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12/23 - Three minivans and a truck
12/23 - Three minivans and a truck
An early run to a convenience store for trip snacks proved to be far earlier than required, as we ran into that wondrous time-zone "Thai time." The joys of slow traveling include near immunity to woes of travel delays, and our 30-minutes-late and 4-people-over-stuffed first ride of the day was pleasant enough. Those 30 minutes did cost us our easiest transfer, however, and after the majority of the van had been dropped at the local airport, we were shuffled into a second van ours met up with on a side street in town. After a short ride, we were deposited at tour van stop, and were told to wait on a bench until our next van. We spent the indeterminate break reading up on our future locations, and enjoyed the beautiful drive up towards Khao Sok National Park. Our final vehicle of the day was a pickup truck that took us the last mile or two from the edge of town to our lodgings.
The mountainous surroundings and beautiful flora had a price that we did not expect: cicadas. Starting around 4 pm and ending by 7:30, some number (10? 100? 1000?) cicadas began continuously, and I truly mean continuously, generating what can be most accurately approximated as a commercial fire alarm without the pauses. While less than peaceful, we were in need of some dinner, and headed down to the riverside to the sound of cicadas around us and monkey chattering across the river.
Our first van was supposed to have 8, and ended up having 12 people. They even had to force someone to spend the trip on another's lap! It was a 3 year old, but still...
Feelin' totally confident and in control of our situation, on this, the second (of 3) vans we were randomly shuffled onto. On to. Onto. into? someone email us with this is supposed to be
Limestone cliffs on our drive up to Khao Sok.
View from our room!
12/24 - another christmas eve hike
12/24 - another christmas eve hike
Breakfast turned into brunch before we walked the entirety of the small town at the foot of the national park, stopping for a cold drink and to grab snacks for our next travel day, not 48 hours from now!
Towards the evening, we headed up to the national park to explore the small section (<2 miles on a single wide trail) that you are allowed without a guide. With a waterfall destination in mind, we headed off. While the trail was easy to follow, it was rougher than we expected, and Kaia reminded me that this was the SECOND time I had dragged her on a Christmas eve hike, this one considerably warmer. Thinking it was a simple 3 mile round trip walk, we hadn't brought any food or water, and by the time we reached the turn off for the falls, I was beginning to worry. The steep turn off down towards the river was not in fact to the waterfall, but lead to some lovely rapids and some loud frogs that we enjoyed for all of 10 minutes before we had to turn around to make it back before the park closed. We luckily made it back to hydrate in time, and I will never go on anything resembling a hike again without water.
An early dinner in town for our early morning to follow served us well as a line of 20+ people waited outside of Pawn's as we began our walk home.
I feel like this sign kind of promised us a Rafflesia sighting, but turns out, like most flowers, they are seasonal.
12/25 - National Park tour, and a Christmas "miracle"!
12/25 - National Park tour, and a Christmas "miracle"!
After a very early Christmas morning (for us) and Christmas eve (for them) call back to MN, we had a quick breakfast before getting picked up for our national park tour.
Khao Sok national park features a beautiful lake (we later learned was man-made in the 70's to provide electricity and irrigation) with soaring limestone cliffs jutting out from and around it. We were (un)fortunate to grab the front seats in our longtail boat, and the unimpeded views forward came with the unimpeded spray back at us. Thankfully the water was warm(ish) and the views were stunning. After quick stops to walk well-worn paths through a small cave and small area of jungle, we lunched and lounged on a large permanent raft on the lake.
On the ride home, we were slightly weary of being sprayed and were slightly dismayed when our boat took a sharp left turn with the docks just springing into view. Unsure if we had another stop off the boat we had forgotten, we scanned the shore to see what we may be stopping for. Several similar boats were floating offshore ahead of us, and as we looked past them.....oh my god its a wild elephant!
We watched as it took a bath on the side of the lake before it lumbered up into the forest, and we caught a glimpse of the flank of a second elephant that had been waiting for it! Standout things: the ears were much smaller than the typical depiction (probably because those are African elephants that rely on their ears for heat dissipation much more), the spine on a multi-ton land animal is IMPRESSIVE, and it was able to disappear into the forest much faster than I would have thought an animal of its size could become hidden.
Our Christmas miracle behind us, we had a lovely dinner back by the riverside and called home for a Christmas morning (for them) call before bed.
Sitting in the front row of the long boat had its pros, like these uninterrupted views of the lake and surrounding cliffs
Sitting in the front row of the long boat also had its cons, like getting soaking wet from the wake
Breathtaking views from a cave in the cliff
Our very own Christmas miracle!! So majestic!
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