "oh! - that's our path" Because of all the rain the waterfall had spread out and where we would have climbed along side the water it was now part of it. I expected him to go somewhere else and climb up a different way but he stopped the boat and climbed out. I'm glad I didn't take the camera because we got soaked slipping and sliding our way up the waterfall. He's told us to wear slip on flip flops, I'm glad for those 2 pound pink sandals I bought from Primark the other year! They literally saved me! Andy lost his flip flops twice, and miraculously found them at the bottom of the waterfall each time!
I'm sure it wasn't safe climbing up a waterfall and it could have been quite bad if one of us had fallen and hit our head or something. There was no signal anywhere on the lake.
It was great fun though!! Not many can say they've climbed a waterfall in one of the oldest rainforests when it was raining! Along the way Otto showed us many different types of trees and bugs but the one that I won't forget was the killer tree! It kills other trees really slowly by engulfing them over a long time. The other animals then feed off this killer tree because its bark is so soft. We had never heard of a killer tree before!
After surviving the down bit of the waterfall and Andy finding a leech on him we motored round to another area where there was a bat cave! We all put on life jackets and jumped into the lovely warm lake and swam into the pitch black cave with only a flaslight. It was beautiful in the cave as there was jagged limestone just hanging in points from the ceiling all over and the bats where flying around our heads. It was great.
The rest of the day we did some fishing off the side of the raft, trying to catch one of the many catfish in the lake, which can grow up to 3m in length! Unfortunately, we didn't manage it. We were going to go trekking but Otto said there would be many leeches and it wouldn't be that fun. Because of the rain all the animals were hiding.
We played games that evening, Otto set us up some problem solvers which were quite fun.
The journey back to the pier the following morning was just as wet, it was strange to be back on land because we felt like it had been ages. It took 2 hours to get to Tree Tops, we were sad to see it still raining. At tree tops they showed us to our room, it was amazing with a great tree going through the middle, it was a bit scary climbing the 3 flights of stairs to get up there though! It was here that we first heard of how devastating the floods had become in Southern Thailand. At the moment the death toll stands at about 35 which is just tragic.
Mitch and Cindy went on to Krabi and we met another chap called Rob, also from Holland. There was just us and 2 other Italians in whole hotel! We couldn't believe it, but again it was so nice and peaceful.
That afternoon, we went river tubing, where you sit in a rubber tube and float down the river, occasionally bumping over the rapids. It was really nice and peaceful. I was floating along when I saw a Thai man chopping a tree down on the bank, he saw me and carried on chopping, the tree fell right into the water, inches from me! Bit scary!
After the river tubing we went to a view point to take some photos, a lovely waterfall and to a temple to feed the family of monkeys that live there. They were really funny and tried to pinch the bananas out our hands.
After a lovely nights sleep listening to the crazy noises in the jungle we went elephant trekking, it was really good fun, the elephant walked through a river. It wasn't a flat river though, some had small waterfalls in them that the elephant climbed very gracefully. It was terrifying though - all you have is this rope tied around you and then the elephant.
In the afternoon the hotel dropped the three of us off to meet our trekking guide, he was really funny. Had a really infectious laugh. We really didn't enjoy this walk though, it was horrible and for one reason onely - the leeches. We wore long trousers, walking boots, walking socks tucked into trousers and still we couldn't keep the leeches off us. They were sliming there way through our socks, jumping on our trousers, crawling up us. If there was one or two I could've have handled it but there were 100s! Rob just wore sandals and he had about 6 on each time. We asked to go back early (even the guide was having trouble!). He made us each a bamboo cup, they are really beautiful while we pulled the leeches off us and then we practically ran back. We made it half way so I don't think we did too bad. There was no point in the trekking because we were just spending our time looking down not appreciating where we were at all.
The next morning we were dropped off at the bus stop by the hotel and given our money for the public bus to Phuket. Another resort had come to drop off a couple and he stayed with them while we waited. About half an hour later he rang the bus company and he said that the road water was too high in Surat Thani for the bus to get through so there were no buses coming this way. He said the only way to get to Phuket was to go to another town bus station. He said his friend who goes to the market there will take the four of us to the bus. The chap came a couple of minutes later and took us to the town, he wouldn't accept any money for the journey, he was really lovely. Don't know what we would have done if he hadn't helped us.
We arrived in Phuket and checked into our hotel, Rattana Mansion, its really nice and cheap! The last couple of days we have been exploring Phuket, all of its malls and markets. We had our first ever Thai massages the other night, crikey it was so painful! But felt great after! We went to Patong Beach yesterday which was just how the guidebook described it - Costal Del Sol! It had a really nice beach though, with brilliant waves! I've also spent the last couple of days booking accommadation to Koh Phi Phi, what a nightmare that's been with most places booked up because of Thai New Year next week. Luckily, found somewhere now and it looks really nice so we are excited for tomorrow!
Hope you all well and enjoyed reading. Thinking of you all!
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