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Published: June 16th 2008
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Night market- Krabi
A shot of me eating at the night market in Krabi Town Okay. so finally time for updates!
So after our adventures on the totally commercial Koh Phi Phi Island, we took a boat off to Krabi town. Now, we didn't exactly plan to go wild on the beaches of Krabi, as we were pretty tired from 'beaching' on the infamous phi phi, so it was time for a bit of relaxation and plenty of wandering! When we docked on the Krabi pier, it was more like the size of a small airport then a pier. There were long outdoor hallways which herded the arriving passengers into a swarm of people yelling "Hello taxi!" or "Hello, where you go?" which, by the way, have become two of the most irritating phrases the Thai people have perfected.
At any rate, we hopped onto a Krabi town-headed songthaew (pickup truck with bench seats lining the sides in the back) and it was a good price (something like a dollar or so). After trying to figure out where we were on our map of Krabi town (which we recieved plenty of confused looks from by the locals we asked), and we finally decided to find the water and work our way to the desired
The treehouse!
Here's our treehouse-y abode, though a bit blurry, it's the best I could do with no tripod. guesthouse from there. Krabi town is a sleepy little town, but it has enough to sustain onesself for a long time, and the food at the night market is awesome (and rediculously cheap!). To say the least, Krabi was charming, and worth the stay, but not a place to spend an entire trip to Thailand at.
On a sidenote (sort of), the internet cafe' we used in Krabi town had this guy who, when you were done using the computers, asked if you wanted a banana. I declined the first time, but the second time I obliged him and they turned out to be pretty good bananas. Also, for those who may want to travel through south Thailand in the future... try the massaman curry, you won't regret it.
So when our time in Krabi was done, we hopped on a little bus bound for Khao Sok National Park. When we arrived, the bus driver and his goonies tried to sell us a room at their sub-par jungle-hut-type-things, and after they tried their darndest, finally left us to wander freeley through the park to find accommodations of our own. The map we had of the park (like several
The river- Khao Sok
the river that flowed right next to our jungalow. other maps we've recieved on this trip) had astrange sense of scale... Things on the map looked a lot further away on the map than they were in real life. We were able to walk the entire duration of the park in around a half an hour.
Now, I originally wanted to stay on these floating huts on the lake in the park, but we didn't find out until we got to the park that it was an hour and 1/2 drive by boat to get there. We decided to shop around.
The first place we looked at (after the goonies) was a nice looking set of mountain-side bungalows, but there was one problem and the guy who owned the place made it a dead giveaway. For starters, the guy had what looked like tar inhis slicked-back black hair, it spelled g-r-i-m-e-y. Then he tried to sell us a room the was being payed for by a group of travelers who were gone on a three-day tour through the park. It was absoloutely appalling... he even brought people up with him to clear out the stuff that was in the room. We obviously declined despite his hospitality (and
Lizards!
A Lizard we found in Khao Sok N.P. despicable ways of managing a bungalow village).
Next up was the Jungalows (as Erin and I decided they should be called), which believe it or not, were bungalows in the jungle. But these were special bungalows, as they were also built into trees, and therefore could be called tree houses. Even though it was a little pricey-relatively (26 bucks a night), it was definitely worth the experience! We decided to get the house with the veranda.
Here's a funny story for all you readers. So I was cleaning up the top of our really awesome bug net when Erin decides to check out the bathroom. Next thing I hear is a blood-curdling scream and Erin comes running out of the bathroom and I'm officially freaked out too. Then an extremely fast-moving black shape in front of my eyes... then, nothing. No sound, no more screaming, nothing. I ask Erin what it is, its a bat! So we fan out a little and try to find it (because it was most likely still in the house) and sure enough, in the corner of the room against the wall is the little black bat. Now, call me a scaredy-cat, but
I've never been in close quarters with any sort of bat, and neither Erin or I knew whether it could be a vampire bat or not so we were both scared out of our shells trying to figure out a way to get it out of the room before it bites us. We climb out of the opwn window and wait it out for a little... no sound, no bat coming out into the open. Crap. So we slowly get our stuff and move outside, carefully closing our windows and doors, to get something to eat at the restaurant there. We decide to ask the ladies working there what to do if there's a bat in our room. They scoff it off and say there's bats everywhere, all the time and there's nothing they, or we can do about it! Well, the bat decided to leave later that night (oh, and it was a fruit bat, for all those who care) and we didn't hear from it until the following night when it came in and loudly ate all kinds of fruit on our ceiling (which freaked the crap out of Erin).
Aside from the bat (and a deterrable line of red ants filing through our house), we didn't have any more uncomfortable moments (aside from the bed, which was an uncomfortable moment on its own).
But honestly, I've only really told you guys the bad of the whole thing. These tree houses were absoloutely amazing! with three-tier staircases leading up to the front door, and an all-wood construction, they were absoloute beauties (and definitely the best way to spend the night in the jungle with relative security).
The second day of our time in Khao Sok N.P. we decided to go on the safari hike to see the various waterfalls that the park had. So as we were buying our tickets for the national park, we run into this guy, Larry, who asks if he can tag along for a little while, we oblige him. We go to talk to the guy at the desk (at the main park desk thing) and he basically tells us that half of the park we paid to get into was closed on account of the flash-flood season and we could onyl go see three of the ten (or so) waterfalls. We decide to take Larry on our journeys through the park and find out that he owns his own sailboat, and has sailed for the last 7 years of his life (he's originally from Missouri in the states). The most standing-out things about his achievements (I think) was that he's sailed 5 of the seven seas, and he's on his way to sail the other two! How awesome is that!
Anyways, we hiked to these waterfalls and it turns out that someone forgot to tell us that these were merely 3 foot tall rocks with a little bit of water tinkling down from them. Definitely an anti-climactic moment of the trip. We decided we'd go a little further ('cause the guy there said we could) and found this really awesome path (as opposed to the dirt road that we had hiked up 'till that point) that went through deep jungle areas with all sorts of bamboo shooting up all over the place. We wound up at (alas) not a waterfall, but a really nice, clear freshwater pool which I decided I would swim in (and it was tres refreshing!).
After our half-awesome jungle tour, Larry offered to take us for a ride on his motorbike to some restaurant and we did just that (all three of us)! I had some nice "sweet leave soup" and of course (by now) the obligatory pre-meal fruit shake. We finally had to part ways with the infamous Larry, after many interesting stories of his history were told, and went back to our jungle house to rest up for the mornings' bus ride.
All in all, a great jungle adventure indeed.
Ben
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eden
non-member comment
still alive?
still alive then. starting to be concerned.