Khao Lak/Khao Sok National Park

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One of the things we had read about and saw pictures of before the trip was Khao Sok National Park, it looked amazing so we had to fit it in. We booked a 3 day, 2 night tour which started at about noon in the park, which is 3 hours north of Phuket. Rather than fitting in an early flight and drive out, we chose to break it up a bit and stay a night at Khao Lak, which is about an hour and a half north of Phuket.

We arranged a pickup with our hotel, and were beachside by about noon, at what we later concluded was the best beach on our trip. The water was probably 80 degrees, nice white sand and relatively uncrowded. We spent the afternoon on the beach and watched the sunset before heading into the little town for supper. Rather than a sit down meal, we bought a couple beer from a supermarket, got some pad thai and spring rolls from the stand, and finished with some banana with chocolate pancakes (a staple of the diet for the rest of the trip) for dessert. We wandered around the shops for a bit, but quickly concluded that the prices were a lot higher now that we were in the heart of Thailand tourism in the south. Though Melissa did find completed Pandora bracelets selling for 550 baht ($18), which would probably cost $500 in Canada.

Feb 12 - We started the day with breakfast in our room with some food that we picked up at the supermarket the night before, and waited for our 9am transfer to the start of the tour. Our driver was quite a character, as he had his minibus equipped with a police horn, ambulance horn, and megaphone that he felt the need to set off anytime we came close to people. I thought we were done though when he stopped at the side of the road to blast his horn and chat with a couple people, and couldn't get the van started again because the bloody system probably drains the battery down... Anyway, he got it going and we arrived at Art's Riverview Lodge at about 10:30am after a 20 minute drive through the jungle from the main road.

Upon check in, we were specifically told to make sure we kept the windows and doors closed, so that the monkeys can't get in... Our cabin was a true treehouse, 20 feet off the ground, with no air conditioning, very few lights, cold water only, and mosquito nets around the bed. Pretty basic, but pretty cool at the same time.
Lunch was provided at the lodge's restaurant, and we spend the first part of the afternoon lounging on our deck as we both weren't feeling particularly great. In the late afternoon, we loaded up on the lodge's truck with a German man and his son, and headed off for a canoe trip. Within about 5 minutes of starting, one of the guides point out a mango snake in a tree overhanging the river, which I thought was great, Melissa not so much. Fortunately, it was the only snake we would see all trip. The scenery was pretty nice, but because it was dry season, the river was really low, and the guide had to get out every few minutes to push us off of some rocks.
After the canoe trip, we headed back to the lodge close to dusk, where we were pleasantly greeted by about 10 or so monkeys on the path to get to our cabin. The little boy with us thought it was funny, until he stamped his foot close to one of them and it turned around and bared his teeth at the kid. We maneuvered our way around them, only to be greeted by another one sitting at the top railing on our cabin.
We had dinner at the lodge, then set up our mosquito protection centre consisting of bug spray, some mosquito coils we bought, and the nets over the bed. By about 10pm, it had only cooled off to about 27 degrees inside the treehouse, so sleeping was a little tough.

Feb 13 We started the day with an elephant ride up to a small waterfall in the jungle. Not sure if this was a sign of our weight, but we were given the biggest elephant they had, he was huge. Now I had ridden an elephant before on my last trip to Thailand, so I wasn't real pumped about it, but it was a must do for Melissa. She concluded that although not real comfortable, elephants are much better than camels. After the ride was over, you can buy some plantains to feed the elephants and of course have the option to buy a picture they take of you when you first get on. Fortunately our mahout (elephant driver) offered to take some pictures for us on the trail.
After lunch we checked out of the hotel and were transferred to the pier at Cheow Lan Lake. We were met by a longtail boat driver and taken to our next night's "hotel". The lake is actually a man-made lake created in 1980 when the river was dammed for a hydro-electric plant. The result is amazing limestone cliffs surrounding the emerald blue waters, easily the most scenic location we were at in our trip. To house the tourist taking in the lake, they have built a number of floating guesthouses that you can rent for the night. We thought the treehouse was basic, these take it a next step.
The rafthouse is basically big enough to have a mattress on the floor, and a mosquito net, and that's all there is. The bathroom is a communal one just up the hill on land, and there is a floating dinner hall in the middle of the huts. They turn on the generator to give you some electricity after the sun sets, and turn it off when people go to bed. With our hut, we both couldn't be on one corner at the same time, or it would sink too far into the lake...
After checking in and relaxing for a bit, we joined up with a British couple living in Thailand, the guy's father, and his friend for an evening kayak trip. Due to the fact that neither of us had ever been on a kayak before, the guide took us on the 3 person one. After kayaking we returned to a group supper of fish, curry, rice and veggies - absolutely delicious. Melissa had a bit of a panic moment when she went to the bathroom before bed, closed the door, and on the inside of the door saw the biggest spider she'd ever seen. Needless to say that was her last trip to the bathroom that evening.

Feb. 14 - We started the day at 7am with a morning longtail boat cruise to see some of the wildlife. Some birds and more monkeys were spotted, this time the short tailed macaque rather than the long tail version at the lodge. We returned for some breakfast (pineapple pancakes this time, they were out of bananas), then packed up and headed off with the guide for our "jungle walk".
After a 30 minute walk through the jungle and up one of the hills, we arrived at a recently discovered cave.
The first part of the cave was okay, as there was some light, and some neat limestone formations. However, as we continued along deeper into the cave, it became pitch black, the floor was completed covered in bat guano, and there were absolutely massive spiders all over the floors and walls (as big as my hand). Add to this that there were these crickets that would jump onto your ankles, little bugs that flew all over your hands if you were holding the flashlight and when we got closer to the end of the cave, the noise from the bats was so loud you couldn't hear each other talk. I thought Melissa was going to have a heart attack. She said she didn't want to be there, but when we turned around to leave and saw pitch black, she didn't want to go without the guide. To make matters worse, the Brits were determined to find a snake in the cave, so the guide was taking longer trying to find one for them. Of course this happened after Melissa had already wiped out, scraped her elbow and had red clay all over her pants because it was so humid and slippery. Happy Valentines Day!!
After we got out of the cave, Melissa's heartbeat returned to normal, we hiked down to a little floating restaurant where we had some lunch, then met our longtail boat and headed back to the pier for our transfer to Railay.
We definitely would recommend the Chaew Lan Lake and Khao Sok tour to anybody going to Thailand, but you may want to pass on the jungle hike.

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Photos

Khao Sok National Park
Our ride

Cave
This guy was about the size of my hand

Khao Sok National Park
Viewpoint along the drive to the lodge

Art's River view lodge
The restaurant/lobby