Khao Sok

Khao Sok National Forest

Leaving Koh Tao, I emailed my uncle letting him know that I should arrive at their hotel in Khao Sok at 1PM. Since we were in fact, still in Thailand, I told him that I would realistically arrive around 2 or 3PM.

Originally, I had wanted to get there long before they did, and surprise them by jumping out of a tree or something, dressed as Tarzan. Unfortunately, the boat schedule made that scenario impossible.

So instead, I got to their hotel in Khao Sok around 4pm.
When I met them in the hotel lobby, I was ecstatic.

I hugged and kissed them all before we all sat down in the lounge area of the lobby.


We hadn't seen each other in over a year; they wanted to hear all about my trip, and I wanted to be updated on everything going on in their lives.




The hotel they had booked was a million steps above the places I had been staying at.
It was some sort of forest resort.
The hotel "rooms" were actually tree houses.
Legitimate tree houses.
And, AND, they had hot water showers! I wasn't used to this kind of luxury!
I slept on a thin mattress on the floor in their room and I loved every second of it.

That first day, they had booked an elephant ride thing.
Even though I had already done it in Chiang Mai  and hadn't enjoyed it, I did it with them again.

Once again, I didn't like riding the poor beaten and chained elephants, but I loved riding it with my little cousin Juliette! We laughed so hard.　Halfway tｈｒough the ride, our guide jumped off of the elephant and let me sit on the thing's neck. So, laughing like maniacs, I road on the front while Juliette sat on the seat and cheered me on.




The next day, my uncle had booked some lake tour adventure day.　None of us really had any idea what to expect.

What we ended up doing was better than we could have imagined.
After an hour or so car ride, we arrived to the National Park. Apparently, the King decided to set this land asside a few decades ago. He kicked out all of the peasants living in the area, built a dam, and flooded the area. The result is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen.

When we arrived, they put us on these small longtail boats. The boats were funny in and of themselves. The "captains" had taken car seats and assembled them inside the boat as captain chairs.



We figured that we'd be on the boat a couple minutes just to arrive to the other side of the lake...well we were wrong. This lake is humongous!
It took one entire hour of SPEEDING down the lake to get to the trekking area, but we were no where near the end of the lake.

After riding for about 30 minutes, taking in the view, I couldn't help but feel like I had seen this before.
Then it hit me. The place looked just like Jurassic Park.

Dinosaurs popped up right after I snapped this photo.

I told my Uncle and Antoine. They agreed. See for yourself.

And then we found the Loch Ness monster. It's in Thailand, that's why no one's seen it.

We followed our guide through the forest. He was explaining that since this is a protected sanctuary, there are wild elephants and monkeys that roam the forests, but that they tend to stay away from humans. Besides, in real life, monkeys are aggressive and suck, but that story is for a later blog.

The guide pointed out all the d\various types of bamboo that grew in the forest. Apparently, bamboo grows at the alarming rate of 60 cm or 24 inches per day!
I'm no bamboo scientist, but I am a doctor, and that growth rate is impressive.

Here's my uncle, wrestling a tree.

After climbing through the bamboo maze, we made it to the cave.


They tell us that at one point, we would be entirely submerged in water within the cave.

Then they tell us all to take out our flashlights.
Uhh, what flashlights?!
Apparently, our hotel had forgotten to tell us we would need our own flashlights.

So they gave my uncle a headlamp, and I used the flash on my phone.
My two girl cousins Charlotte and Juliette, followed close to me and my phone.


Somehow, we ended up, along with one of the guides, at the very front of the group.
I can't stress how black it was in that cave.
No light from the outside made it in.
And it's Thailand, so there is no electricity in there.
It's either your flashlight, or you are blind.
Luckily, I've been Batman since Cambodia so my night-vision eyeballs made things easier.
Also, there were thousands of bats in the cave.




So as Charlotte, Juliette, the guide and I are 5 minutes ahead of the rest of the group, the guide stops. He then shines his light to a bottomless water pit and points to Charlotte, then he says:
"You, go."
Concerned she asks, "Uh, are you sure? Okay...."

She bravely takes the first step and we all discover the water is only thigh deep.

Eventually, I had to put my phone in the guide's waterproof bag, but before I put it away, I snapped one last pictures of the cousins inside the cave.

By the end of the dark cave adventure, my aunt Helen was holding on the me in order not to sprain any ankles.

We just did not have nearly enough flashlights.

But screw it, no light made it that much more fun and adventurous!

Getting to the other side of the cave, we all rejoiced and took pictures submerged in the cave water.

Floating like the thugs that we are.

After trekking back to the boat, we were starving and ready for lunch.

There is nothing on this lake. No towns bordering it, no tourist boats, nothing.

Only the handful of longtail boats the government allows to ferry people around.

So when we pulled around a corner and saw floating bamboo huts on the lake, it was a pleasant surprise. And it a postcard worthy scene.



Juliette had shown me how to change the mode on my camera, so I could take more artsy fartsy photos. Thanks Juliette, here's the result of her genius:




And that is the end of my artsy photographer career.
I had to stop at the top of my game, like Michael.
Phelps, not Jordan.


When we got back that night we smoked some Hookah as a family.
It was actually hilarious, because other than Antoine and myself, no one else had done it before.
We sat around, smoking hookah, drinking Chang and just having a good time.

We were supposed to stay another day and night in Khao Sok. However, my aunt and uncle love to change the plan all the time and be spontaneous, which I absolutely love.

Therefore, when they asked how I felt about going to Krabi the next day, I enthusiastically agreed.

That night, during dinner, I got online and found us a last minute hotel room in Krabi.
And by hotel room, I of course mean a 1000ft2 (100m2)  3-bedroom, 2-bathroom villa with pool for just under $100 for all 6 of us.




I love Thailand.