Blogs from Khao Sok NP, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Khao Sok National Park was the reason we visited South West Thailand on this trip. It did not disappoint, although the weather could have been kinder! We decided on a private transfer from Patong to the town of Khlong Sok which took a little over two hours whereas a minubus would have taken four. Money well spent in our eyes. Then we found ourselves in a beautiful riverside cottage-style room at url=https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/Khao%20Sok%20National%20Park%2C%2062%20Khlong%20Sok/entity/CgoI8JH2nIK84NNwEAE?q=river%20and%20jungle%20khao%20sok&g2lb=2502548%2C2503771%2C2503781%2C2504095%2C4258168%2C4270442%2C4284970%2C4291517%2C4306835%2C4597339%2C4718358%2C4723331%2C4757164%2C4814050%2C4816093%2C4816094%2C4816977%2C4826689%2C4842756%2C4849799%2C4850737%2C4852066%2C4856937%2C4860391%2C4861687%2C4862180&hl=en-TH&gl=th&ssta=1&ts=CAESABogCgIaABIaEhQKBwjmDxAKGBESBwjmDxAKGBIYATICEAAqC... read more

Na een goede nachtrust was het tijd om Bangkok te gaan verkennen. We begonnen met een boottocht. Je ziet het in eerste instantie niet, maar er zijn flink wat grachten in Bangkok. Direct aan het water zijn een hele hoop huizen gebouwd die op steigers staan. Sommige zijn onbewoond en helemaal ingezakt. We stopten onderweg bij een tempel waar wij brood kregen om aan de vissen te voeren. Dit ritueel zorgt ervoor dat je naar de hemel gaat. Na de boottocht kwamen we aan bij Wat Arun. 'Wat' is het Thaise woord voor 'tempel'. Het bestond uit een grote, witte soort van toren/piramide wat versierd was met gezichten van demonen en mensen en een ander meer standaard tempel. Bij die tweede hebben we op boeddhistische wijze gebeden naar een gouden beeld van Boeddha. Daarna werden we ... read more

After a week of relaxing on a beach soaking up the sun it was time to seek adventure. Before the sun was barely up we were humping on a mini bus to the inland area of Koh Sok national park renowned to be one of the oldest rain forests in the world The scenery on the way was pretty amazing with tall lime karsts towering up at the side of the road. We are staying in the resort appropriately named Jungle Huts. Our hut is high up reached by a very dodgy flight of steps. Think we'll have to lay off the beer if we want to staty in one piece! The breakfast area of our resort is also raised meaning great views of the mountains covered in early morning mist while eating. The first morning ... read more

Tuesday Our last day here and we boarded the longtail boat at 7.0 to go hunt wild elephants. There is an old elephant that lives alone in a particular area and we went to see if we could find him. We sat in the boat listening and then heard a crashing sound coming through the trees. We listened for a long time hearing him treading down the bamboo breaking it and chewing on it. The elephant was definitely there and finally George did get a glimpse of him. At least me and the kids heard him which we loved. We went back to the floating huts and we went out in the kayaks again to the rope swing and played for a while. The kids had such fun. Then lunch and time to sadly leave and ... read more

Sunday It rained heavily all night and we were up at 7.0 and went to breakfast in our water proofs ( I knew they would come in handy at some point) Then we set off again in the mini bus for the hour drive to Lake Chiew- Larn. We left our cases in the tour operators office and our guide Sam showed us to our longtail boat with driver M. The monsoon started again and was torrential for nearly the whole hour long boat ride all the way into the lake to Phuphawaree Floating Raft Huts. In spite of wearing our water proofs we still got rather wet and we were pleased to arrive. I was thrilled when we were shown to our huts and they were really civilized with our own cold water shower rooms ... read more