BY GOLLY - WHAT A PAST FEW DAYS!!

You know how I said in my last blog that I may not be able to write a blog for some time but that the next blog would be jam-packed with crazy stuff. Well, I couldn't have been more right. I feel the best place to start is from the beginning, so from the beginning I shall start.

After writing last time, I had little time left in Bangkok. So, no time for souvenirs unfortunately :( Worst bit about that is that it's apparently one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) place in Thailand! Complete opposite of England and other European destinations where the capital is the most expensive! Anyway, I ended up picking up some Pringles and a bottle of water for the overnight train. I also took out a bit of cash, given that Khao Sok wouldn't have many ATMs (according to my group leader).

That evening, we get a ride to the train station (packed with Thais seated in a huge building - similar to Victoria station). In this place, there was a huuuuge screen with loudspeakers everywhere, so all waiting could watch TV! Value for money ;)
Anyway, we ended up catching the train and I sat with a couple of fellas from my group tour - Paul and John. We listened to some music thanks to John's portable speakers he picked up in Bangkok for his iPod, whilst we chatted about random topics. Twas a good group bonding session. As the night went on, we went for a few drinks in the last cart - I just had 7up. Some more chatting with some of the group - John, Vic and Fiona. Then, we went to bed in our bunks on the train after John and I had a long discussion about the economic state of the country. I slept in the top bunk, some random Thai below me and others of the group spread nearby.

I went to bed around 0200 and was then tapped on my shoulder whilst sleeping on the top bunk at about 0500 Monday morning. It was a Thai gentleman saying 'Suwathani' to me. Thinking he was trying to sell me something (like many had come by and attemped to do during the previous evening on the train), I said 'no, thank you'. He said again, 'Suwathani'. I said, 'no, thank you'. He walked on and continued patting passengers asleep on their shoulder. I then realised that he was the wake-up call. I saw my group leader, asked her if this was our stop and she replied that it was. We rushed off as the train arrived much earlier than anticipated at Suwathani.

After some breakfast and a good chat with the group, we headed to Khao Sok where the national park of Thailand - also the oldest park in the world - is. It was asolutely stunning and the drive there was equally beautiful. Mountains surrounded the secluded area of the forest. Only problem with that is the internet is expensive to use due to lack of competition!
We stayed in a guesthouse owned by some lovely Thai people. After arriving there and having a drink, a few of us (the four guys including myself) decided to not waste any time and do a jungle trek to a huge and apparently beautiful waterfall. Perfect opportunity to use my trekking boots! Bad idea. We started off and the terrain was okay. Paid 200 Baht for a park pass and then started the trail. Then, as we reached the jungle, we were trekking over very difficult jungle terrain (in the words of a former Cadet who's part of my group and has done a lot of trekking). And so it began.

 [Continued Apr 5th 07]

We often switched leader of the four of us (John, Paul. Alan and I). As we went on, the terrain got rougher and rougher. We were jumping down from hills to steps the width of an iPod. We were using trees as leverage (sometimes wrongly when they broke). We leaped across rocks near waterfalls (often slipping into the water and drenching all our clothing). We even had times where we hung on for dear life as we fell down narrow, sandy paths surrounded by trees and all sorts of wild plants.

To top off the difficult terrain, we had the animals in the jungle to worry about. I'm not talking, monkeys or snakes (okay, there were some snakes). I'm talking LEECHES. These tiny little slithery things literally slither their way around. Most were the width of an ink cartridge in a Biro and their length averaged at 3 cm. Thing is, they went through socks and shoes. They use their teeth to. Then, once they've reached your skin, they suck your blood. This jungle was crawling with hundreds if not thousands of them. The others warned me about it. but even they weren't prepared for what was coming. They only knew that the main way of getting a leech off is not pulling it (as it leaves its teeth in leaving a severe bite mark and also hurts) but setting it alight. Yes. Alight with a match/lighter. My lighter in my first aid kit, I was ready. However, I wasn't the first to notice the leech. Paul felt one on his shin. Panic swept through the group. Everyone wanted to check themselves whilst equally wanting to see what we were looking for by looking at Paul's shin. He quickly removed his shoe and sock, and we saw a leech hanging and slithering on his leg. He got his lighter very quickly and gave it to John to burn the leech off. It wasn't lighting. Paul tried. It didn't work. I tried - no luck. So, I got out my lighter as quick as possible and lit it successfully before bringing it towards the leech sucking on Paul's leg. I saw the blood melt from it's body and it slowly detach its legs. Paul flinched from the heat so close to his leg. Eventually it fell and job done. Then, John noticed one on him before Alan did on himself. Some tried shaking them off, pulling them off or again lighting them. So, the lighter went around the group. Needless to say, this happened many times before we realised, the best thing to do was not give the leeches the chance to settle in. We had to keep moving to make it to the waterfall. It was the only way.

