Khao Sok
"Its not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Our next destination was the National park of Khao Sok. The park is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand and is a remnant of rain forest which is older and more diverse than the Amazon rainforest. Rare species still survive here in the just over 700 sq km of jungle and we were keen to experience it.
It is traversed by a limesone mountain range whose highest peak is just under 1000m and it gets monsoon rains from both the east and west making it one of the wettest areas in Thailand. It contains the Cheow Lan lake where wind and rain erosion have caused huge jutting stone islands or karsts to rise from the water.
With anticipation we climbed into our taxi for the 3 hour journey. The road wound up into forested hills. We stopped en route for some refreshments but the cab driver firmly steered us away from the street carts and into a cafe. Those taxi drivers do love their cars and don't trust the foreigners tolerance of local food. Anyway our sandwich was delicious, made with care by a little Thai lady.
Monkey Jungalow
We arrived at Monkey Jungalows in the afternoon. It was in the middle of a patch of forest surrounded by steep peaks and limestone cliffs.
The hostel was built of wood and open to the outdoors and the rooms were little wooden huts on stilts. No aircon. I know, I made an exception this time! It was somewhat cooler up in the mountains but still pretty humid. Everywhere you went you took off your shoes at the door and umbrellas were freely available. A little hint about the weather.
We had a little ensuite bathroom and a moz net over the bed. Both rooms had open vents all around the roof so I guess insects have right of way here. Still it was quiet, clean and looked comfortable so we were happy with our choice.
The hostel was situated in a lush garden with frangipangi, hibiscus, flag bush and bromeliads. Gravel paths led to the rooms. Figs and bananas bloomed. They often gave us home grown fruit to eat. A well tended shrine nestled in the flowers.
Our room with a view
For some reason we were exhausted and went to lie down for a minute but snoozed most of the afternoon away.
We finally roused to go and eat at the little restaurant. All Thai food and fresh and delicious. The restaurant was in the foyer of the hostel and overlooked the gardens and lotus ponds.
They told us that they had just had 3 days of solid rain , pesky monsoon, but the rain was holding off now in the late afternoon and there was a night safari setting off for the forest.
It looked like our rest was fortuitous and we signed up for a night tour, packing our raincoats and umbrellas just incase.
Jungle Life
The River Sok
It was a short drive, about 4 km to the park entrance. There was a bustling tourist village approaching the entrance with backpackers and bars and I was happy we had chosen a quieter spot at Monkey Jungalow.
In the carpark we met our guide, Ay. He led us up a winding trail into the forest.
It is actually quite a broad path following the river Sok which was predictably running hard from all the rain.
Ay was great at finding us the small stuff, tiny fruit bats hiding in a palm leaf, scorpions, spiders, stick insects, moths and frogs. Many were unfamiliar to us , some a variation of our home grown creepy crawlies. We were delighted but had hoped to see some of the bigger animals.
As we turned back towards home we found a snake in a tree and had a brief glimpse of a civet in a tree. A few sleeping monkeys were nestled high up in the canopy.
I think I need to paint you a picture of the enormity of the canopy and the forest.
The trees were thick and many more than 20 meters high with a tangle of bush and creepers so visibility was not easy. There are patches of thick bamboo forest. This forest hosts all sorts of interesting critters including tigers, elephants, cloudy leopards and slow lorises but I think you would need to be very lucky, or David Attenborough, to find them in the wilderness.
It did not help that my glasses kept fogging up in the humidity. Unless it was actually an elephant I would probably miss it.
Our photography also took a hit as the DSLR camera kept malfunctioning. The body would not communicate with the lenses. Just before we left home 2 of our other cameras had to go in for repair after the cat sprayed the camera case. We thought the 90D had escaped. Apparently not. We were down to cell phone photography, a tiny wide angled street camera with a dodgy battery, and a torch. Goodbye long lenses. We have never been very good with cell phone cameras so it was new territory.
For the rest of the trip a large part of Dudleys backpack was filled with dead weight too precious to jettison but no use to us.
Despite all this we enjoyed roaming this magical wilderness in the dark, listening to the frogs and smelling the wet earth. We arranged to meet Ay the next morning for the daytime version.
That night we were actually cold, maybe the only time in Thailand. The bedding was a thin silken throw and the hot water did not work. Oh well we slept at last.
After a good breakfast of eggs and toast we set off again for the jungle.
It is amazing how the landscape shifts when you have light to see.
It was no less impressive, especially the size and scope of the canopy.
We had heard the gibbons hooting from the hostel. That's what it is called in gibbon language, hooting, and they do it early in the morning. They are shy apes who live high in the canopy so we did not expect to see them but it was a different noise to greet the morning. Not your usual Hadeda song!
The tarantula in hiding. They live in these holes in the clay and bracken.
Our guide made us hats out of leaves!
The trees and creepers came into sharper focus, lots of giant banyan trees with a tangle of air roots and we saw a bread fruit tree full of fruit. The creepers gave a full on Tarzan vibe. We saw the spectacled langur, and the long tailed macaques but all high in the trees and well beyond cell phone range.
We saw lots of small stuff again, many tarantulas in well built holes, as well as trap door spiders and an array of insects and butterflies. The fruit bats were still hanging out.
We slid down muddy trails to the raging river and climbed stony tracks up the mountain.
