Vacation, Part I: Khao Sok
Up to this point, many of our long weekends or time off from school have been interrupted by either the school itself needing us to be around or by the government requiring us to be present for paperwork. It has been a bit frustrating since for Emily, rest from teaching is always needed. With all that said, having a three week holiday from work would be quite valuable for us. What would we do with all that time? Traveling outside of Thailand is still a no-no, so what parts of Thailand would we go to? Would we want to travel back north for the cooler weather or south for the beaches and sun? Would we want to spend any of it in Bangkok exploring? The country was our oyster.
A month before this vacation started, we began researching areas of the country, gathering opinions from friends, and figuring out potential roadblocks. After a while, we came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to plan our entire trip at once since we are amautures when it comes to multi-week travels. Instead, we focused on one destination/chunk of the trip at a time. That way we could really figure out what we wanted to do in each area and be more intentional with our time. After a few days of that, we slowly worked through each leg of our adventure piece by piece. With a pandemic looming over us at all times, you never know what might happen or what to be prepared for. That said, we were mentally prepared for all of this planning to be scrubbed away by a notification that we needed to return to Bangkok for a lockdown. You just never know in times like these.
We decided that our vacation would be broken up into four main sections. We would first spend a few days in the jungle of Khao Sok National Park. Having come from Seattle where we were accustomed to hikes in the mountains, we really missed our weekend trips into nature. We chose Khao Sok National Park because it seemed to be our best bet to go on a hike or two and most importantly, to be around nature.
Next, we would head south to check out some of the famous beaches of Thailand. We would start in Phuket, the largest island in Thailand. This would be followed by a journey east to the province of Krabi where there are more beaches and beautiful scenery.
Once finished there we would head north to Chiang Mai, a city we have visited before. We did not plan exactly what we would be doing in Chiang Mai because it was the last stop and we wanted to leave our plans open a bit in case we needed to scurry back to Bangkok. We knew we wanted to go return to this city to explore and eat more delicious food.
Because tourism is practically nonexistent at the moment in Thailand, we were fully expecting to be one of the few travelers at each of the places we visited.
With wanting to visit the jungle, beaches, and the north, we struggled to decide how and what to pack. I'll spare the details but we decided to travel light and adventurous. We only packed our REI Trail 25L, Osprey Talon 22L, REI Flash 18L and a small canvas tote back (just in case). We wanted to be mobile by not bringing any suitcases. We would be sacrificing quite a bit but the pros would outweigh the cons. And we ultimately wanted to see if we could pack this minimally and maybe set the tone for future traveling. We also had in mind that we would be renting a moto to travel from place to place for part of this trip. This wouldn’t exactly lend itself to taking a suitcase as our luggage.
A few unique things we brought with us were our collapsible camping chairs (for our time on the beaches), an ice cube tray (we love our ice), and our gimbal (in case we found any cool shots to film). The only shoes we brought were our Chacos.
Once we were packed, we were off.
#nofilter
Our flight out of Bangkok was to Phuket. When we were descending into Phuket, the captain mentioned that due to heavy rains on the runway we would have to delay our landing. We literally just did circles for an extra 25 minutes, and then finally landed.
When we landed we wanted to take the bus from the airport to a stop nearby our hotel and taxi from there to our hotel. Unfortunately, we did not eat dinner and the bus was going to take almost an hour to show up and another hour and a half to get to the destination. Add another 15 minute taxi from there to our hotel. We decided it wasn’t going to be worth the time and we wouldn’t have saved that much money taking the bus, so instead we returned to the airport and ate some dinner before calling a taxi straight to our hotel.
Only two buses routes were in use during this time.
The next morning, we walked to the bus station that went from Phuket Town to Surat Thani. This bus passes by Khao Sok National Park. Our bus’s décor was groovy to say the least. The driver wore at least five pounds of necklaces around his neck. The ride was smooth and the scenery was beautiful. There were rubber tree farms the whole way. The last time I saw this much green was in the Amazon jungle in Peru.
