Happy rain in Khao Sok National Park

We woke up early for the boat that would take us on land without having decided our next destination just yet. The weather forecast for all the inland region was very gloomy, with high chances of rain. We could either try our luck and head for the national parks towards the east hoping the forecasts were wrong, or skip them for now and go south to an island off in Andaman Sea that was supposed to have better weather. So what would you choose? An island with sun? Or rainy days in the jungle with everything covered in mud? Jungle it was! It will sound like a blasphemy but after going from an island in Cambodia to an island in Thailand, the prospect of yet another island and of again doing little more than snorkelling and sleeping wasn't bearable. I guess we are not island-hopping material... So instead of sunny beaches we arrived to the cloudy Khao Sok National Park, with our fingers crossed.

We booked a two-days tour to the park for the following day and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Khao Sok village and ... watching the storm from our bungalow's terrace. Fingers still crossed.

Hypnotizing the rain clouds

Found this in the village, not sure what it means

The next morning was a little foggy but by the time our guide picked us up the sky cleared up almost completely and things started to look better! We weren't too sure what to expect of Khao Sok Park and the truth is, it blew us off our feet. When our small boat started its journey across the Cheow Lan Lake, we couldn't but stare with awe. Southern Thailand is famous for its beaches and islands and everybody seems to go north to Chiang Mai for trekking but now I can't really see why. The landscape that was opening up before us was by far the most beautiful thing we've seen in Thailand. Huge karst rocks rising from the water, mountains covered with tropical forest, the immensity of the lake, simply stunning.

The boat took our group to what would be our place for the night - old raft houses built in one of the bays, directly on the water. Very very rustic, but it would do for a night.

Houses on the water

Our residence

We found this little guy in front of our door

Some hiking was planned for the afternoon but don't expect much, because it wasn't anything serious. Our group was quite varied, from fit young Australians to fat (though young) English, so the walk was not too long, still it took us ages to get where we wanted to go - the Nam Talu cave. One can walk all the way through it but it definitely is not for the faint-hearted. You have to walk in the river that makes its way through and if in the beginning it looks like you'll get only your ankles wet, you end up swimming! All this while it is pitch black dark around and the only light that show you the way is your torch, or in our case only my torch - D's headlight died as soon as we entered the cave. And did I mention the huge spiders and water snakes awaiting you?

Our guide and his hoochie pants

Hello there

The adventure wasn't over just yet when we finally got out after an hour of cave swimming. We had another hour ahead of us to get back to the camp when it started raining. I thought we could not get more wet after the cave as we were already soaking but I was wrong. It was pouring down and miraculously even the chubby English girl sped up and we made it back to our raft house in a record time, although the path that was so easy on the way up suddenly became impossibly slippery and much more interesting. The best part? When we all jumped into to the warm lake and watched the speeding raindrops approach us. Swimming in the rain is a very very cool thing indeed.

Beauty

The rain stopped just after dinner, so we could go on the "night safari". I use the quotation marks because it really wasn't much more than a nice evening ride on the lake. We saw a squirrel and two owls and that was it, although our guide tried to convince us there were more animals, nobody else but him seemed to see them.

We tried again early in the morning and at first we didn't have much luck. Few birds and little else, but later a monitor lizzard and some monkeys came out to dry up after the rain. Even if we hadn't seen any animals at all, the sight of the morning mist rising above the lake was enough to make my day.

Good morning

Spot the monkey

One more hike to a different cave and after another scenic ride along the lake our adventure in Khao Sok National Park was over. It was a great decision to come here and the weather was merciful, it did rain but not enough to spoil our trip. If you come to southern Thailand and have a couple of days to spare, you shouldn't miss this place!