Khao Sok National Park

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Khao Sok, a beautiful national park full of limestone pinnacles, waterfalls and the sounds of Gibbon calls was our next stop in southern Thailand. The distance from Krabi wasn't so great and we mistakenly believed it was to be a straightforward journey and so set off at midday. This was the problem, we arrived 20mins late for the last bus to Khao Sok and as we didn't fancy sleeping on the junction of 2 rather busy motorways we considered our options and plumped for a bus to Takua Pa.

This unplanned detour didn't set things back too badly and the following morning, bright and early this time, we were on the brief 2hr bus to the lush green jungle of Khao Sok.

We knew it was possible to camp inside the park grounds and so we walked the nigh on 2km from the bus stop to the visitors centre in the stifling noon heat. We get plenty of exercise out here! Along the
narrow road we passed an unexpectedly large amount of guesthouses, mini marts, restaurants and massage parlours before reaching the entrance gates. Plenty to check out besides forest it seemed.

Rubbing our aching shoulders we finally reached the park entrance, only to find out that a school camp and separately a ranger training weekend were set up at the campsite. As the lady on the gate put it
"it might be a bit noisy".

Time to re-evaluate...We checked out all available camping options up and down the street but in the end decided that a few kids and army types weren't going to stop us from staying where we wanted.
Like most National Parks you have to pay a daily entrance fee but for campers it was 5 days entry for the price of 1, excellent! And as I reclaimed my student status it was a half price special.

Once inside the boundaries we finally got more than a distant hillside glimpse of the giant bamboo and tall white-barked trees that populate this forest, and the many well marked trails that lead off into it.
Steering clear of the other groups of tents we finally dropped our rucksacks beside a pretty stream not far from the conveniences and pitched our trusty tent.

Not much more was accomplished that day except purchasing a cool beer and enjoying it by the shallow river swatting away the pesky mosquitoes that emerged with a vengeance at sunset. Fortunately it was cooler in this shady glade and we were actually able to sleep without asphyxiating.

We were woken initially by the animated chanting and cheering of the teams of children psyching themselves up for a day in the jungle, but happily for us they soon dispersed and we were left with the gentle gurgle of the stream and the morning melodies of unusual birds.

A couple of handfuls of muesli for a budget breakfast and we were off on the forest trails again. Along the 4.5km trail to Wang Yao swimming lake we marveled at the incredible height and verality of the bamboo
plants here, we also kept a keen eye out for wild elephants, after spotting their dung on the path we were even more beady-eyed. We reached the calm freshwater lake in ... hours having worked up
quite a sweat, we'd seen no elephants but among other flora and fauna lots of beautiful butterflies some as big as birds and vividly coloured.

As Lewi swam braving the possible leaches, I paddled at the edge and peered up into the highest trees for a glimpse of the nearby gibbons, whose haunting beautiful voices we'd heard since setting out this
morning. We ate a pack of biscuits at the waterside and watched a luminous green dragonfly flying around our heads.

It had been a boiling hot day and as the sun crept towards the west there was no let up, in fact it got hotter and increasingly humid. A storm was rumbling around us, so we trekked back to our camp passing a few trickling waterfalls on the way.

As the storm brewed I went to make use of the less than perfect shower block. Tonight I had the company of a few dozen ants a couple of roaches and a frog, it was an interesting shower!

We had slipped into an evening Chang by the river routine and tonight was no different, we followed the tasty beverage down with a delicious dinner at Thai Herb, one of the many eateries in this one street town. Taro root soup a local dish went perfectly with tempura vegetables and a red curry, such wonderful spice and flavours. It disappeared in seconds.

Later that night as I lay in our tent I peered out of the mosi netted door at the moon so nearly full, with bats flying between the branches of the overhead trees.

On our next day we decided to explore further afield and so rented ourselves a motorbike and set off for Cheow Lan lake and reservoir. This, like our other moto journeys, turned out to be a bit of a marathon. It was 70km to the damn and huge man-made lake, an impressive construction which was purposefully flooded to fill a valley turning hilltops into hundreds of small jagged islands. We admired it's beauty and enormity from a selection of viewpoints but not from the water as boats were extortionately priced. On our way around the lake we passed a fishing market, and there on the slipway having just being brought
off one of the boats, a massive fish of some kind propped up on a cart. We enjoyed a crisp sandwich overlooking the damn, yummy, and then began the windswept drive back.

As we cruised along the long straight roads we saw a turning for a cool springs, so took it. Travelling an extra 30km to see a bubbling mud pool wasn't quite what we'd pictured having so enjoyed the hot
springs in Nepal. But it was pretty amazing to think those bubbles of air have risen up from the centre of the earth. Our countryside excursion didn't end there, we sheltered from a sudden downpour at a
ranger station and helped ourselves to their tea and tv, and then ventured into a cave complex by a river where many Buddha statues and fish were amassed. We hit the long straight roads again to find the bike not behaving properly the back tyre was pancake flat. Fortunately a garage was nearby and speedy mechanics repaired it in no time, it did mean however that our days hire suddenly got more expensive. Never mind.

It had been a long busy day once again, as all our days seem to be. So on our last day in Khao Sok we treated ourselves to a traditional Thai massage. It is a powerful kneading massage which works your joints as well as muscles and leaves you relaxed to the point of exhaustion (or maybe that was just us!)

To Lewi's pleasure one of the bars near the river showed Saturdays premiership matches live so along with an avid Aussie couple we watched The Beautiful Game amongst the most Beautiful surroundings.

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