Khao Sok

We were picked up from Sam’s House on our final day in Kanchanaburi completely oblivious to how brutal the following 24 hours were going to be as we made our way south to Khao Sok National Park. Rather than book the entire trip from the tourist office in Kanchanaburi we opted to just organise the first part, back to Bangkok, and sort out the second leg from there as it would save us money. Our trip to Bangkok was perfectly fine as we driven the few hours back to the capital in a minibus full of locals and conveniently dropped back onto Khao San Road which we knew very well. The first priority was booking a bus to take us south which we managed easily before heading for an Irish bar for some lunch.

Our bus arrived to pick us up late which would be the first of a series of issues we would have with our journey. I say the bus arrived late but in fact a rather disgruntled man arrived late who would then take us to the bus which he had described as just around the corner. Of course just around the corner was in fact quite a distance away and this was all happening as it started bucketing it down with rain. Eventually, however, we reached the bus we would be on for the next 12 hours soaking wet and fairly knackered. Not for the first time I found myself being shouted at by a bus driver as apparently I was taking too long getting on the bus. The bus wasn’t going to be leaving soon though as when we took our seats we were forced to take part in a ridiculous game of musical chairs as, despite no one having allocated seat numbers, we were moved to three different seats along with everyone else. Apparently everyone was being seated in groups based on their final destination as Khao Sok was not where everyone was going. Our final seats turned out to be the worst we have had so far as by reclining them you removed your leg room completely. I'm not exaggerating here as a footrest would come out and literally cut off access to the floor at around knee height. At sunrise we arrived in the town of Surat Thani where everyone was kicked off the bus to await further connections thus making the entire seat switching ordeal irrelevant.

We sat at a small restaurant with everyone else for about an hour before a small truck arrived to take us further. It turned out that we were only being taken further into town to wait another hour at a different office. Eventually we were dumped on a standard Thai public bus as apparently, seeing as we were the only two going to Khao Sok, it wasn’t worth running the regular bus. The journey which would have taken an hour on the regular bus took three hours on the local bus but we eventually arrived in Khao Sok about 24 hours after we had left having managed, at most, an hours sleep. We then found there was no taxi to take us to the hotel so we had to go with a rep from another one after we agreed to stop at his first. A thorough Trip Advisor session from Linz the day before had ruled his hotel out on a count of bed bugs; a reason many hotels have been cut out so far.

Khao Sok is a national park made up of one of the oldest rainforests on Earth rather than being a town, however a small selection of hotels and a couple of shops have created a small village near the park entrance. We were staying at Morning Mist, in the centre of the village, on the top floor of a two story house with amazing views of the rainforest covered mountains. The best part of the room for me was possibly the bathroom as it barely had a roof and, rather than have windows, had walls which didn't reach the ceiling. It was so bizarre having a shower as you feel like you’re standing outside, which was made even more entertaining during thunderstorms.

For some reason I only felt it necessary to take a photo of the view off the balcony
at night.

Despite appearances not dissimilar to a couple of zombies, we opted against sleeping through the rest of the day and headed off in search of activities for the following day. At the end of our road we found a very friendly Frenchman who had set up his own company in the park offering all kinds of tours and we had soon paid for a canoeing trip down the Khlong Saeng River. That evening, despite being in the middle of the Thai rainforest, we found ourselves an Italian restaurant to feast on pizza and steak to get over the day’s travels.

The evening didn't go completely smoothly as Linz was becoming even more aware that staying in a rainforest does tend to result in an increase in bugs. So once again the fly net was pulled so tightly over the bed that I wasn’t even sure Linz would let me in for fear that insects may pounce on any moment of weakness. The following morning we headed down to breakfast where Linz had no choice but to leave the safety of the mosquito net, but surely she wouldn’t have a problem with the occasional butterfly that drifted merrily by. This however was not the case as apparently butterflies are unaware of the strict no-fly zone around Linz. At the mere sight of a happy butterfly disappearing under our table Linz yelped, ran away and continued to eat her breakfast cowering behind me. This was another of many indications to me, and everyone else in the restaurant, that the rainforest was not meant for Linz.

The French man had been very insistent that our canoeing was a casual as possible saying we could arrive at any time we like, so we showed up soon after breakfast. We helped him carry the canoe down to the river and met our guide for the day whose name I’ve completely forgotten. Most canoe trips available involved just being taken down the river by a guide but, again due to the Frenchman’s insistence of doing whatever the customer wanted, I was allowed to paddle for a while. Within seconds I had crashed us into tree. This happened quite a few times during the two hours we were on the river and every time I did an assortment of bugs and spiders would be dropped onto whoever was in the middle at the time. Shame it was always Linz. I received quite a beating in the canoe as it turns out some would land on my back and a flip flop was Linz’s only weapon. Although some smacks may have been out of vengeance for my terrible canoe control. We also saw a few snakes which were pointed out to us by our guide in the moments he wasn’t laughing at me being beaten up by my loving girlfriend, who still insists it was for my own good.

Canoeing passed local houses. Our position in the middle of the river shows I
wasn't steering at this point.

Despite yet further clues that Linz should never have even contemplated a rainforest, following the canoeing we planned to go for a walk into the national park itself. We intended to walk up to one of the largest waterfalls, maybe have a swim, then return to the hotel in the early evening. In reality we lasted 50 minutes and barely get beyond the visitor’s centre. It was pouring down with rain but we decided it was only water so would head out anyway starting with a gravel track leading west from the entrance.

We had heard about leeches but didn't really think they would be an issue except maybe in the water, but in fact they live on land and only the slightest rub against one will result in it clinging onto you. Within no time at all we started to spot them on our legs and I was called on to carry out regular leech removals. You would think, following the butterfly incident, that Linz would have gone mental but she remained brilliant through the entire thing. I could tell she was freaking out inside but she completely understood that the only way we could get them off was for her to stand still, remain calm, and let me deal with them. She completely hated them where as I actually found them quite interesting. They are incredibly resilient and hard to kill to such an extent that they would position themselves in our path so we would stand on them, which would normally kill a bug that size, and then attach themselves to the underside of our shoes and make their way round to our ankles. We had to sign into the park on our arrival and found ourselves signing out within an hour.

A leech trying its best to suck blood out of my finger nail

Leech damage

We returned to the hotel and having carried out a thorough check of everything we took to the park concluded we weren’t carrying and more leeches so we could enter the safety of our room. We finished off the afternoon sitting on our balcony watching the rain and enjoying the amazing view. Our opinions differ massively on our room, and of Khao Sok in general, however we could both agree that the view was quite stunning, especially as we were paying just £6 each. That evening we headed back towards the park entrance as we had passed a good looking restaurant earlier, as we had fled the leeches, where I enjoyed a good serving of spring rolls.

The next morning we were picked up by a minibus to take us further south in the direction of our next destination. For me Khao Sok was amazing, including the leech experience which was in fact a highlight, and our hotel was one of the most enjoyable to stay in, however I’m not entirely sure Linz would agree. Now we head to the tropical island of Ko Phi Phi where there at least won’t be any more leeches, although I can’t rule further sightings of those deadly butterflies.