Thailand

We spent the night at the Floral Shire Resort, a nice little hotel near the airport, then flew to Surat Thani in the morning. We had booked a night at the Treetop Resort in Khao Sok, and the couple that owns it were already be in Surat Thani, and were kind enough to pick us up at the airport. The Treetop Resort is best described as "interesting". We stayed in a treehouse with all the décor made out of carved wood. The bathroom floor is covered in loose rock with large flat stepping stones, the shower simulates rainfall and is made to look like a tree. There's no air conditioning, but the wall-mounted fan worked reasonably well. We also had a porch with a hammock. We relaxed for a few hours, then Sakda (one of the resort's owners) drove us down the road to a nearby temple where monkeys come each evening to be fed. Handing out bananas to dozens of monkeys was an amazing experience, and didn't cost us a thing!

We booked an overnight tour of Khao Sok National Park, with a park ranger as our guide. He picked us up in the morning and drove us to the dam. This is as far as the road goes, so we switched to a longtail boat, and sped along the massive lake for over an hour. We arrived at a series of floating thatch-roof cabins that would be our accommodation for the night. There is not even a fan, as there is no power except a generator-powered string of lights that are only turned on in the evening. In each cabin there are 4 mattresses crammed together and covered by mosquito nets that are full of holes. We had some tape in the first aid kit and were able to fix most of the holes in our net. The lake was very warm and clean enough to swim in.

A 5 minute boat ride took us to the start of the trail to Nam Talu cave. We then hiked for about an hour to the near entrance, crossing through Tone Tuey creek a half-dozen or so times. There are many leeches on the trail, but we had been forewarned and so we wore socks pulled up over long pants. The creek is what formed the caves, and so most of the trek through the caves involved wading through water of various depths, with the only light provided by 2 large flashlights and 1 small one. A few sections are deep enough that you have to swim, though I found that I could touch the bottom if I stuck to the sides. Our guide carried our gear in his backpack, and tried to keep it dry by climbing the rocks on the side. Even though he is no doubt a skilled climber, he still slipped and fell into the water, soaking the backpack. Fortunately, we had put all our stuff in a huge ziplock bag that we brought with us. My Dad's camera is waterproof so I just left mine at the cabins and let him take all the pictures. Unfortunately I don't have copies from him just yet, so I'll have to post them here later. We saw all tons of stalactites and interesting rock formations. In areas where there's loose stones on the ground, we found large spiders, crabs, and lots of crickets. If that wasn't enough to frighten the girls, there were also lots of bats at the upstream end of the cave! Upon emerging into the sunlight, my girlfriend noticed that my shirt was all bloody at about waist height. I didn't recall cutting myself on any rocks, and it didn't hurt at all. The guide cleaned it up with some toilet paper, and determined that I had been bitten by a leech who climbed up my leg and under my shirt (the leech released after sucking his fill). Because leeches inject an anti-coagulant, it kept bleeding and I had to keep pressure on it the whole hike back. Mom also got bit on her lower back on the return trip, but hers was smaller and didn't bleed as much.
Later that evening we went on a night safari by boat, where the guide shines a powerful searchlight on the trees, looking for reflections off a pair of eyes. We spotted an owl and a few other creatures that were too far in the trees to be seen very well. The next morning we got up early for another safari, spotting a family of monkeys and a few different birds. I was really hoping to see something more interesting, as Khao Sok is supposed to have the highest concentration of different animal and bird species - but I guess it just wasn't my lucky day. After breakfast, my Dad and I went on a 50 minute boat ride to the trail leading up to "lookout point". Despite the shade offered by the dense jungle, the heat and humidity were quite high. Adding to this, the climb was very steep and the guide set a gruesome pace. I don't think I've ever been so hot before! As we neared the top, the trail switched from dirt & tree roots into climbing amoung sharp rocks. Finally we climbed above the tree line and enjoyed the amazing view - though not as much as we enjoyed the slight breeze!

After lunch we returned to the Treehouse Resort, and tried to catch the last bus headed to Khao Lak. While waiting, we saw an elephant riding in the back of a dump truck! It started raining and we took shelter in the back of a parked songthaew. We waited an hour but the bus never came. Finally Sakda came by and offered to drive us all the way to Khao Lak. We insisted on paying him a fair price for his time and gas.