There was a TV that was playing random Thai skit comedy. Then at one point we looked up and saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on horseback chasing a man on a motorcycle in a hotel. They were literally in separate elevators at one point chasing each other. With no context, I could not believe what I was watching. It made ZERO sense and I figured this had to be a cult classic movie or something because there was no way this was supposed to be taken seriously. Wtf. (We later found out that it was a James Cameron film called True Lies.)
There were lots of small towns/villages that we passed with colorful houses and signs and a few people here and there. At the beginning of the drive there were loads of roadside stands and trucks parked selling pineapples, must’ve been the season for them. We crossed an inlet from the ocean over a bridge and got to see a few beaches (that were empty) as we passed through. A quick taste of what we would enjoy later in our trip.
Each time our bus approached a bus stop or village they honked the horn to announce the arrival of the huge bus. The bus driver also honked at motos and cars to move out of the way. Little to say, there was quite a bit honking throughout the ride.
This bus route goes from Phuket to Surat Thani which is nearly 300km which meant there were quite a few people boarding and departing the bus throughout our ride. At one point all of the seats were full and there were three ladies standing in the aisle. Overall, it was a beautiful drive and a fun way to see rural southern Thailand.
We were dropped off at our stop in Khao Sok and a staff member from our resort picked us up and took us to Khao Sok Riverside Cottages. We were definitely in the jungle at this place. The wooden boardwalks that connected the rooms and the different parts of the property led through lots of jungle trees and flowers. Our room was all open with mosquito nets on our beds. We knew that we would be sleeping to the sounds of the jungle as well as having part of the jungle in our room with all the bugs and things sneaking their way in. Like the two frogs that lived inside the basin of our sink who would come out at night. We unpacked and had lunch at our resort. While their Western food could use some work, their Thai food was on point.
After looking at Google Maps, we noticed there was a small town center with restaurants that we could check out later. Our stay provided free shuttle rides to and from the resort. So we decided to head there. Once we arrived we quickly learned this little town was dead. There were only maybe four or five restaurants open out of what would be blocks and blocks of restaurants and shops. We figured we would be seeing this often because a lot of southern Thailand is usually very touristy. Although during Covid, there are not any tourists. We walked back and forth from one end to the other a few times just to move our legs. We eventually picked a place to eat dinner. Dinner was not impressive. We came back to our cottage and spent the rest of the night in our nets relaxing and enjoying the sounds.
Khao Sok is a fascinating spot in Thailand with a complex natural history and an interesting human history. While staying at Riverside Cottages Emily borrowed a book, Waterfalls and Gibbon Calls: Exploring Khao Sok National Park, about the area and the next couple of paragraphs are a summary of what she learned.
The natural history of the park was impacted by the different periods of Earth’s geological development. There are lots of details we have learned about the evolution of the area but we will try to summarize the stages.
Hundreds of millions of years ago (in the Carboniferous Period) sediments and stones were deposited into the ocean which built up over time. In the The Permian Period (around 200 million years ago) those deposits built up over several more millions of years to create a shallow layer in the water. These deposits created a coral reef that stretched from China to Borneo. This coral reef was five times longer than the Great Barrier Reef. As time passed there was more sediment that built up on top of the reef which caused intense pressure. This resulted in the limestone you can see today. Then in the Cenozoic Period (present - 66 million years ago) the Indian Plate crashed into the Euraisian Plate which formed the Himalayas. The rocks in the area of Khao Sok were also raised up to where you see them now.
Today, you can see amazing rock formations and landscapes in this area of Khao Sok. There is similar topography in Vietnam, China, Borneo, and other parts of southern Thailand where the coral reef stretched. This landscape is known as karst topography, which you can learn more about here. It includes vast cave systems which are prevalent here in Khao Sok. The karst topography is the remnants of the ancient coral reef that stretched all across Southeast Asia in the Permian Period. There is an amazing history of the geology of the land here in Khao Sok. Learning about this geological history piqued Emily’s curiosity as she had a childhood dream to become a geologist. :) Check out the video “Our Drive to Ratchaprapha Dam” below to see more karst topography.
The human history of Khao Sok is fascinating as well. There isn’t evidence that prehistoric people inhabited this area but the richness of the land and the caves that could have been used for shelter make it seem like it could’ve been possible, which is quite amazing to think about. The first accounts of people inhabiting this area were people who were fleeing conflict with the Burmese in the time of King Rama II in the early 19th century.
