Khao Sok National Park 3/24/14-3/28/14

Khao Sok
The day we left Surin we were brought by speedboat back to the one horse town of Kuraburi. At the pier we were picked up by the Woman from the Am and Tom company. In the car we asked her what time the next bus to Takua pa was. She told us that the last one departed at 4. I looked at my watch; it was was 3:50. Once again time was on our side. We hurried to the bus station, bought our ticket, and hopped on the bus with out a minute to spare. The ride to Takuapa was a short one. As soon as we hopped off the bus ,we saw a minivan preparing to depart to  Khao Sok. With our luggage we ran to the van, and made our way to the last two empty eats in the back. Forty five minutes later we arrived at Khao Sok national park, where we were greeted by a crew of men,all of whom competitively tried to get our business. They all offered the same service, a night stay at a bungalow, tours of the park, and transportation. We picked a random one, and lucky for us it was a great choice. We were taken by car to a small guesthouse about a mile from where the minivan dropped us off. For 250 baht we were given a bungalow with the basics; a bed and toilet. Our's came with a familiar roommate. At the top of our wall, under the ceiling, we spotted a Tokay gecko. It was a little bit smaller than the one we had in our apartment in Chiang Mai, but had the same coloring and made the same tokay sounds.In the lobby of our guesthouse, we were able to  purchase a two day,one night organized trip to the lake. Although the lake is part of the national park, it is about an hour drive past the park headquarters and hotels, making it a bit of a challenge to visit. For this reason it is less often visited by tourists. This being said it is by far the prettiest part of the national park, and definitely worth the extra money and time to get there. The next morning we arrived with our tour group at the pier around ten am. From there our tour guide, lead our group into a long tail boat, that we then took to the floating houses. The ride over was beautiful. Limestone cliffs topped with lush green jungle popped out of the crystal clear turquoise water. The topography was unlike anything I had seen before. The place was majestic and mysterious in all its natural beauty,and aside from the six floating houses, the lake was practically uninhabited by people. But the true inhabitants of the park were the thousands of species of birds, snakes, reptiles, and mammals that roamed the ground and glided through the canopies. After a quick hour boat ride we arrived at the floating houses;a series of simple wooden shacks strung together by loosely nailed wooden planks, connected to a floating dining area with five picnic tables.In each room there was a mattress and a mosquito net. It was as simple as it could get. The only electricity was in the dining area between the hours of 6pm-10pm. It was basic, but met all of our needs. In addition, meals and  access to kayaks were included in our stay. Our first day at the lake we participated in all of the tour group activities. We swam, hiked, explored a cave, and went on a night safari. The lake was great for swimming, it was clean, and the water was warm. The land surrounding the lake was dense jungle with few hiking trails, because of this the area can only be explored with a tour guide. Our guide was a riot, he was a young thai guy with a great sense of humor. Through out our hike he would hide in bushes and jump out to scare people. He would laugh and sing, and always made sure everyone had a good time. The highlight of our hike was exploring the cave. I have been in some pretty amazing caves in my life, but nothing compared to this experience. This was the real deal,no special lighting, and informational plaques, just raw untouched darkness.The ceiling of the cave was covered with thousands of bats, along with the most beautiful stalagmites.The floor was moistened with water,and in some spots there were small pools with  fish and toads. At one point in our cave hike our tour guide pulled a great prank. He grabbed a very large toad ,and  asked one of the guys in the group if he would hold his camera, then handed the guy the toad. His scream echoed through the cave as he grabbed what he thought was the camera.It was hilarious. About half way through the cave our walking path became very narrow. At one point the water was so deep that only our heads were above the surface. There were a few points where I had to tiptoe to keep my head above the water, and walk side ways to fit between the huge boulders.It was a thrilling and incredibly adventurous experience. After an hour of climbing over slippery boulders in water up to our necks, we finally saw sunlight which guided us out of the cave and back into the jungle. Everyone in the group had their preconceived notions of what the cave would be like, but it was unanimous , we were all blown away by the intensity of our cave exploration. After the cave we were taken back to the floating houses where we were served an amazing dinner of  fish, curry, rice, watermelon, pineapple, stir fry chicken and veggies, and omelets. Everyone enjoyed the food. In between bites of rice, we introduces ourselves and made conversation. There was a family of four from Marin County, a couple from San Francisco, six people from Holland, and a couple from Estonia. Everyone's gregarious nature made it easy to socialize. We talked about where we were from, our impressions of Thailand, and of our traveling experiences. We told everyone about Ko Rok, and of all the interesting things we saw. When we mentioned monitor Lizards, no one had heard of them, so we took out or camera and showed them pictures. Everyone was amazed. It was nice being able to share our experiences and stories with others, as well as hear theirs. For this reason, I love being part of tour groups, not only do you get to do fun activities, but you get to meet people from around the world and  in turn learn about their home country. After we stuffed our tummies with delicious food, our guide took us on a night safari. We all piled into the long tail boat, and road out into the lake. He stopped the boat near the shore and shone a large spot light