Khao Sok – Waterfall’s and Gibbon Calls!

Day 1 – Welcome to the Jungle

Speaking with the locals the previous day we found that we could get to our next destination, Khao  Lak, by local bus, it being another 60km up north.

After a heavy night before we headed for the 12.00 bus outside the 7-11 on a around the corner on a blisteringly hot day (they were supposed to be on the hour every hour).  When we got to the 7-11 there was no sign of a bus stop so we had to check with a couple of people that this was actually the place to wait.  Anyway come 12.30 nothing had arrived, so we waited to 1.00pm still no sign of it.  As we had been waiting so long a cat decided to curl up around Shell’s legs (see pic below), eventually around 2.00 the bus actually turned up.

 

It was a journey of around 10km before we were deposited at the main terminal, where we learned we would have to get another bus around half an hour later.  So we got a bit of food from the canteen in the terminal whilst we waited – it quite possibly might have been chicken???

We got boarded the second bus and were soon winding through the jungle infested hills and after another 50km we arrived in Khao Sok for our Jungle adventure. 

We got off the bus and dragged our bags down the road for another ½ km to where we found our accommodation for the next couple of nights, The Jungalows (Or Monkey Mansions).  The reception/restaurant/bar area was all wooden and bamboo built, with hammocks and low level cushion seating and the owner, Bastian, seemed like he was permanently stoned. 

 

Once checked in we were shown to our Jungalow, which was set back in the Jungle vegetation.  It too was totally built out of wood/bamboo and had a nice veranda outside.  Once inside you could say it had a lot of ventilation as the eaves were non-existent and quite a lot of gaps in the floorboards.  We had already read in the reviews that you got some visitors during the night and judging by the rat crap on top of the mosquito net it looked like the reviews were going to be proved correct.  Also our en-suite was similar with the roof open to the elements, it also had a large dustbin full of water to assist you if the shower stopped working (If someone else in the other bungalows was using a shower at the same time).

As it was late in the afternoon we decided just to chill in the reception area with a few beers and a couple of Thai curry’s for our dinner.  The music was of a particularly chilled variety and we entertained ourselves watching the resident Gecko’s hunting around the lampshade fitting (this has become a new hobby for us during our travels.  It was only when Shelley noticed some rats using the roof beams as rat-runs she became a bit more disconcerted.

Eventually we went to bed ensuring our mosquito net was well fitted and it wasn’t long after we turned the lights out we began to hear our furry friends running around the roof area.  Shell’s technique of slapped the bed hard and shouting did not seem to deter them.  We were also hearing quite heavy landings on our roof, but didn’t like to speculate on what these might have been.

During the night call of nature came (it happen’s at our age!!) and I had to brave our en-suite/privy, Shell thinking I needed back-up decided to come with me (Although I suspect she was worried about being left alone with the rats!).  Banging the door before we entered to scare anything that may have been lurking within, fortunately no nasties so did what was needed and then back to bed whilst listening to our un-invited guests all night.

Day 2 – Jungle is Massive!!

After a slightly broken and nervous sleep (Shell not Glenn) we emerged for breakfast which we had  in the restaurant area.

We spoke to Bastian and booked an overnight lake trip for the next day and then we decided to do one of the Jungle treks under our own steam.  So around midday we headed to the gates of Khao Sok National Park and headed into the Jungle.

 

The trek started off along a decent path with thick Bamboo and vines on either, we hoped that we wouldn’t bump into any venomous snakes, tigers, leopards or the like, but instead to see the resident Gibbons instead.

After a hour or so we came to a check point/drinks lodge at Bang Hau Rad waterfalls where it appeared we couldn’t go any further without a guide (there was a notice) and the waterfall’s were just a gentle set of rapids.  After a brief rest stop we then learned that you could continue without a guide to waterfall the next 4 Waterfalls and after checking with the lodge this was confirmed.

Setting off again the path became narrower and slightly harder to follow and very few so you just had to follow a path that looked well trodden.  The jungle became thicker and you felt as you were exploring a tropical jungle on your own, only coming across the odd trekker along the way.

After  another hour we followed a path down to the river to see Waterfall number 3, Wang Yao, it was very pretty down there and you could hear the cries of Gibbon’s in the distance, although we could not see them.  Once again not so much of a waterfall but a gentle set of ledges which water ran over.

So we decided to push on to waterfall 4.  The going then got tougher with steep inclines and declines over tree roots, vines and fallen bamboo trees,  and ledges with sheer drops, me having to keep a constant ear out for Bambi on Ice behind me (Shell).

We then got to Waterfall 4, Bang Leap Nam, which was described as having no high waterfall but a few chutes in the river where the entire flow is concentrated.  However yet again whilst beautiful there was indeed not spectacular falls and no sightings of gibbons!