Later in 1944 there was a deadly epidemic that wiped out most of the people living here in the jungle at that time. The village was abandoned and became known as Ban Sop (Village of the Dead). The village remained remote and disconnected until 1961 when there was a road built from Surat Thani to Takupa in Phangnga province and connected Khao Sok to other parts of the country. A new village was formed near the road that was built.
Then in the 1970s a group of university students fled the military government in Bangkok and were labeled a “communist” insurgency group by the government. They fled to the forests of Thailand to hide in the caves of the jungle from the military. Because this student group controlled the area they ended up conserving one of the few forests that survived the battles of WWII.
After the war, in 1980 Khao Sok became established as a National Park. Unfortunately, when the national park was established there was also a dam built to power electricity for the southern part of the country. This led to many species of fish, animals, and plants losing their habitats. It’s now a tourist destination and conserving the richness of the land and rainforest is challenging.
The history of this part of Thailand shows the depth of the history of the people and land. This feels grounding and provides context to the culture and what Thailand looks like and feels like today. It makes the U.S. feel young, new, and missing the depth of natural and human history, because so often we wipe it away when we erase Native American history, culture, and life. We don’t feel as connected to the depth of history as we wish was the case back home in the states. Instead, there is more focus on the past 300 years of colonization and looking towards the future. But so much is lost and misunderstood when you remove the past.
We spent our first morning lounging around our jungle resort. Emily wandered around the property for a morning walk. She strolled along the river and saw a few fish and a couple of ant highways on the path. She also found a tribe of monkeys, across the river. The species found at Khao Sok are Long Tailed Macaque. She spent a while watching them and patiently waiting for them to climb and jump to places where she could spot them. It was a wonderful thing to witness: monkeys in their natural habitat eating and climbing around (on the other side of the river), not messing with people or trying to steal our food or belongings. It was a special moment to enjoy.
Later, after chatting with the owner of the resort, Bodhi, and getting to know more about the area, I joined and we both walked down to the beach of the river to watch the macaque, swing, and listen to the jungle chorus of animals.
Later that afternoon, we headed out for a jungle hike followed by a jungle night hike. This was arranged by Bodhi. He mentioned that his favorite guide, Ed, would be our leader for the day. Apparently Bodhi and Ed go out and scope out new trails in their free time and they’ve bonded by getting lost in the jungle.
We drove for about 15 minutes to get to the entrance of Khao Sok National Park. We began our hike on a wide trail/jungle road. We were lucky to get a wonderful guide, Ed, who grew up next to the Khao Sok River and was familiar with the flora and fauna from living in the jungle and learning over the many years he has lived here; and he was funny too.
One of the first things Ed told us was to not touch anything in the jungle, as in plants. This is a great tip as I like to subconsciously touch branches and leaves as we walk. We knew we were in good hands with Ed. Soon after we started on the trail Ed spotted a couple of snakes in the tree. We knew we were in for a special hike in the jungle after he also pointed out several plants and knew that bats were hanging out under the leaves of a fruit tree.
We have gone on many hikes in the Cascade Mountains while living in Seattle so we were mostly prepared for most scenarios. We did forget our headlamps which is the first rule of hiking but thankfully those were provided by our guide. We were told that land leeches were the thing to be worried about because they stick to your clothes and slither their way into your clothes and begin sucking out your blood. It can be difficult to get the wound to stop bleeding. We just had our Chacos so we wore two pairs of socks, tucked in our pants into the socks, and rubber banded the socks to our calves. Not exactly the most stylish, but it was effective. We also wore long sleeves and pants.
Along the way we saw various other wildlife including monkeys/macaques, Pinocchio bugs, snakes, spiders, lizards, and much more. We found lots of plants that Ed knew a lot about. He told us stories and jokes about some of the common plants and animals in the area. It didn’t take long for us to see a machete-looking knife he carried at his side to whack at branches in our way. After a short while, we migrated from the wider path to a much less used path. It almost felt as if we were not even on a path at times. Instead, just following our trusty guide’s footsteps.