After about 5 km, getting tired, we turned for home. It had been a fabulous morning.
There was old dried elephant poo on the ground and Ay said the elephants come down to the river in dry season and the park is then closed to visitors. Elephants in the wild in Thailand are given great respect and a wide birth. Mind you there are few in the wild compared to Africa.
Leaves appear to grow out of the rock
This spider had caught a dragonfly 10 times his size
Cheow Lan Lake
Cheow Lan Lake is the other area of great natural beauty in the park. We went on a day long tour the next day. The drive there, around the perimeter of the park, took over an hour. We reentered the park down a neat concrete road to a dock and marina and about 30 of us were loaded onto a large longboat.
The lake was vast and the most beautiful jade green in colour, unlike anything I have seen elsewhere. Giant karsts rose up from the lake which was surrounded by forest and limestone cliffs.
We motored down the lake before pulling in to shore. Our guide took us up to a cave entrance in the limestone cliff. Inside was a labyrinth of caves decorated with beautiful rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites.
Tiny bats clung to the ceiling and we spotted huge spiders and a snake nestled into a crevice. We navigated passages between caves before emerging back into the sunshine.
10 more minutes on the boat and we disembarked on the edge of a jungle path. We walked into the forest, again an impressive canopy, banyan trees and creepers. Some, including Dudley, even climbed the creepers Tarzan style. I held my breath but the creeper held the weight.
Sink holes had developed where the monsoon waters had collapsed the ground. We walked up the paths and stared into the tree canopy, filtering the light in lazy sunbeams.. There were quiet pools of water and small waterfalls between the trees.
Pulling in to a small inlet for the cave visit
Cave inhabitants
The jungle reclaiming old parks buildings
Numerous streams and small rivers run into the lake
From the forest we again drove the lake, stopping to inspect some of the more impressive karsts. A series of 6 lined up perfectly in a gap, clearly a popular photo point.
We continued over the lake and arrived at a raft house, a series of small floating bungalows with a central dining area. You can organise to stay here like a small hotel. We were treated to one of the most generous and delicious Thai meals we had on the trip. So much food including delicious fresh fried fish, vegetables, masaman curry and iced watermelon slices. I think the fish was the local carp but there was no taste of mud you often get with bottom dwelling fresh water fish.
After lunch we got a few hours of free time to swim and canoe around the lake. The canoes and paddles were heavy as hell but I had a pro paddler on my boat so we managed a circuit of some islands and then followed the shore into quiet lagoons. When the paddles got too heavy we rolled in for a refreshing dip. The freshwater carp churned up the waters under the restaurant and we floated on a sea of jade. I think the colour comes from the calcium from disolved limestone.
All in all a lovely day in a beautiful place. We drove home happy and exhausted. The hot water was now working and I managed to wangle an extra blanket. Comfort sorted.
Limestone karsts rising from the lake and the incredible jade green water.
Lunch
Moving On
The local petrol station
It was time to find our next destination. We decided to head for the Gulf of Thailand and another national park called Sam Roi Yot. This is again an area of amazing natural wonders with a famous temple inside a cave.
I wanted to go by train but we were battling with the on line bookings. The trains all seemed to be booked up. When I found a ticket the booking would not go through or my credit card kept being rejected and the seats would disappear. I was pulling out my hair. As usual the Jungalow staff came to the rescue. It seems the trains do get booked up far in advance, especially the overnight trains. The foreigners will often book them out 6 months ahead. I was despondent as I had hoped for an overnight train ride at some point. Oh well. There is a down side to not booking anything in advance. Anyway the staff introduced us to an app called 12Go which allows you to book all types of transport in Thailand. It is not completely comprehensive but it covers trains, buses, aeroplanes, boats and taxis and it is in English. With their help we managed to book a train from Surat Thani, a 2 hour drive East, and they arranged a shared combi for us to get to the station. They also introduced us to Grab, an app like Uber. Although it took us a while to get all these things to work we got better and better the longer we stayed and eventually transport became totally stress free.
Our last day we wandered down into the tourist village, through palm groves cultivated for the oil, to do our laundry and sip coffee, renew our data and generally sort ourselves out. This was our routine, 2-3 days sightseeing and 1 day washing, cleaning and relaxing before a day of travel. It worked well for us. The monsoon made an appearance which was unfortunate as the backpack was full of laundry and we had left the rain jackets behind, but we sheltered in a temple next to the road.
Wat Tham Phanthurat
The temple is associated with a rather weird Thai folktale called Sang Thong. The temple is on the site of a cave where Pra Sang, a young boy, had hidden from his mother after he suddenly realised she was a giant and not a human all along. Duh! She grieved for him and there are various representations of her in the temple grounds striding around wielding a heavy club, presumably looking for her son. Perhaps if she left the heavy club at home he may have come out of hiding! She eventually died in the area, possibly of grief, never having found him.
The cave contains a shrine today.
We bumped into a whole troop of the long tailed macaques at the temple Monkey Pool.
After a whole day developing neck pain squinting into the canopy to see them, they sat next to us on the bench and scratched their bottoms.
Khao Sok is definitely a beautiful and interesting spot, the rain forest magnificent and the little community eclectic and welcoming but it was time to go.
Next day we packed up our gear and climbed into the Jungelow transport for the next phase of our journey, excited to try Thai trains for the first time.