on a longboat to a local night market.
On the way home our guide told us to
look out for fireflies in the trees. At first
we couldn’t see anything but then all
of sudden you notice them. They look
like flickering Christmas lights and the
amazing thing is that they synchronise
their flashes.
Khao Sok – National Park
I decided to stay an extra night with the
tour group so that I could visit Khao Sok
National Park. The park is 10 hours south
of Bangkok so we had to take the night
train. I’d heard mixed things about the
night trains so I boarded our carriage a
little apprehensive about what I might
find. In fact the beds were very clean
with freshly laundered sheets. The only
trouble was the humidity. It was a toss
up between sleeping on the top bunk
to be closer to the fan or on the bottom
bunk where you could open the window
but at the risk of being eaten to death
by mosquitos. In the end I chose the top
bunk and all things considered, I got a
fairly good night’s sleep. This was my
first encounter with a squat toilet so I had
put off going all night. Unfortunately in
the morning the brakes on the train had
broken and we had no idea how long
it would take for us to be on the move
again. Therefore I had to give in and
brave the toilet. Apart from the smell it
wasn’t too bad but I think it would have
been a good deal harder to balance had
the train been moving!
Khao Sok National Park is a collection
of limestone rocks, lakes and oldest
evergreen rainforest in the world. We
were staying on floating bungalows in
the middle of the park and the only way
to travel there was by longboat. The
journey to the bungalows took about 50
minutes and it was breath-taking. The
bungalows themselves were little huts
with just a mattress on the floor and were
attached to a larger floating structure
62
which housed a restaurant and toilets. It
took a while to get used to the constant
bobbing up and down which made us
all feel like we’d had slightly too much to
drink.
There was limited electricity and no phone
signal so we really did feel cut off from the
world. That evening we enjoyed a dinner
of fresh fish from the lake and then did
some stargazing. The next day we trekked
through the jungle which is home to tigers,
jaguars, elephants, bears and boars.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) we only saw
some monkeys hanging out in the trees.
We took a bamboo raft over to Coral
Cave. This 10,000 year old cave has some
amazing rock formations, the most famous
of which is shaped like an elephant which
sparkles due to the salt crystals.
I was sad to leave Khao
Sok especially as it
meant I had reached
the end of my time with
the tour group and I
was being left to fend
for myself. After saying
my goodbyes in Krabi
I went to find the hotel
I had pre-booked. I
was relieved to find my
choice lived up to the
TripAdvisor reviews
I was sad to leave Khao Sok especially
as it meant I had reached the end of my
time with the tour group and I was being
left to fend for myself. After saying my
goodbyes in Krabi I went to find the hotel
I had pre-booked. I was relieved to find
my choice lived up to the TripAdvisor
reviews. I had a four-poster bed, waterfall
shower and was in the heart of Krabi
town. The old Krabi town was lovely but
the further you travelled south the more
touristy it became.
The next day I travelled to the island of
Phi Phi which was about an hour’s boat
ride. After re-packing by backpack for
what felt like the hundredth time I headed
to the ferry. About half way through the
journey a huge black cloud appeared
over the island. Just as we pulled into
the po rt the heavens opened and I got
drenched to the skin in the five minute
walk to my hotel. I had decided to go in
monsoon season and up until this point
I had been incredibly lucky with the
weather. The stormy weather continued
into the evening so I didn’t do much
exploring until the next day. I had heard
that the best scenery was from the
viewpoint which was a short but intense
trek up the limestone ridge of the island.
However the view at the top is definitely
worth the hike. I went quite early in
the morning which I would definitely
recommend as I was one of only three
people there. There are huge rocks used
as viewing platforms and I must have
spent at least an hour staring at the
amazing view.
The island was all but destroyed in the
2004 tsunami and at the viewpoint you
could really appreciate the devasation
that must have been caused. 70 per cent
of the island’s buildings were destroyed
and an estimated 4,000 people were
killed. The island seemed to be almost
fully recovered now with only a few
constructions still ongoing.