[Continued Apr 6th 07]

We made a few more stops ear and there but otherwise carried on making our way through surrounding trees, across sandy paths, slippery rocks and rivers, and climbing up and jumping down hills of the jungle.

After a long, tiring and painful journey, we had all made it to the waterfall. Worth it? Definitely. Maybe not 100% for the waterfall, but somewhat for the sake of doing it. It was my first trek. I had done a very difficult 6km trek (according to my former cadet friend and group member, Paul). It was a great accomplishment and was even more fulfilling seeing the stunning waterfall and clear water. As we relaxed in glory and washed ourselves of the sweat that had been pouring from our pores throughout the journey under the Thai heat, we realised that our time to bathe in accomplishment would be cut short. We needed to make it back for tubing in the afternoon.

After only ten minutes at the waterfall, we had to get our boots on, take a water break, and get trekking back. The trek back was going to be hard. I could feel my legs hurting and honestly didn't believe I could make it the whole way back. If anything, I thought I could only make it three quarters of the way back. I wanted a longer break but realised the urgency. So, we began with Alan in front and Paul behind. Then I came with John behind me. Thing is, the gaps between us were getting bigger (especially between me and Paul). I needed more rest and my legs were telling me that. It wasn't long before I could no longer see Paul ahead of me in the jungle, as John and I fought through stinging nettles. We then realised that we hadn't seen Paul and Alan in a while. We'd reached another river we didn't remember crossing so near to the main one. So, we called out for the other guys. I heard a shout back in the jungle but on the other side from where we came. It didn't seem close. We had taken the wrong path.

For a while, we weren't sure what to do. John suggested following the river to civilisation. He said he'd heard that was what to do. I suggested we go back to the main waterfall. If the other guys didn't return, we'd at least see a German guy who also trekked there and was relaxing. We went back into the to the waterfall after 10-20 minutes of discussion and began wondering what to do. We agreed on having John lead to follow the path back. Having traversed the path once already, it should've been easy to keep to it. It wasn't. This was the oldest jungle in the world; it was full of trees and annoying plants, had rough terrain, and was under the boiling sun. We started the path back home again and kept to it before once again getting lost. We knew we were lost when we saw an unfamiliar path (well, when John did because my memory is rubbish). We'd seen signposts along the trek to the waterfall. As long as we saw them, we knew we were on the right path. We didn't. So, we walked around and sometimes traced out steps back to the path we were on, looking for alternate routes. Sometimes we won with our guesses, sometimes we lost. At one point, we were lost again at another river crossing. After falling into the river many times due to the lack of grip I had on my trekking boots whilst extremely wet (even causing me to fall over and open a wound on my left elbow which John had to bandage), I walked up the river and thought I saw a path. I did. We joined it and were home free. Only, we weren't exactly. The path was fine. We knew we had to keep going, one foot infront of the other. We knew we couldn't stop because of leehes slithering through our socks and boots. So, we continued. The only thing that prevented me from trekking on was severe fatigue. The 6km trek had taken it out of me and, now that we had got lost a few times, we'd covered some extra distance. Instead of a total 12km trek there and back, it turned into 14km. My legs were giving up on me. I couldn't even lift my knees to climb steep hills or mountain climb the odd rock wall. I was knackered, shattered and ready to lay down and collapse. I was rationing my water and even found going downhill a challenge. Plus, falling over many times didn't help. At one point, I was slowly creeping over a narrow path from where there were only two ways - on the narrow path towards the jungle, or down a long way. I slipped. Somehow, I hung onto a branch and my foot was sliding on a bit of sand on the side of the path. John looked back, grabbed my water from my hand before giving me a hand back up to the path. It was definitely a scary but empowering experience. I slipped a few times on the wet/dodgy rocks by the waterfalls as well as on climbs up/down. This was partly due to fatigue and partly due to the state of my boots. They'd been through a lot on this one trek alone. It was certainly a tough endurance test.

