Activity Summary
Sunday 2nd October - Day 31
Travel (bus) from Ao Nang to Khlong Sok
Luke kicked a kids ass at checkers
Monday 2nd October - Day 32
Start 2 day 1 night tour of Khao Sok
Boat trip on Cheow Lan Lake
Stay in floating village accommodation
Kayak over lake
Jungle walk
Pakarang cave
Evening boat safari
Tuesday 3rd October - Day 33
Early morning boat safari
Chill swim and relax in the lake
Travel back to Khlong Sok
Summary
Our initial route to get to Khao Sok was going to be from Phuket but we decided to change that up after it seemed very challenging to do and were kind of desperate to have some beach chill time. Going to Phi Phi, Ao Nang and then Khao Sok was perfect in mixing up our activities.
Khao Sok is an incredible place visually and the photos/ videos really do not do it justice. The walking, swimming, kayaking and animal safaris were well balanced, very enjoyable and we were fortunate enough to have a decent group of people and a great tour guide. Would definitely recommend the journey and time spent here.
Khlong Sok itself has absolutely nothing to do so is very much just a transit point for the park.
Accommodation
Khaosok secret hostel - 2 nights - 500THB/n/p
Room was a simple private room, close to the national park and they even afforded us a double and a single bed in the room. Guess who took which.
Travel
TO
Ao Nang hotel -> [minivan] -> Middle of nowhere in Krabi to wait around for hours before getting another minivan -> Khlong Sok -> Taxi to hostel
Diary
Our day was expected to be primarily travelling from Ao Nang to Khlong Sok, which is a very small town on the border of the Khao Sok national park and primarily where the tours start and end.
Usually our minivan travels have been incredibly easy but this was bound to get more complicated at some point. The initial minivan took us to an incredibly remote area used as a central terminal to direct people all over the place (Phuket, krabi etc.). We arrived here incredibly early so spent a good 1-2 hours just milling around on uncomfortable benches and in a humid open walled hut. Fortunately, despite what seems like an utter clusterfuck of an operation, someone at these places always seems to know who is going where which is pretty impressive. Although this does come with the negative that no one ever seems relaxed which in turns stresses us out to no end but it’s worked out fine so far…
Once finally on a bus the journey to Khlong Sok it was pretty straight forward apart from the final leg. The bus stops at a terminal about 2km from the main town which meant getting a taxi up the road. Given the bags and heat, not a problem, but in us doing this ended up pulling up at the same time as the bus we had just ridden. A bit of a ‘what the fuck’ moment but then found out the other people in the van paid the same amount for the journey up the road. Annoying for the extra step but not short changed in the process.
As with all our travel days, Nicola starts raging and needing food so we take the queen down the road to put that demon back in its cage.
Once fed we didn’t do a whole lot but book our Khao Sok tour with the hostel and get dinner. The restaurant owners' kids decided it would be fun to challenge the tourists at a game of checkers and seeing weakness decided Nicola would be a great source of amusement. She didn’t disappoint as she didn’t know the rules, and when Luke jumped in to take over the game was already lost. After getting a reeducation from the owner Luke stepped up to the plate and demolished the hopes and dreams of these 6 year old boys. Luke decided to do this again after eating at which point the boys lost interest in us very quickly before heading back to the hostel. Apparently it’s a big game in Thailand.
As part of the tour, the hostel provided us breakfast which was truly awful so neither of us really touched it before getting picked up in the minivan and the rest of the 14 strong team. The entrance to Cheow Lan Lake is about halfway to Surat Thani so somewhat of a drive and seemingly as with all these tours, they feel the need to stop off at a ropey market where no one buys anything.
Once at the lake we all clambered into a boat taxi and set off to our accommodation for the trip. The landscape was very impressive with beautiful towering karstic features (Luke in writing this copied Nicola’s description - big ol limestone rock faces for the simpletons among us), trees as far as the eye could see, zombie like trees jutting out of the water plus a giant hydroelectric reservoir. [Nicola opinion piece: I had mixed feelings about this place as it was clearly beautiful but with a 90m deep reservoir built in the 1980s which flooded masses of virgin rainforest, this electricity generation came with a catastrophic environmental cost. Hydropower isn’t the environmentally friendly option it’s sold to be. I felt like the landscape would have been so much more impressive if we’d have been on the valley floor (now flooded) surrounded by comparatively much taller cliffs and limestone features. However the reservoir has certainly allowed development in the region. Opinion out.] Luke just liked the pretty views.
Our accommodation consisted of huts built on top of a floating barrel and wood construct that had a main kitchen/bar in the middle. The reason this has been done is very much because of the dangers the National park presented. Under no circumstances were any guests to go on land (unless with a guide) for risk of snakes, wild elephants and other nasties that would try to get us. So on the water we stayed which didn’t have anything lurking in the deep (Nicola did ask and we assumed they weren’t lying).
Once settled we had some downtime so we decided to jump in a kayak that were just chilling outside our room, and did a mini tour of some of the land banks to see whether we could spot anything. Sadly we were unsuccessful but it was a relaxing paddle out and unbelievably quiet which was both eery and relaxing.
The afternoon activity for the group consisted of a short boat ride over to another part of the lake and then a short jungle walk over to Pakarang cave. The walk itself was pretty easy but unfortunately some clowns decided not to bring shoes which in turn allowed very easy leech attacks. Once everyone realised leeches were on the prowl (very much like every jungle walk we have done) they all lost their shit. Only this time the tourist hit rate was pretty savage. One of the girls managed to get bitten just above her ass, which prompted her to panic swat it away and then have no idea where it ended up. Fearing it could have fallen further inside her underwear she had to spend the next few minutes more or less fully undressing as everyone turned away. Terrible luck. The walk itself was pretty entertaining otherwise as we managed to see various monkeys/gibbons/dusky leaf monkey up close, some giant hornbills (like giant toucans) and Num (the guide) was very charismatic and entertaining throughout. Luke very much enjoys having a tour guide he can have a laugh with and Num didn’t disappoint.
To get to Pakarang cave we all got onto a bamboo raft, this time not on moving water so all was chilla. The cave had a number of impressive stalactites and stalagmites, but arguably the most impressive thing to Luke was that Num effectively had a lightsaber to show us the way.
In the early evening as light was fading, we took the taxi boat around various points on the lake in search for any active animals. At this time the monkeys would be winding down for the night and so would seek out the tallest trees around and climb as high as possible to avoid getting snatched by snakes or other predators. With this information it was pretty easy to spot a whole array of different species of monkey with resounding success. Sadly we didn’t get to see any wild elephants.
Once back at the floating village everyone sat around with a few beers, fed some dinner (standard chicken, soup, omelet and fruit) before hitting the hay. The huts themselves were basic with a fan that did little to cool the room and the windows were slatted so mozzies could very easily join the party. With that in mind both of us slept terribly.
The next morning was an early 6.30am start and another boat safari trip. This trip however proved to be very fruitless, without really any clear view of wildlife so instead soaked up the stellar views with the morning sunshine.
Post breakfast we had some downtime so settled on a swim which was absolutely great having not showered and the sun was shining. After this we were back in the taxi boat for the surprisingly long journey back to the entrance of the national park and lunch at a restaurant nearby. Some of the group made their way elsewhere while we returned back to Khlong Sok in the early afternoon. Nicola took the afternoon to call Tilly and family while Luke went for a walk and a coffee round the local area.
Our evening consisted of an early dinner and Luke doing some washing where an apparent stray kitten decided Luke was his best friend - jumping into his lap and requiring attention at all times.
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