Khao Sok
My new year’s vacation started on December 25, which gave me
a few more days off than most. Karima wasn’t
off until December 28, so I had a few days before I would meet her.
Seeing as all my other friends were also still working, I decided it was time
to go on another solo adventure! Hooray! I decided that I would go to Khao Sok
National Park: it was near where I would meet Karima, and it was a place I very
much wanted to go. It is described as a jungle that is much the same now as it
was 160 million years ago. The park is also full of spectacular limestone
cliffs and mountains. The one deterrent I had was that Khao Sok is famous for
the existence of land leeches. Leeches are my phobia, but I wasn’t going to let
that get in my way...much.
I left the evening of December 24 – I caught a bus from the
Sai Tai Mai bus station headed to Surat Thani, a city in southern Thailand.
From there I had to catch another more local bus to Khao Sok. I arrived at the
bus station with plenty of time, and had my Christmas Eve dinner. At 8pm, I
caught my bus. Even though it was a 2nd class bus, it was with a
private company, so it was even more comfortable than the bus we took to Chiang
Mai. I was in the very front row of the top section, so I had even more leg
room (not that I need it with my short legs!). The seats also had a foot-rest
like a reclining easy chair. On the way, we were given water, pastries, coffee,
and a moist towel-ette. I was able to sleep most of the ride.
We arrived in Surat Thani around 4:30am – even at that time
of night, I was still swarmed by taxi drivers when I disembarked. The bus I
needed didn’t arrive until 7am, so I sat in the station, listened to music, and
tried not to fall back asleep. The bus did arrive a bit after 7am: I was herded
on board by various employees of the bus station. I didn’t want to sleep as I
didn’t really know how far it was, but whenever I try not to sleep on buses, I
fall asleep immediately. But I woke up before I needed to get off, and the
attendant called me when we arrived at Khao Sok.
The Khao Sok headquarters and visitors centre is located
about 2km off the highway. Along this smaller road are several guest houses,
restaurants, and tour companies. Even though it was largely directed at Western
tourists, it was pretty quiet and not too theme park-y. I think there was one
bar on the road. I had made a reservation at Smiley Bungalows, and they gave me
a room right away, even though I arrived around 9:30am. I was staying in a
wooden bungalow, elevated about 10 feet above ground. It was quite basic, and
the door didn’t close all that well, but it was still quite comfortable. And
the scenery was amazing: we were surrounded by trees and nature, and massive
cliffs.
Seeing as it was so early, I decided to go on a walk in the
park. I was able to get the teacher’s price at the park entrance, and headed to
the main trail that passes by several small waterfalls and other sites. The
trail was quite wide and followed the Sok River. The “waterfalls” weren’t that
impressive, as it’s the dry season at the moment, but the walk was still
lovely. I eventually stopped at a wider and deeper part of the river. It was
here that I saw the first leech. It was just on my shoe, but I still panicked.
I basically stomped on my foot really hard to try to get it off. But those
things are persistent... I eventually got it off, and decided it was time to
turn around (I had come as far as I wanted anyway). Oh yeah, and this was all
happening on Christmas Day. It didn’t feel like Christmas at all, and I thought
it was cool to spend it in the jungle.
In the evening, I had dinner in a local restaurant. I also
learned that Pad Thai in this area of Thailand consists of noodles and ketchup.
Not the most delicious... I was supposed to skype with my parents at 9pm, so I
passed the time sitting in the guest houses common area/restaurant, chatting
with an Italian and two Belgians. For skype, I went to a nearby internet cafe.
It was nice to see my family on Christmas, and I only felt a little homesick.
It didn’t feel like Christmas anyway so I didn’t feel like I was missing too
much.
The next day, December 26, I went on another walk in the
park. There is a less used trail that leads to a larger waterfall, Sib-et-Chan.
The walk was very neat, as it was much wilder than the other trail. However,
this meant a lot more leeches. I was constantly swatting them off my boots and
socks (none of them got a proper hold). If I stood still, I could see them
inching their way towards me. I tried to tell myself not to worry about them,
they wouldn’t hurt me, I had my lighter to burn them off if they attached
themselves, but I was still walking in the state of mild panic attack. (Note:
you can buy leech proof socks, but I couldn’t find them anywhere in the town.
Boo) After a while, I decided the waterfall wasn’t worth it and turned back. I
later found out it has basically dried up at this point, so I wasn’t missing
much. I still enjoyed the walk through the jungle: at one point, I heard
monkeys calling to each other (but couldn’t see any). On the way back, I
stopped by the river and took a rest on a leech free rock and watched the birds
and butterflies the size of birds fly by. It was lovely.