Pressing on and after 6 km of trekking through the jungle we finally arrived at Waterfall 5, Tan Sawam Waterfall.  It was the most pretty of the falls and whilst they were not what I’d actually describe as a waterfall we agreed that we would sit there for a while and contemplate a swim.

 

Half an hour later and still not swimming we thought we should make our way back before it started getting dark as I didn’t  think my survival skills were up to building a shelter and making a fire (despite watching loads of Bear Grills and Ed Stafford over the years!). 

We trekked (Glenn) and stumbled (Shell) back to waterfall 2 and decided to have a rest and a beer in the lodge before heading home.  Whilst we sat there the lady running it said there was a snake in the trees that we should take a look at, when we went over there was a vivid green snake about two feet long.  We later found out from Bastian that it was a Whip Snake and although poisonous it would have to bite your little finger or earlobe and then spend some time chewing the venom in and then only if you were susceptible to anaphylactic shock could it kill you! 

On the way back from there we quickly popped down to waterfall 1, Wing Hin Waterfall which was more of the same, except we managed to see a terrapin chilling out on a rock, which was nice.

 

Returning back to the Jungalow’s late in the afternoon and after a days trekking we decided to be very British and have a few Gin & Tonic’s before going out for an evening meal.

The meal itself was very tasty but that was after about a half hour wait to get served, Shell getting a different dish to the one she ordered and one of my dishes not turning up at all.  On top of this the food came out as and when they felt like it and not altogether.   However we had become accustomed to this in Myanmar as just eat each dish when it turned up.

We returned back to the lodge to have a couple more drinks before bed, we figured that if we got nicely toasted, together with the days hiking that we would get soundly to sleep without Roland and his mates keeping us awake.

Day 3 -  The land that time forgot, Floating Huts & Pot-Holing!

Today after a good night’s sleep, we had a few visitors but more used to it now, we got up early and had breakfast whilst we waited for the Minibus to pick us up for our lake excursion. There were about 12 of us on the bus, mainly French and a few Dutch.  We were amazed to see a French family who had a small daughter of around 7 and a baby which must have been around 1, I thought ‘great we are going to be stuck with a screaming brat for 2 days!’

The minibus then dropped us at some pontoons where we were put onto a long-tail boat and we soon headed out onto the lake.  The scenery was absolutely stunning with large limestone cliffs wherever you could see covered in jungle vegetation.  It was somewhere where you could imagine them filming Jurassic Park with Pterodactyl’s flying all over the place.

 

After about an hour and a half passing this amazing scenery and sunken trees we turned the corner and our accommodation for the night came into view, which again looked incredible.

We were staying in a floating village, which was basically two long pontoon’s with very very small bamboo huts on them which could barely accommodate the two allotted single mattresses in them.   We were each allotted a hut and told to meet in the central communal area for lunch.  Some people were concerned about the lack of mosquito nets in the huts and were told that they were not  needed as the  lake water was too warm at 29 degrees where Mosquito’s didn’t live. Some of the group still insisted but we took our chances, the guy seemed to know what he was doing.

 

 

Lunch was served on long table and consisted of a green curry or chicken and fried rice followed by some fruit.  We then had a short time to ourselves so we went back to our hut along the very rickety  cobbled together pontoon walkways which included wobbly an missing planks  (Des Martin would have spent the day fixing everything for them!!), where we chilled out and admired the view for a short while, whilst other people swam in the lake.

In the afternoon we were back aboard the boat and heading for some trekking in the Jungle and to look at some caves (we had been told to bring head torches for this and very sensible footware).  Heading down a few of the lakes estuaries we were then deposited at an area where we began our trek.

It didn’t start well for some, as we disembarked the boat across some logs a girl fell in!, Fortunately (for Shel) the guide then re-thought the approach and the rest the group scrambled across other boats and made it to the shore dry and unbruised. The French family with the young kids were coming on the trek to but for the mum and baby, only to the outside of the caves.

 

Once again we were trekking through thick jungle criss-crossing through small water inlets and passing old ruins.  After around an hour or so we came to the back exit of the caves and were told to take off our tops and take our head torches with us.

Shell and I were slightly nervous as we had read in a book back at the Jungalow’s about two inexperienced guides who took a party of 8 into the caves during the wet season back in 2007 and half way through they heard a rumbling sound and eight of them including the guides were washed away to their deaths through the caves as there had been a flash flood outside.  The other two, a couple had managed to scramble higher up in the cave and were ok.  However after a while the boyfriend had said he would go and try to get help, but when he went back into the water he was washed to his death as well.  The remaining girl stayed by herself in the darkness until she was rescued some 24 hours later!!

Fortunately for us this was the summer season so very dry and so we continued our hike for a further 20 minutes until we reached the mouth of the cave and were told to don our head torches and we trudged on  into the dark.

