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Lin & Phil - Out and About in the Big World...
Hi there,
So I'm on my own now. Well not quite actually, I'm traveling with my parents for a week whilst they boys are out making Thailand unsafe (just kidding guys). They will be spending a few nights in Kho Sok National Park (and probably roughing it a bit) and then heading up to the Death Railway. I on the other side went to the National park today with my parents. I was quite an adventure to say the least. Lots of fun though. Here's a short summary of what I did:
I woke up at 6.00 am this morning (which really annoyed the guys as they weren't getting up untill 8 or so). I finished my packing, took my backpack and went over to my parents room to have breaky. Got on the longtail boat at about 7 am and finally reached the park at around 9.30. I wa absolutely shattered but so exited about being there. We started of with a 2 hour elephant trek in the jungle. I got my own elephant. Her name was Sokhtin and she was 14, a real beauty with a healthy appetite for bananas. We became best buds as I had quite a few of those with me.
Only 5 minutes in to the ride we had our first encounter with a snake. It was about a meter and right in the middle of the path where the elephant was heading. I though the snake would scare the elephant or something like that so I was mighty surprised when te elephant completely squashed it with its foot, not thinking much of it. So that settles it, elephants are the coolest animals ever.
After riding through denser jungle it suddenly dawned on me that I should keep an eye open for snakes and other creepy crawlers that might be among the braches that kept hitting my face. Sure enough, 15 minutes later I had spotted my first giant spider ( had a body like a tarantula but not hairy and had longer legs). It was about 40 cm over my head and I would be lying if I said I wasn't bothered about it. Got past it safe and sound though. Eventually made it to a waterfall with a small lagoon. I got off my elephant so she could splash some water on her self whilst I decided to explore the waterfall a bit further. Found a few lizards playing right next to it and a few fishies swimming around in the lagoon. Gave my elephant e few more bananas and and she was as happy as ever.
Later got back up on my elephant again but this time without my elephant driver. I felt confident enough to ride on her neck on my own. I was the best feeling ever. After saying goodbye to the elephants we went to Kho Sok river where we had a lunch (Thai food) with some canadian people.
We spent the afternoon canoeing down Kho Sok river. The river had dense jungle on both sides. It only took a few min before I had spotted the first poisonous snake hanging on a branch over the water. I had my canoe right under it when I first spotted it. Again, I was slightly concerned about this. My guide said "don't worry. If it bites you I will take you to the hospital". I couldn't think of anything else to reply but "ohh thanks, great ". Through out the trip I spotted lots of exotic lizards, butterflies and other wildlife. Therefore it came as a surprise when my guide said it was time to jump in the river an go for a swim. I wasn't having any of that (take in to account I had just seen a massive head of something coming up to the surface and the disappearing again). I let my guide play tarzan with another crazy german dude called Peter.
I think it was around that time I discovered why Rainforests deserve their name so well. The sky opened up and we were in the middle of one f the heaviest rains I have ever encountered. I was soaking wet within 5 seconds. I didn't really care about that too much though as I was busy studying the massive plants and trees along the river. But then I realised we had a problem when the rain didn't seem to stop and the water level in my canoe was raising rapidly and the canoeing trip suddenly had become more of a white water rafting trip due to the massive amounts of water coming down from the mountains into the river. The water turned from being a lovely blue grey colour to being all muddy in a mater of seconds. I asked my guide who was sitting behind me if e could hand over the paddle so could paddle whilst he could scoop out the water witch was surrounding him at his end of the canoe. It worked well. Although we had to do this quite a few times as the rain just wouldn't stop.
All in all I had an extremely eventful day. Not entirely sure if my parents would have done had I not dragged them along though. Can only hope it will be as good for the guys when they visit the park tomorrow. I on the other and am catching a flight to Bankok to head towards the boarder of Cambodia.
Lots of Love,
A slightly drunk and very tired Linda
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