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Published: March 3rd 2010
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Woke early for an early morning trip into the Khao Sok National Park. We arrived at the entrance and after our guide had paid the entrance fee, we had a look in the visitor centre. We got to see photos and specimens of all the creatures we were inevitably not liable to see in the actual park!! One of the things I love so much about being in a wild environment be it a rainforest or reef, is to see wild animals wandering around on their own turf, with no boundaries, fences, or walls. Sadly this is not always easy to see. This trip so far has been disappointing in terms of getting out to see the wildlife. This morning’s rainforest walk did not live up to expectations. Not sure what my expectations were though…as ever!!
The trail we walked along was wide enough for a car to drive down, and the surrounding forest seemed devoid of life. As we walked our guide pointed out various different plants, and gave us some interesting facts about them. He clicked his fingers at a plant and it instantly retracted its leaves, pretty incredible. An army of ants ran along their own trails
Will i or won't I
A big decision in a humid country across our path, almost like they were crossing an open desert between two rainforests. It was magical to see them trundling over each other.
It was a seriously warm day, very humid, and incredibly upon arriving at a waterfall, and river, no one made the effort to get in the water. Don’t know why really as it did look tempting. I personally was just too lazy, it happens sometimes!! As we walked back along the trail we were accompanied by a macaque monkey, who jumped from branch to branch observing all the sweaty tourists. The monkey looked quite amused by us. We were glad to get back to the resort for a nice cold shower.
Wasn’t sure what to expect from the trip that we had arranged for the afternoon. We were going Tubing! All I knew about tubing was that you are given a big round rubber tube, you sit on it, and then flow down the river. And that is pretty much what happens. But it is seriously good fun. As I looked at the big rubber tube floating in the water at the side of the dock where we were due to jump in, I
couldn’t help but think that getting in to the tube was not going to be very elegant. I thought about various different methods of insertion, but ended up with the full blown jump on to it. Strangely I didn’t fall out. Soon we were all leisurely flowing down the river, in various degrees of disarray. Spinning around, and trying to avoid low hanging branches and protruding rocks from the water, made things more hilarious. Gina and I decided to form a bigger boat and joined forces, which helped us flow easier down the river. Was so relaxing, and so much fun. Our guide who seemed to be enjoying it more than anyone was comical in his attempts to keep his clothes and bag dry. He had a “waterproof bag”, essentially a clear plastic bag, which he precariously juggled around. As he kept falling out of his tube, he’d make such an effort to keep the bag out of the water. Eventually the bag and the guide succumbed to the water. As a healthy flow of river water drained from his bag, we all laughed heartily. He was great entertainment!!
After the tubing, we drove back towards the resort, stopping
at a stall where bananas were sold. Bunches of bananas were bought by the driver and guide, and divided up amongst all the tubers. We were then told to go down to the nearby temple, and bring the bananas as a gift at the temple. We thought this was a strange gift, but decided to just do it anyway. Once we got to the temple we realised why we had bananas. There were monkeys hanging around on the rocky cliff wall behind the temple, looking down intently at our bananas. We didn’t need to be told what to do with the bananas. We began throwing the bananas to the monkeys. Slowly their bravery grew and they descended the roots of some overhanging trees, and eventually they were in a position close enough to actually take the bananas from our hands. Incredible experience and a brilliant way to end the day.
Had a relaxing evening, excellent Thai dinner again, a few Singha beers, and an early night. Woke early at 7am. Gina was awake too. Monsoon rain pitter pattered off the wooden roof, making us pull our blankets closer. As we lay there, we could hear the beautiful squaks and
songs of strange birds, buzzing insects, the river flowing, and gibbons calling out deeper in the Khao Sok NP . The sounds of the jungle were so vibrant, and peaceful. After an hour listening, we rose with a spring in our steps, and headed up for a wonderful breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, toast, tea and orange juice. We sat there in full appreciation of our surroundings. The early morning rains had rejuvenated the air, the plants, and the insects. The jungle felt very alive, even though we were on the outskirts of its soul. Rain water hung in droplets on leaves and flowers as we walked back to our room. The feeling was electric.
I had totally misrepresented how wonderful the Morning Mist Lodge was. It gave its guests comfort, along with a connection and openness to the natural world outside. The restaurant and reception area are completely open to the outside world, our cabin was the outside indoors, even while having a shower we could look out over the palm trees to the shrouded hills of the National Park. When it came to 3pm and we were loading our bags onto the minivan, we realised just how
great our stay here was.
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