into the trees. There were many nocturnal animals at the lake and the night safari was the perfect opportunity to spot some of them. Because our tour guide was constantly telling jokes and pulling pranks, none of us believed him when he pointed to the trees and yelled bear. Everyone laughed in disbelief. He responded in a very convincing tone ," no, I don't joke. Its really a bear." It wasn't until someone in the group said they saw it too, that we believed him. Sure enough, we saw a small furry black thing hanging from the tree eating fruit. It was a cat bear. After the night safari, the boat brought us back to the floating houses where we spent the rest of our night socializing in great company. The next morning we woke up to the echoing sounds of gibbons and hornbills. At seven am, everyone in our tour met at the longboat for our morning ride. With our coffee cups in hand we lazily climbed on board and enjoyed the slow ride around the shores of the lake. Early morning was the best time to spot gibbons.After a few minutes of scanning the tops of the canopies we saw gibbons, pig tailed macaques, and hornbills. My favorite was the gibbon. As the sun began to rise higher in the sky the animal sightings became fewer, and we made our way back to the floating house for a pancake breakfast. After breakfast, everyone in the tour packed their things and left the floating houses. Ryan and I stayed behind. We had arranged with the tour guide to stay an extra night at the floating houses, and depart back to town with a different group the next day. After the tour left, we had the place to ourselves.  Ryan and I took this opportunity to do some exploring of our own. We kayaked for over three hours. There was so much to see! The lake was massive, fingering off into side coves and islands. After hours of exploring we kayaked back to the floating houses, exhausted and hungry. For dinner we were served a gourmet six course meal. The food was delicious. We ate to our hearts content. With happy tummies we made our way back to our floating house and finished our night viewing all the amazing pictures and videos we had taken earlier that day. The next morning our alarm went off at 5:45am, signaling that it was time to jump in the kayaks and look for wildlife. The lake looked exceptionally beautiful. The water was a dark  blue, and the jungle capped limestone cliffs  were illuminated orange from the rays of the emerging sun. We rode through the coves stopping along shore to listen to the echoing sounds of gibbons in the trees. We spotted a few hornbills flying overhead, but the most incredible wildlife sighting we had was a small ringtailed macaque. He was high up in the canopy watching Ryan and I as we approached shore in our kayaks. As we got closer he became aggressive and territorial , jumping up and down, breaking large tree limbs, and making crazy sounds. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen from a wild animal. We watched in amusement from our kayaks, enjoying the jungle show this monkey was putting on for us. I felt like it was something straight out of national geographic. We watched for a while, and then made our way back to the floating houses where we packed our things, ate breakfast, and left with the morning tour group.Before going back to the pier the tour guide stopped at one of the beautiful limestone cliffs in the middle of the lake. It was absolutely stunning. The cliff was nested in a small cove surrounded by other tall limestone cliffs,each capped with luscious green jungle terrain.The sky looked extra blue and beautiful with soft white clouds drifting by. The crystal clear water  was even more spectacular with the reflection of the limestone cliffs and jungle tops cascading over its surface . When the boat pulled up to shore we all got out, and continued by foot on a hiking trail. Ryan and I led the group through the jungle, over boulders, and around bushes until we came to a clearing. At this point we had been hiking for an hour and were more than happy to be  greeted by a few Thai men who set up a lunch of fried rice, watermelon, and pineapple for everyone. We sat in the warm sun, eating our lunch, and taking in our beautiful surroundings. After lunch we had thirty minutes to swim before we journeyed back to the pier. Ryan and I took this time to take one last dip in the refreshing water, and capture a few more pictures, to add to the already hundreds of pictures and videos we had from our journey. When the thirty minutes was up, we all piled back in the long tail and made our way back to the pier.When we arrived, twenty of us, plus massive amounts of luggage, were crammed into a twelve person van.Luckily Ryan and I were the first to be dropped off. The tour guide took us to the bus stop in Takuapa. From there we caught an hour long minivan ride to Sathani where we were dropped off at the bus station. A few hours later we were on a night bus from Sathani to Bangkok. The ride was 17 hours long, but went by surprisingly quick. I was happy we paid the extra hundred baht for the nicer bus. The chairs were cushioned and reclined, water and snacks were provided, and they even stopped and fed us dinner. Why dont people ride more buses in Thailand? When our bus got to Bangkok I was immediately happy that we were only there to switch buses. The smog, the traffic, the pollution, it was enough for me to feel insane from inside the bus. When we got to the bus station, we meandered through the crowd and aimlessly walked around looking for a ticket booth. The bus terminal was huge, and not as easy to navigate as the last bus stops, luckily Thai people are very friendly, and if you show any sign of being lost, you will be approached and asked if you need help. With the guidance of a friendly employee we were pointed to the right direction. At the ticket booth we bought a ticket to the next bus to Sukothai. Fortunately, we only had to wait an hour. The ride to Sukothai was five hours, and felt longer than our 17 hour ride to Bangkok, partially because we were awake for the whole ride, and partially because it looked like we were driving through the Midwest. Flat grasslands and rundown houses were all we saw for hours. Around 3pm we reached our destination.