By the final stretch, I was struggling. One foot infront of the other felt like a mile-long walk. Climbing up felt like lifting a tonne of bricks from each knee. I stopped for water a few times and was now losing the pace. We realised we needed toget back as quick as possible to avoid those back at the guesthouse worrying about us. Somehow, some way, one step infront of the other worked despite all the odds I faced against me at the time. As much as I got knocked down, I picked myself back up and did the same again. Jogn remarked how I not only got up, but smiled and told a joke about it too! At the end of the day, it was the toughest thing I've ever done. My endurance was tested to its limits. But, that's what you do it for. At this age and with this opportunity, you do these treks and different activities. You test your limits and try things for the first time. It's what it's all about. Although at the time I felt like I couldn't finish in a million years, I put a brave face and carried on. I knew that it was mind over matter. So, I did it. A 12km trek (plus distance travelled getting lost). And, to top it all off, we saw a fantastic waterfall. No longer will I use London slang to describe a journey as a 'trek'. Now I know what a trek truly is, I think it'll be a while before a journey in London on TFL's comfy buses, trams, tubes or trains will ever compare to what I've experienced in Khao Sok; home to the oldest jungle in the world. 

As we walked out the jungle wet, covered in mud and not caring how many leeches were sucking our blood, I searched for the first place selling a cold drink. I didn't care if the drink was 30 Baht (50p) or 30,000 Baht (500 quid) - I craved a cold drink. I eventually found a small hut selling Pepsi in the bottle nearby the jungle. I got the drink, paid with wet money and took the drink out the bar. I was then called back by bar staff. They took my bottle and poured it into a plastic bag before putting a straw in it and handing it to me. I had no idea why (the Thai lady behind the bar pointed at the bottle and said, 'for me'), but I just wanted my cold drink. Sucking the Pepsi out a straw, I walked towards the exit. I signed my name out and almost collapsed by the booth where I did. Passers by asked if I was okay (especially after looking at the state of my attire). I assured them I was going to live. We walked on to the guesthouse before being greeted with sighs of relief and eyes open wide with shock when looking at our state. We saw Alan and Paul had made it back earlier and apologised for leaving us. They explained that they went back to the main waterfall but didn't see us. We must have missed them when comtemplating what to do. It was okay anyway - at least there were two of us!

We took of our clothes and checked for leeches. A few were slithering on me but not biting, so I pulled them off. I did, however, notice a few leech bites I hand't felt when trekking. There were two on my stomach (don't know how they got there) and a few around my right foot. My left foot was compltely leech bite free. The only problem was, once you had washed and put some Iodine on the bites, some didn't stop bleeding. I'm guessing some of the leeches took a real good bite and caught a vessel. One by my right ankle incessantly bled whilst the rest eventually stopped. My bandaged wound on my left elbow was eventually plastered as was the leech bite on my right ankle. After a shower, getting changed and having some water, the rest of the group with John and I decided to go tubing! (The fun never stops).

Tubing - so you literally sit in a tyre and float down a river. After a calming drive to a river, we took off our sandals, threw our tyres in the river, before then jumping in the tyre (some more successfully landing in the tyre than others!). It was Vic (goup leader), the group members (Alan, Fiona, John, Paul, Rob and I) and a couple of Thai tour guides. It was the ultimate (and I mean, ultimate) relaxation following a trek. We sat and looked up at a blue sky surrounded by the leaves of palm trees and other forestry blowing in the wind, as we floated down a river. We chatted, laughed, tried to dunk each other in the water and just had a care-free time. A great contrast compared to a morning wondering if you're actually going to come out of a jungle.

After the drive home, we had dinner (though, one of my dishes had nuts in it, so I didn't eat much - nut intoleant, remember?) and Alan, John and I played cards whilst the others went on a jungle safari. They came back telling us that they'd seen a lizard and two frogs. Some safari!

Anyway, that's all for this blog entry. I've added the rest of my adventures in Khao Sok into the next entry, as this one is getting just a tad too long. Carry on for more!

Darryl