Khao Sok National Park & Railay Beach
A surprisingly easy (and thankfully relatively empty and therefore roomy) overnight ferry saw us returning to the mainland and heading west to Khao Sok National Park.
Our wildlife spotting was quickly rewarded as we saw monkeys cavorting in the trees opposite our riverside hut. However, this was surpassed the next morning when they came right onto our balcony and willingly posed for a few photos. The locals see them as nuisances and we heard stories of them taking food right out of peoples hands and stealing things off balconies, but it was still a privilege for us to be so close to them.
We spent a relaxing afternoon floating down the river on large inner tubes from tyres (an activity imaginatively called 'tubing'), spotting a snake perching in the trees above and becoming 'grounded' every now and again as the water became a little bit too shallow!
The next day we headed out to Chiao Lan lake which was formed when the K
On a couple of hikes through the surrounding jungle we came across lizards and chameleons, but unfortunately nothing more exciting than that (elephants, tigers, bears and leopards also live here). A night-time and early morning safari by boat also allowed us to spot monkeys in the trees above, plus a few pairs of eyes peering out shyly when caught in the bright searchlight.
Our tour guide was a slightly strange character. He did himself out of any chance of getting a tip when he guessed David's age as 40 after we had only been in his company for half an hour. He never tired of jumping out of the jungle/water to try to make you jump, he loved nothing better than to knock wet trees so that the person that followed him got a soaking and he almost fell in the water with excitement when late in the day two monkeys gave us a magnificent sex education lesson perfectly silhouetted in the evening sunshine.
After all that excitement, another period of beach relaxation was called for. A short minibus ride took us to Krabi and then onto a long tail boat to get across to Railay beach. This was our first experience of having to wade through shallow water with our bags on to get into a boat - not an easy task by any means!
The limestone cliffs make it easy to see why Railay beach is famed for the climbing opportunities it offers, though we made do with admiring them from the beach. It also offered some fantastic sunsets and the chance to do some more snorkelling, We quickly found a favourite restaurant which served up fantastic Thai food with little ceremony.
After a couple of days here we were ready to head to Malaysia where our first stop will be Georgetown on Penang Island…
hlong Saeng River was damned just 30 years ago to provide electricity for the region. You can see what once must have been huge trees now just sticking out over the water near its edges and islands. The lake is a massive 165km square kilometres. We stayed on a floating raft house made entirely of bamboo and just a step away from swimming in the warm waters of the lake - a truly fantastic experience.