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After quite a good sleep on the not so comfortable looking nightboat (well, the toilet was awful) we arrive in Suratthani. Then: wait, taxi to other waiting place, wait, taxi to travel agency where we supposed to book accomodation for Khao Sok(which we didnt), wait and then finally minibus to Khao Sok National Park - one of the oldest, evergreen rainforests in the world.
As we arrive we get a big hello: Oh, come and look my bungalow, very cheap and close to river. Around 4 Thai hotel owners (or agents working for the hotel owners) are all over us. Its low season here at the moment and the start of the wet season. So of course everyone is fighting for tourists... We decide to have a can of ice coffee first and then go and have a look ourselves where we want to stay. We check out a few places, all nice and rather cheap and choose a quite spacious bungalow built on a tree trunk. The first two days we spent exploring the area. Its very beautiful. Everything so green (yeah, I know its the rainforest but still amazing how beautiful mother earth is) and all the jungle noises...
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Lime stone formations and view from the restaurantjust stunning. We also go for a hike in the national park where we see monkeys, lizards, all sorts of birds and... leeches. We both have a few on our feet and I (wearing long trousers and not checking regularly find a big massive fat very ugly leech on my leg). Nice! After this encounter our walking pace changes and we are quite quickly back at the bungalow. The kayaking tour down the Sok river which we do the day after is a real highlight. Our guide Kiem spots probably every single animal on the trees or in the river from a 20 metre distance. We see about 10 snakes, very ugly big spiders, monitor lizards, kingfishers etc. Additionally he knows everything about the trees, fruits and what you can make out of it... for example a bong out of bamboo (also finished within 5 minutes) 😉. Hes an amazing guide and we have a great time.
The evenings we spend with the Thais from our resort and Anne, who came with us from Koh Tao and some other travellers playing cards, playing guitar and singing songs. Very nice.
We also go on an overnight tour to Cheow Larn Lake.
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hiking in the National Park The lake was formed by the damming and flooding of a valley of dense rainforest in 1982. It covers an area of 180sq kilometres and is around 120 metres deep at its deepest point. To get to our floating bungalow for the night we have to go on a taxi boat for an hour. Fantastic views on the way and also quite a bit of rain. The bungalows are very basic but also very cool. Unfortunately we have a very unenthusiastic guide who we harldy see for the rest of the trip as sleeping seemed to be far more exciting for him. The first day at the lake we go on a little kayak tour exploring the area close by and then on a hike to a cave. Through the cave however runs a river and as there had been a lot of rain the last few days it has a lot of water. Thus, we almost have to swim through the cave which is also quite thrilling as some other guys who we met before had seen a king cobra in the cave recently. However half way through our non speaking Thai guides decide it would be too dangerous
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i dont know what spider that is, but its a big one to continue due to the high water level. Well fair enough I say, especially as we hear later from another couple that there had been already some fatal accidents in this cave due to the quickly rising water level and flash flooding. So we return back to the bungalow, as always fighting leeches and trying not to stumble or slip in the mud. The evening we spend playing Thai games and I keep myself busy by finding a bee which can sting me in my finger.
The next day we are supposed to get up at 7 to see the wildlife early in the morning. Everyone there but our guide is still sleeping. He shows up at 8:30 not in the mood to leave: "oh, you must be hungry, breakfast now, tour maybe later." So after a few complaints he agrees to go on the boat but well, a bit too late for the early morning atmosphere. In the afternoon we are supposed to hike to a viewpoint. We are already quite surprised that we have lunch before we go (probably not the best condition to go hiking with half a kilo of rice in your tummy). We then climb
up a steep hill only wearing sneakers or sandals with thousands of leeches and only mud on the ground and our guide half a kilometre away from the rest of the group ("sorry, dont want to stop as leeches will bite me"). Well, it would have been worth to in mud and ripping off leeches from our legs to enjoy a nice view but, of course there is a but: There was no viewpoint. Nothing. Well, ok, you could see through the trees, but that was it. So, that meant, all the way back down which is even harder then climbing up. So we were more sliding or falling down the hill as walking. In the end everyone survived and no one had more injuries than a few scratches and half a litre loss of blood due to leech bites.
So after all those exciting experiences in the jungle its soon time for us to move on. Additionally, it started raining a lot the last day and we have to renew our visa (which expires after 4 weeks). So next quick stop will be Burma before we go back down South. As always we will keep you posted
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