We approached a waterfall where there were large rocks where we could rest for a few minutes. We discussed where we wanted to set up for dinner. Ed mentioned that he made dinner close to this waterfall last night on another hike and he was worried that the wild pigs and chickens would bother us because he had cooked there yesterday. He told us of a spot nearby but we would need to cross the river. We told him we were fine with that if it wasn’t too deep. We hiked to the spot Ed decided we should cross at. We trusted him but the river was quite wide and had a strong current. There were lots of big rocks but no clear path so we ended up forging the river with the help of a bamboo stick that Ed scavenged and readied for us. It sort of helped but we both still fell in and got half our bodies wet.
After crossing the river it was a short trek to a little beach area where we would set up and make dinner. We had no idea what Ed was going to make but he left for about 20 minutes to gather materials like bamboo and kindling. Emily and I jumped in the river and washed ourselves of the enormous amount of sweat that was on our bodies. This was the first time hiking in heat rather than the cool mountain air.
While taking a relaxing dip in the river, Emily suddenly felt a chomp on her littlest toe. She immediately exited the water. We saw a small bite on her toe that took a while to stop bleeding. Ed came back and said it was most likely a puffer fish who bit her toe. He said has never had anyone get bit by them before when swimming in the river at that spot. Apparently they are territorial and did not like the fact Emily was using their rock to rest on. Later we noticed that there were many pufferfish along this beach area.
Once he set up the cooking space, we helped him prepare the food in the bamboo. He carried all the ingredients with him in his pack. The kitchen staff at KSRC graciously prepped the ingredients for us. In one bamboo, we made a green curry, another was filled with mixed veggies, and another with sticky rice. We also roasted chicken on the open fire. He taught us a few techniques to use if we ever needed to make food on a hike using bamboo.
The outcome of our cooking was impressive. We made way more food than we could eat. Especially after Ed insisted on not eating any of it since he cooks this same meal many times each week. He brought nuts and a banana and said that was more than enough for him. Before eating the food ourselves, we made a small plate to offer the spirits of the jungle. After we finished dinner it started getting dark. We knew that our night safari was about to begin.
We knew we had to cross the river again but by the time we were on the trail, it was totally dark. We put on our headlamps, which ended up being mini flashlights. We put a lot of trust in our guide and in the jungle. Our guide spoke to us about respecting the jungle in order to survive and enjoy our adventure. We didn’t really have fear in the nighttime which was a relief. Even when we got to the river, we just had to strategize how to get around to cross. We didn’t think too much about it. Because of this, it felt oddly safe being in the jungle at night (even though in reality there are many dangerous things that could happen).
We used our lights to look up at the trees and branches to find sleeping or about to awaken animals. We found some sleeping monkeys, the largest bat species in the world, flying foxes, that ended up flying directly overhead, a tarantula, various insects and more snakes. Ed taught us about how there are many different kinds of cicadas and that you can tell the time to the hour by listening to the different cicada sounds throughout the day. At night, their sounds definitely gave off Blair Witch vibes.
We had to cross several streams on our way back. Thankfully neither of us had any run-ins with leeches, but Ed found a leech in his sock after we crossed one of the streams. It bit him between his toes and they were bleeding. Fortunately, he was able to take it off easily since it was quite small and we continued on. We took our time when we got back to the main trail. It was so fun trying to find animals in the trees both above and below. Once we got to the entrance of the trail we saw a pretty big mangrove snake which was exciting.
We made it back to the cottage safe and sound. We were thankful to Ed for leading us on this adventure and we hope to return to have him take us on more hikes. Both him and Bodhi mentioned a hike they do that is a three day, two night hike that about 10 or so people get to do a year. It would be amazing to go back and have them guide us through it. We were thankful we survived and had a wonderful time.
The next day was a special day for us; I was especially anxious and excited. We would be renting a scooter (or moto) for the first time in Thailand. To some, this may seem like a simple task but if you look at the math with road accidents and deaths involving moto’s in Thailand, it is one of the deadliest countries in the world to be riding a moto. The traffic and driving laws in Thailand do not have the safety of the citizens in mind and the enforcement of not driving while drunk is not strictly enforced.
