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Published: August 4th 2008
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Bamboo Floating Huts
My one was 5th from the right! In the words of a recent apprentice winner....."Now thats what I'm talking about". On my way from Ko Lak back up north towards Bangkok I decided to detour into Khao Sok national park for a night.....four days later and I am just after making my way out of it! Excluding the great wall of China this has been by far and away the nicest place i've been to so far in SEA (South East Asia). The park is about 800sq kilometres in size so I initally went to the main section of the park (with the visitor centre etc) and did a few walks around there but as it is rainy seaon a lot of the walks there were closed to the general public for safety reasons. (Land slides...flash flooding of rivers etc). The park is the native home to tigers, monkeys, gibbons (like big monkeys), snakes as well as many bird varieties.
On my second day I joined up with a tour that went further into the park with a guide. We headed off for two days and a night deep into the rainforest. It was a drive of 70km followed by a 30km boat journey across a lake
before we got to our lodgings for the night. A bamboo house floating on top of the lake. It was very cool indeed. The lake itself is over 165sq km and was formed after they damned a river to build a hydro generating station in the early 1980's. It took over 3 years for the lake to fill to its present depth and as a reult of the damning over a thousand islands were formed within the lake. And because the lake filled up the valley it is up to 100m deep in some places.....and 30m deep where my room was...(I really need to learn to swim!)
Anyway enough about the history lesson....this place was brilliant. I honestly think it was the most remote place I have ever been and it was great. A group a 7 of us headed off with the guide to spend the night there. After we got there they made lunch for us (mouth watering to say the least). After that we took a boat up a river where we got out and did a trek for about two hours. I got soaked as we crossed over a river about 6 or 7 times
Getting There
Enroute the 30km over the lake to our huts at least and my boots were just not tall enough! Oh and I got my first intoducion to leeches as a few of the little buggers attached themselves onto my legs and sucked a fill of blood off me. They are nasty little yokes. As I pulled one of them off my leg he swung his head around and tried to attach himself onto my hand!
We didn't get to see much wildlife bar a tortoise that was caught in some wire on a river bank. We freed him and let him go but if our guide was on his own I think he would have had his own ideas and they would have involved a pot, hot water and simmering for 20 minutes! (His favourite meat was monkey!) We also got to a cave where the river dissapears underground for over a kilometre. You can go through it but Bom, our guide wouldn't bring us through as 8 months ago 6 tourists were killed in it when it started raining while they were walking through and the flash flood trapped them inside.
After dinner we went out on the boats to do a night safari but unforunately again no animals appeared (bar owls!). But what we did see was the most amazing night sky. I don't know have I ever been so far away from light to be able to see the stars so clearly. You could even see the milky way quite clear.
When we got back we had a drink or two (till 4.30 in the morning!) with the boathouse staff. One of them had won something that day and had brought a load of Thai rum back to the boathouse with him. Lets just say they were very generous with the spirits and a good night was had by all.....and going by the 3 Swiss girls (Hello if ye get to read this!) on the tour...Switzerland are a dead cert for winning the eurovision next year!
The 7am start the next morning had to be put back slightly due to the affects of the rum. As I was repacking my bag I couldn'd help but notice that there was a lot of shredded paper in the base of it and I hadn't a clue where it came from. Turns out that at some stage during the night, some creature...a mouse presumably although it could have been anything climbed the wall to where my bag was. He then burrowed a hole right through the fabric of the bag, then through a plastic bag, then through an envelope......and then through.........60 dollars! I could have killed the little bugger if I had got my hands on him! He is definitely a mouse with expensive taste! He didn't go near the other papers in the bag, just went straight for the few american dollars I have been carrying around with me for when I go to Cambodia!
When we eventually did get going we headed off on the boat for another 30 minutes to another island where we did another 2 hour trek before returning to the mainland for some lunch and the journey back to the visitor centre. I jumped off in a small town half way home and grabbed a bus to Surat Thani (which is where I am now) and I have just booked myself onto the night sleeper train to Bangkok. And boy will I sleep! I get into Bangkok at 8am tomorrow morning when I hope to book another train up to Chiang Mai as soon as possible. So in the next 48hours I plan to have travelled 1500km by train! I better get a good book to read! ;-)
Will catch up with you again soon but I better go and wipe some of the dirt off me before I get onto the train and stink my compartment out of it with the smell of dirty feet for the next 10 hours! Pity the fool that is going to be in the bunk below me! :-)
Bye, A.
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Francine
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Khao Sok
Hi we intend to visit Khao Sok for about 6 says in February. I am wondering what tour you took and the cost? thanks for your great blog, cheers Francine