Probably the world's most questionable bridge
On the 27th,
I decided to go on a 2-day tour offered by Smiley to their lake house on the
Chiaw Lan Lake. This is a massive lake that, like the Khao Laem reservoir in
Sangkhlaburi, was created by a dam built (this one in 1982. I checked out of my
room for the night, and had breakfast. Mmm... Banana Pancakes. Then we all
piled into the minivans and departed for the lake. In our group, there were 2
Austrian families (travelling together), 3 French...people?, a Russian couple,
and 2 americans, one of whom was also a teacher. It took about an hour and half
to get there. On the way, I was sitting in front with the driver (one of the
owners) and his son, who was about 5 or 6. It was the first time I’ve worn a
seatbelt in months. On the way, we stopped for beer in a town: the Austrian
families bought a flat of cans of Chang between them – we were quite amused. At
one point, the driver was fiddling with something, so his son took the wheel
(we were going straight). It was only slightly terrifying.
We eventually arrived at the Chiaw Lan Lake – the pier was
crawling with other tourists going to various lake houses. We all piled into a
long-tail boat, and were on our way to the lake house. It took about an hour,
navigating through the limestone cliffs and coves. After about an hour, we
arrived at the Smiley lake house – a house literally floating in a secluded
cove on the lake, with a few bungalows for guests to stay in. It is impossible
for me to describe how beautiful it was... We had free time in the afternoon,
so we went swimming and hung around the dock. The Americans, Hannah and
Abigail, and I took out one of the kayaks and paddled around some of the nearby
islands. At one point, we were trying to switch places and I fully fell out of
the kayak. Goooood times. It almost felt like I was staying on a lake back home
– but then I remembered it was December.
In the evening, we had dinner at the house. All the food we
had there was delicious, and the tour included 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and a
dinner. The staff called Hannah and I “kun kru” the whole time, which means
“teacher”. Before dinner, at dusk, we went on a “safari” on our longtail boat.
We rode to some of the more wild parts of the lake. We saw several horn bills:
a handful of the smaller variety and one of the BIG ones. I was very happy to
see them! We also saw a few monkeys – macaques. After dinner, we all hung out
and had our beer. It was very chill and relaxing – all the people on the tour
were fun to hang out with as well. It always makes these types of tours better
when you have a good group of people.
The next day, I woke up before everyone else – around
6:15am. So I went out and sat on the dock – it was a very misty morning. After
the hustle and bustle of my neighbourhood, it was lovely to have a nice morning
in the middle of nowhere. Our Thai tour guide was up and about, so we chatted a
bit about teh area. He said that 4 villages were flooded when the dam was
built. I guess these types of projects have their advantages and
disadvantages... At 7am, we left for the morning safari. We saw several
different types of monkeys – macaques, gibbons (body shaped more like an
orangutan), and lankas. The Lankas were leaping from tree to tree – it was
quite amazing.
The activity of the 28th was to go on a jungle
trek to the Tham Nam Thalu cave. We took the boat to where the trail began,
which wasn’t too far away. We walked through the jungle for a few kilometres.
They warned us before hand we would be walking in water, so we all walked
through the streams in our shoes. It was a bit liberating not to worry about
getting your feet wet! And I only saw 1 leech! Hooray! We eventually arrived at
the cave, which hard quite a large and dramatic opening. The walk through the
cave was fantastic, you just had to not worry about what would happen if you
fell or if the cave suddenly collapsed. But who worries about these things
anyway... :P In the cave were fantastic rock formations, and
stalactites/stalagmites. If you are one of those people who can’t remember
which is which, one of the French guys taught me this cool trick (if you speak
French): stalacTites are on top because the water falls from them – in French,
“tomber” – and stalagMites are on the bottom because they rise, or in French “monter”.
It’s genius!
In the cave, we also
saw hundreds of bats, hunkered down for their day time sleep. It was really
cool. Most of the time, we were walking along the river that has carved out the
cave over these past millions of years. At some points, the water was quite
deep: at one point, it was even above my head! The trickiest part was at one
point, there was a narrow waterfall. So, first, we had to shimmy through the
rocks with your feet on one side, and your hands/backs on the other side. Then,
we had to awkwardly hop and step down to the bottom of the fall. It was quite
the adventure! I was certainly happy I brought me headlamp!
In the afternoon, we had some spare time before heading
back. We swam and dived off the dock – I was even brave enough to try doing a
few flips! Around 3:30pm, we all piled back into the boat, and headed back to
the guesthouse. I had dinner with Hannah and Abigail at one of the local
restaurants. We ordered green curry, som tum and a local dish, some leaf with
coconut milk. Very tasty! Then, we played cards with a couple of the Austrians
– I think the game was 3 card rummy, which I had never played before. But I
eventually figured it out! The next morning, I was to leave for Krabi/Ko Phi
Phi to meet Karima.
So far, Khao Sok has been one of my favourite places I’ve
been. The scenery was gorgeous, the wildlife was amazing, and the people were
friendly. It was a lovely stay, and I’m very happy I did the lake tour, even
more it was a bit expensive. But it was totally worth it. I’m starting to
realise that with national parks, it is best to do guided adventures. First of
all because they know the best places to take you, and are able to point things
out. Second, because most parks make it difficult to see the sites properly
without a guide. In conclusion, I’d rather spend a bit more money and get the
most of my stay in the park. It was an amazing 4 days!
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