 

It started off very gently at first passing into large caverns which contain quite a number of bats, but then slowly but surely the surface became more uneven and we started to wade through water up to our thighs.  Shell was doing really well to keep her footing and then we found ourselves squeezing through narrow passages between large stalagmite formations (fortunately no one in the group was overweight), then plunging down into water up to our chests and wading along.  At one point we had to take hold of a small rope and slide ourselves into more deep water.  We found this was more akin to pot-holing than just visiting a cave system and the system itself was around ½ km in length.  The stalagmite/stalactite formations were fantastic to see but I think everyone was a bit happy once we had squeezed through the small exit to the cave and were back in daylight.

It was a fantastic experience that we were not expecting, but we agreed that there is no way you would be allowed to do that in the UK/Europe without first signing a bunch of disclaimers!!

We then trekked back to the long-tail boat and headed back to the floating village where we had a quick break before going for dinner.  Dinner was some type of large river fish that was really crisped up with some spices and served with veg and rice – very tasty!!

But the day was not over, as it got dark we went on a night safari, once again getting in the long-tail and cruising along the lake banks whilst our guides tried to find some wildlife for us using spotlights to try and pick them up.  The trip lasted about an hour and a half and we apparently spotted tome hornbill birds high up in the canopy (although they could have been plastic models or stuffed from our vantage point in the dark) and a large owl. To be honest this is pretty much what we have come to expect during our wildlife spotting adventure on this trip so far!

Returning to the village we only had time for a couple of beers before it was time to turn in for the night, as the village was powered by a generator it was lights out at 10.30. 

 

We went to bed but having no en-suite and listening to the fish splashing around below us I pretty soon found wanted the toilet.  However the toilets were across two rickety pontoons and a couple of wobbly planks/logs in the dark, so we had to once again wear our head torches so we didn’t end up in the lake.

Later during the night I woke (Not Shell) and needed the facilities once again, but I had heard a few of our neighbours during the night just open their door and top up the lake, so I decided to take this option rather than risk a dunking – sorry fish!!

Day 4 – Bathing local stylie

We woke early at 6.00am, mosquito free.  The packed program included a couple more trips that began at 6.30 so first we had to get showered.  Having no shower the option open to us was the lake, so after we saw one of our neighbours take the plunge we put on our swimmers and jumped in and then got out soaped up and plunged in again – this may sound hard core but the lake was still about 29 degrees even at this time in the morning.

Our next activity was another boat safari this time hoping to catch animals coming down for a drink early in the morning.  Again there was not a lot of action for a while, eventually though some small monkeys were spotted in the trees playing and eating and they were soon joined by a number of large hornbill birds who made a fantastic noise when they flapped their wings.

After a while we left them and continued going where we came to a part of the lake that had loads of water submerged trees poking out which made a nice photo.

Again this lasted for around 1 ½ hours and then we were taken back to the floating village for breakfast, which turned out to be pancakes and banana’s which was a nice change.

Breakfast done we were then leaving the village and its pretty little huts behind and were back in the boat and heading for another trek site.

An hour later we were stepping off at another pontoon, unfortunately for Shell to get to the land where we had to start the trip it meant crossing a bridge made of about 4 floating logs, it’s a shame though as she made it!!  We also held our breath whilst the French guy with his baby on his back crossed it (to be fair the baby, Charlie, had become a bit of a star by then as he didn’t  make one bit of noise the whole trip and everyone was doting on him – apart from me!).

We started the trek and it was a steep uphill through Jungle again, then it continued to be steep for around a kilometre until we reached the top. 

At the top we found ourselves at the entrance to another cave, fortunately this one was dry and I would personally describe it as a Scooby-Doo type cave.  Once inside we had our head torches on again and were again looking at some great stalactites and stalagmites, but there was more wildlife in this cave.  First we saw a cave snake which specialises in hanging from the roofs of caves and picking off bats as they fly past.  We also saw a number of large cave spiders, which had some quite vivid colours (too dark in the cave to take pics on our crappy camera!  Finally we were led into a very large chamber which stunk of bat dropping, which were incidentally being feasted on by cave crickets around our feet.   We were then told to turn our head torches off and take a few more steps forward and then look at the ceiling and turn them back on again, when we did we saw thousands and thousands of bats which started to fly around when disturbed by the lights shining on them. It stunk!

 

After the cave we headed back through the Jungle to the pontoon to have a packed lunch that was provided and lots of fresh pineapple and watermelon.  We were then given about ½ to relax or have one final swim in the lake.

Getting back in the long-tail we had one last journey and chance to enjoy the stunning scenery before returning to the original starting point to pick up the minibus back to the Jungalow’s.

 

When we arrived we were checked back into the same one we had previously stayed in. once we sorted our luggage we decided just to have a meal in their restaurant and a few G & T’s whilst doing a spot of Gecko watching as we had another early start it the morning.

 

Just to note we had no trouble sleeping we were getting used to the wildlife in our room by now!!