Our journey in Bangkok ended with Sam and I attempting to do laundry in one of the many washing machines that are conveniently located on the street for 20 baht. We were going to use a laundromat, but since it was the King’s birthday, and we were desperate, we tried one of these. The washing went okay, but the dryer didn’t work, and we didn’t have a place or the time to hang the wet clothes. So, we arrived to Khao Sok with damp, stinky clothes.
We opted to take the night train rather than an airplane to Surat Thani mostly because we wanted the experience of sleeping in a train. Surprisingly, the price was virtually the same for both options. Of course, I insisted on arriving to the train station two hours early to pick up our tickets and to make sure we could find the station. Picking up the tickets and finding our platform took less than fifteen minutes, and we had two hours to kill with our backpacks. We went to a restaurant for dinner and to wait, and were greeted by a very nice man who turned out to be the owner of the restaurant. The food was average, and we put our packs back on to head over the train station to wait.
The train to Surat Thani left at 7:30pm, and we boarded with several other backpackers. The train looked dated, but the amenities were very comfortable. The seats were turned into bed by a very efficient and overworked crew member- she could be seen sprinting up and down the aisles at the call of the conductor. Sam and I opted to sleep together in the lower berth with all of our bags because we were a little nervous that someone might try to take something. An extremely bumpy night of sleep, and twelve hours later, we arrived to Surat Thani where we planned to take a bus to Khao Sok.
After a short, yet majestic trip to Khao Sok, we arrived at Jungle Huts, where we stayed. The trip to our bungalow was full of landscape I’d never seen before. Dense jungle, sharp limestone cliffs, and vibrant blue skies as far as I could see. Our bungalow is free standing, so we don’t share any walls with anyone else. It is a nice room, with dangerous stairs and vibrant plant/animal life- which we would find out the next morning. The entrance to Khao Sok national park is minutes from our bungalow, and there are quite a few other hotels/bungalows/hostels all in the very tiny town right outside of the park.
We went to the Khao Sok National Park entrance, and paid our way in, which was 300 baht each. We set off on the main trailhead, hoping to reach Wing Hin Waterfalls, which was pretty much as far as we were allowed to go without a guide. Bamboo nearly 100ft tall leaned over the trail, and the jungle was so dense with exotic flora that we couldn’t see beyond ten feet outside of the trail. It was a bit muddy from the rain the night before, but very manageable. Most other people had tour guides, and we overheard one guide showing a group a large spider called the golden orb web spider. In a beautifully woven web, this spider with golden spots was easily five inches long. Sam, shockingly, wasn’t too terrified. It turns out, that its only the “hairy” ones that really freak him out.
About a mile and a half later, we arrived to a sign that said “Wing Hin” with an arrow pointing left. We stumbled down the narrow trail, when I noticed a black smudge on my big toe. Little did I know, it was not a black smudge, but a big, fat, blood-sucking leech. I felt like Gordie, in Stand By Me, when he finds a leech on his penis. My experience was a bit less intimate, but freaked me out all the same. We continued on along the river, hopping from one very slippery rock to the next. The groups that had been behind us, beat us to the waterfall because we had taken the much more treacherous route. The waterfall was a smaller, yet beautiful flowing cascade of white water flowing between the trees in the jungle. To actually get under the waterfall, you had to cross a river, which I did not want to do, but Sam did.
As we continued on the trail, we came to the end of where we were allowed to go without a guide. However, we were warmly greeted by Macaques and Lutungs joyfully jumping from vine to vine. It was an amazing thing to be able to see monkeys so close that weren’t near a house or trash. There were baby Macaques tumbling around on the ground, and large Lutungs gracefully swinging around as if to put on a show for us. After watching for quite some time, we headed back to the trailhead to find the next trail. We had planned to go to the Bang Hua Rat waterfall, but after a few minutes into the walk, it appeared as though the ground was moving. Upon closer examination, there were leeches covering every square inch of the trail. I insisted that we turn around, and when I rinsed my feet in the river (fun fact: the leeches don’t live in the rivers, only in the moist jungle) I freaked out when I found another leech on my foot.
All in all, Khao Sok was an amazing experience, and I would recommend it to anyone planning on traveling in Thailand.
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