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If you've never experienced a stay in the rainforest then get off your backsides and do something about it!!!
Breathtaking sights and wet wet weather was just a few of the things of the past 3 days.......
Woke on monday morning as we pulled into Surat Thani station by the sound of coachmen/woman/ladyboys walking up and down the carriage converting beds back into seats at 6.30am. Only an hour late...which isn't to bad for public transport in Thailand. My first encounter of a ladyboy was the night before when i first boarded the train...which is quite strange as thought i would have seen loads in Bangkok...or maybe i did and they just looked so much like woman i didnt notice! Anyway, this one was quite manly - very tall, strong jaw, not much make-up! But did very well in talking, walking and generally being a woman!! so jealous of the condition of his/her hair...looked like something from a vidal sasoon advert. He/she worked on the train as the matredee taking food orders, bringing coffee, drinks, sitting chatting when you really couldn't be bothered..... Apparantly when you have ladyboys working on board, the disco carriage turns into a Ladyboy show at around 9pm...oh what an eventful night lay ahead!
As i stepped off the train there were woman everywhere with signs and boards trying to get you into their cafes across the street for breakfast. Some even holding their very small children as a ploy! As i walked across the street, 12 cafes sat on the pavement buzzing and swarming with tourists getting their first meal of the day. So for the 14th day in a row eggs and toast it was...still not coping to well with the whole rice and noodles for breakfast.
Looked like my driver was also running late but no hurry...just sat and watched the misty morning skies turn into another beautiful day, swarms of children in their uniforms getting off the next train chatting and playing around, monks walking up the street bare foot to their temple with fresh flowers..... dogs barking and chasing cars down the streets, cats brushing up against my leg looking for my left overs...
Khao Sok National Park was about a 20 minute drive from the station and as soon as we turned the first corner the rocks, limestone caves and dense green rainforest were imminent! I have never in my life seen such breathtaking images. 400sq km of rainforest lay ahead. My first night would be within the Tree Top Huts...treehouses between 100 - 400 ft above the ground. The Tree Top Huts (and rafthouses that i would be staying at for the following two days) were owned and run by 9 brothers. On arrival only 3 of them were around....Pom, Em & La....Em would be first on hand for the next 24 hours.
After lunch (more noodles) it was time to go shoot some rapids on Inner Tubes down the river. Inner tubes are basically big rubber rings that you go down the river on. Due to there being so much rainfall in the rainforrest the iver was pretty high and rapids really strong which was great....wasn't really wanting the whole lazy river experience which can sometimes happen. Em was the pro for the day...standing on the tube, surfing on the tube, doing backflips off the tube.... For some reason he kept feeling the need to annoy me, noone else - just me, pull me off the tube, flip me upside down, grab my ankle and spin me into the rapids, through me into the bushes...but his time was coming...i was going to get him back...
Half way down the river their was a rope swing tied to the top of one of the highest trees i've ever seen....god knows how they got it up there in the first place...oh i could feel the inner child coming out in me. And as always, i was the only female of the group that would partake in such childish fun...me and 7 guys! Some of the guys were really crap and dragging their feet in the water, others were hitting the water on their backs or tummys making the biggest splash and slapping sound...ouch! Of course, i didnt think i would make a big splash.....eh think mine was the biggest! Em was showing off again doing somersaults and backflips.... i decided to give the triple backspin somersault into a pike a miss....didnt want to make the others feel bad..... :-)
Have some really great pics of the Inner Tubing on my Waterproof Camera so will have to wait til spool runs out til i can upload them.
Oh the monkeys.....on the way back to the tree top huts, stopped at this quiet little spo at the foot of the rainforest. Their was a small path and little temple inside a cave. It was so peaceful and couldn't quite understand why we were here!!!........ the branches started cracking in the distance, could hear the leaves in the trees swaying from side to side, then came the sound of the monkeys jumping, running, sqauking like birds! Had no idea they'd be so many. They came from nowhere and literally hundreds of monkeys ran towards us with excitment. Obviously could smell food of some sort. Em gave me bread to feed them and oh my goodness was i overwhelmed. They all ran for me.... it was like flies round poo! After the initial fear they would bite i just threw the bread and let them fight for it!! Was pretty amazing though.
