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Published: April 5th 2008
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That can't be comfortable
But you have got to admire her flexibility... She seemed to be really popular with the male monkeys... The next day we woke up, had a quick conference and decided to stay longer as the more we saw of this little place, the more we liked it. Also we had been speaking to our mate Spaz who was working down in Khao Lak on the west coast as a divemaster on a live aboard diving boat about booking us in on a 4-day dive tour of some of the best dive sites in Asia (and the world in fact) and it turned out the earliest available date was mid April, so we had plenty of time. After Prachuap Kiri Kahn we plan to head down the coast by train to a town called Chumpon, then get a boat to an Island called Ko Tao, do a couple of warm up dives there before our live aboard and then head down to Khao Lak.
We consulted our little map of the area and found a national park which did not look far away which looked nice and had wild elephants there. We decided to give it a go. We asked a few people if it was far and they all said it was about 30, 35km. No problem. We
Drinking cows
The dusty roads make you thirsty... popped back to moped hire place to extend by another 24 hours, they put a bit more air in the back tyre and we were off, stopping at the petrol station to fill up and get some water and snacks and we were off. By the time we set off it was already gone 1pm. We decided to stick to the small coastal road for as long as possible to minimise the time spent on the major road (where the types of vehicles included the usual moped/bike/pick up but had additional trucks and buses to spice things up). We sped along the little road through beautiful country side. Passed through a small village where we were heckled by the local drunks, then had to slow down while a big herd of cows ambled across the road in front of us... The roads got worse the further we got from a town and some sections were heavily pot holed which required some skilful weaving to avoid. Other sections were just like one big pot hole and other sections were just sand and dirt. We were like Ewan McGregor at some points as we battled through the sand. The sun was really
Cow parade
We had to slow down to let these bovines across strong and Joe was pleased he had worn his long sleeved t-shirt (to cover his sunburnt shoulders from wearing a vest the previous day) and the helmets protected our heads but any uncovered bits were getting a full on roasting. The backs of both Joe’s hands were burnt by the end of the day from the handle bars and both our legs and feet took a roasting, especially knees. We took a wrong turn and ended up at some posh resort in the middle of nowhere and were given directions back to the main road. We then had about 15kms of major road with lorries, pickups and coaches hurtling by. We had noticed on our bus journeys that it was not unusual for mopeds to speed the wrong way up the hard shoulder if they were only going one exit or a short distance. This was quite amusing when sitting on a bus looking out the window. However, when coming face to face with one on a narrow hard shoulder as a coach hurtles past it suddenly became slightly less funny.
Soon enough we found the town where the park was and our turn off and had already done
over 30km, We were slightly surprised to see the park was another 29km away... But we had come that far and weren't going to stop now. The combination of moped suspension and bad roads was one our bums were not going to let us forget for awhile... The road took us through small towns and farmland with houses and small towns along the way. We passed lots of little roadside eateries but decided to press on as the time was getting on. As we went on the houses became less frequent the deeper into the countryside we got. The mountains that had been away in the distance were soon surrounding us and as we came over the peak of a hill we saw a beautiful lake surrounded by trees and hills and mountains. We came to a sign to the park and were only 10km away now. We continued through the most amazing sights and sounds and smells and soon were rolling up to the gates of the park. There was a sign saying entry 200 baht but we were waved through and pulled up near some buildings that looked vaguely official. A guy came out to greet us then
we went inside and he told us a bit about the park. The main attraction was the wild elephants and he told us we could see them for 750 baht for the jeep, plus 200 baht each park entrance fee. There were no other tourists that day so we could not share the cost of the jeep. It seemed like a lot of money (equivalent of a few nights accommodation) but it was actually less than 15 quid for both of us). Unfortunately we had another logistical problem... It was now close to 3pm and we would not return from seeing the elephants until 6pm by which time it would be getting dark and we didn't fancy the ride home in the dark. We toyed with the idea of seeing the elephants then staying there the night (only 100 baht per bed) but we had nothing with us apart from a camera, a bottle of water and a packet of crisps. No mozzie spray, no long trousers, no ear plugs for Mon (which she can’t sleep without) so unfortunately we decided not to... We consoled ourselves with a guided nature walk. We didn't actually see much nature (couple of wild
Mr Tom and Mr Joe
This was our guide for our little nature walk. orchids, caterpillars, lizard, birds, and centipedes). We did see some elephant tracks and some deer track and a “salt lick” where animals came to... Err... Lick salt. We got eaten by mozzies too. There were also loads of Monks camped out and meditating and getting bitten by mozzies, shouldn't karma have protected them somewhat?? Or perhaps they are building up a credit? Our guide told us as much as he could, but Mr Tom did not speak very much English. At the end of the tour we said thank you in Thai and slipped him a little tip then jumped back on out trusty steed for the trip back. Our bums were already aching as we pulled out the park gates.
We bombed it back down and managed the first 29km back to the main road in less than 30 mins. We were getting low on fuel so stopped off for a fill up then hit the main road again. Long sections were unfinished and some areas were well sketchy... We made it back to our turn off and set a more leisurely pace and were thankful that our bums would not have to endure much more of the
A monks simple little camp
There were lots of monks there mediating and doing other monk stuff. Check out there dual purpose robe/mozzie net. bumpy roads - each big bump now produced a yelp in stereo from us both. Our raw skin would also soon be in the shade, praise bhudda! A quick shower and back to our favourite night market stall for more good spicy food. We had also started to see the same faces around over the last few days and said a few hellos and nodded a few smiles, which was nice. After ice cream, it was off to bed.
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Stasiu&Grazyna
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Hi Monia & Joe
POZDROWIENIA FROM GDANSK