I didn’t have much experience driving a moto myself, mostly riding on the back of them in Bangkok. I was nervous to not only be driving for a fair amount of time but also with another person on the back and the weight of our bags. Because I knew I needed some practice driving and getting used to the moto, we decided to start somewhere more rural, Khao Sok. Our plan was to rent a moto for the four days we were in Phuket to be able to travel to many beaches easily. By starting now, I could get a chance to figure out road and traffic patterns and get comfortable driving on (hopefully) less trafficked roads.
Our hosts at the Riverside Cottages connected us with a place we could rent a motorbike from. It was a bit of an unexpected process because we were passed from one local to another since there weren’t many places open. But in the end, we easily were set up with a moto and helmets, even though the helmets weren’t exactly going to save us from much more than a fender bender. This was one of a few motos we rented during this trip that didn’t have a working speedometer 😬
Our destination was to Ratchaprapha Dam. The dam was about an hour away. The drive there was breathtaking. The karst topography we mentioned earlier surrounded us the entire time. It was definitely a distraction as I was driving but I made sure to slow down at times so Emily could take videos and bask in its allure. Thankfully there wasn’t too much traffic, and if you stay to the left, cars just go around you. The scenery was shocking, awe-inspiring, and we couldn’t get over its beauty. This drive will be one of the highlights of this trip without a doubt.
When we got to the dam, it was quite the view. It was beautiful! There wasn’t much to do besides seeing the view but we did not have much expectation going into it. We decided to drive around the area and travel on more of the windy roads, especially because there were no cars on these back roads. We stopped at a few more viewpoints to enjoy the scenery. We ate lunch at Wangwa Hope Restaurant. It was pleasantly tasty. We were trying to stick with eating southern food as much as possible and so far we were not disappointed.
We headed back to Khao Sok. We tried stopping at a temple but it cost money and Emily was wearing shorts so we skipped that and went to a waterfall and a few viewpoints on the way back. To say I loved driving the moto would be an understatement. As dangerous as it can be, it was so much fun and I would love to travel more often using one. The more I ride the more I understand Thai drivers and patterns. The one downside that we somewhat predicted was since we were in the sun for hours driving, we got sunburned on our arms, faces, and chests. Emily more so than me.
We returned to Khao Sok and rested before working in the lounge area before dinner. We watched the sun set by the riverside beach at our resort. The owner, Bodhi, had the chef buy special ingredients so that we could have a special gaaeng som (or yellow curry) that isn’t on the menu that the chef liked to prepare. She also made us a gaaeng dtai bplaa (or fermented fish innards curry). They were both tasty and very spicy.
The next morning we left Khao Sok. We said goodbye to the staff as well as Bodhi, who gave us hugs as we left. I think he really liked us. :) We got some fried rice for takeaway so that we could eat lunch on our four hour journey back to Phuket.
Our time at Khao Sok Riverside Cottages was amazing. Not only was Bodhi easily available even weeks before we arrived to answer all of our questions, he made sure that we were comfortable in our rooms and would frequently engage in conversations. His cottages are a bit out from the town center of Khao Sok which was very nice because there weren't any tourists around but filled with serenity and the nature of the jungle. The activities that are able to be booked via KSRC are endless and Bodhi is willing to work with your budget. He finds the best local guides and pays them a middle class wage. Bodhi not only owns this resort but we came to find out he is an activist in the area and supports and funds a school for Burmese refugee kids. Check out the website here. Having walked around the town center and checked out other areas, we fully endorse Bodhi and what is happening at Khao Sok Riverside Cottages. It was a pleasure to have had our stay there and we will be back. We recommend someday you check it out too!
On our way to Phuket, the bus was practically empty and had way more of a neutral vibe compared with our first groovy bus ride. Along the way, our bus had to stop to get everyone's temperature checked because there was a recent outbreak of Covid-19 in Bangkok and the whole country was taking precautions. We hoped this wouldn’t interfere with the rest of our travel plans but we began preparing for the worst, just in case.
Our time in Khao Sok was short but it was really a magical time. We had no idea what anything was going to be like but the nature in this area is almost unreal. Emily and I would love to come back soon and do more hiking, moto around, and enjoy the good company that Khao Sok brings.
Our next stop in our vacation is Phuket, the largest island in Thailand! See you there!