My treehouse was a joy...have a look at the luxury in the pics. Slats missing from the floor, can see the ground waaaaay beneath me, massive tree trunk right in the middle, and not to mention the gazillion steps to climb to get up and down....was a dream carrying my backpack....not!
Every animal imaginable was heard that night from the snakes outside on the trees, to the crickets, grasshoppers, kingfishers singing, dogs barking in the nearby cave (sounded like a wolf cry), frogs, gibbons jumping tree to tree snapping and cracking branches. And lets not forget the lovely big spider that slid down my tin roof and onto the the top of my mozzy net!
Next day it was time to leave the treetops and head for the rafthouses right in the heart of Khao Sok. To get there had to take an hour long journey on a longtail boat across the 100sq km of lake. The views and scenery were like what you see on tv...unexplainable...hopefully the pics will help.
On arrival at the rafthouses i was slightly in shock....dont really know what i was expecting! I knew the rafthouses would be afloat on the water and knew the toilet and shower situation was basically in the lake but i didnt quite comprehend that they woiuld be so secluded with no other human life whatsoever. Kind of thought there would be somewhere to get water and where would eat would be on land....but no, the 15 rafthouses were on water as was a larger rafthouse with a few tables and chairs and a very basic kitchen/preparing area....all on water! The stunning settings however, got me over that shock pretty quickly.
There were 6 people who lived at the rafthouses and basically done the cooking, cleaning, maintenence etc...which as i'm sure you can imagine there wasnt much of. So they basically lay about and slept all day. Only one could speak english and his name was Pu! Pu was the host for the next 2 days and apart from trying to climb into my bed on Wed night he was quite cool!
On Tue afternoon went to the nearby fishing village....not like any fishing village iv seen before. Again this was floating and was 3 different huts. Very simple and basic but the size of the catfish they caught was unbelievable....one weighed in at 150 kilos....thats 3 of me! After watching the fisherman (who were about 18 and clearly stoned all the time) cut their heads of, gut them, stuff them etc went to a nearbny cave for a quick dip before heading back for dinner. Obviously cause we were on water, any electricity was produced by a generator on another raft which clearly was going to cut out.....yip, went most of the night with no light!
At half 6 on wed morning went kayaking to catch a glimpse of the sun rising - it trully was so beautiful to see the sun rising over the mountains, the mist clearing, birds waking and chirping, gibbons calling out to each other....was shattered though!
Spent most of the afternoon out on a tube (rubber ring) in the lake. was great just sitting back, chilling out after being so non stop for the past 2 weeks. Would have been even better with a cocktail in my hand! Where i go the rain must follow, and sure enough after about 20 minutes the first monsoon of the day approached. Must have lay in the torrential rain for about 4 hours but really didnt care that i was getting bruised by the lashings!
Night safari on Wed night...woohoo....couldnt wait! unfortunately the rain hadn't stopped all day so it was pretty slippy and muddy and were prob not going to see that much. On a nice night you can see things like snakes, deer, elephant, monkeys, hear the odd tiger or leapard....i seen about 3 terantulas and a million frogs! Oh well, was worth a try!
For some reason Pu felt the need to come into my rafthouse after i went to bed. I had literally been in there for half an hour and was just dozzing off when the door opened. I couldnt find my torch and couldn't for the life of me think who it was. Eventually it became clear it was Pu. After shouting at him and telling him to leave he answered very sheepishly that he thought i would like to talk.....yeah right! So me being me, couldn't sleep a wink the whole night incase he decided to come back. Luckily he didn't and in the morning it was like nothing had ever happened. Apparantly this isn't the first time he's done this......maybe the 5th in the past few months but noone has complained. Unlucky for him iv now made a formal complaint and its probable he'll lose his job!
So yesterday morning it was time to leave the rafthouses and say goodbye to Khao Sok. After the Longtail Boat ride back to land and a 2 hour drive i arrived in Krabi! Was totally pouring but even still, i could see how amazing this place would be for the next 4 days. Definately more touristy than anywhere i've visited yet, but theirs loads of beaches, restuarants, bars, shopping etc so it'sime to sit back, relax, do a bit of shopping, top up my tan, eat good food and get the latest addition to my body....a new tattoo..... Sorry mum & dad!
So for now its sawatdee ca (goodbye in thai)!
I'll update you on Krabi and the progression of my tatt in my next blog.....so look forward to hearing from you all soon
C xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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