Khao Sok National Park

(Holly) Off we went via minibus to Khao Sok.

(Nick) Ok. Wait. Before we get started on this post let me interject for one moment to talk about mini buses. It's appropriate at this exact moment because as we are about to leave for Khao Sok and this will be my first mini bus ride.

So my take on mini buses in Thailand is that they are a lot like going to the casino. When will they arrive? When will they depart? How long will it take to get there? What will the price be today? Who is selling the tickets? Comfortable? Headrests? Seatbelts...? Pleasant company?

Interesting questions, right? Vegas odds. Haha. Two of the above actually weren't questions. Did you spot them...? That was a question. You should have your mental answer prepared. Ok? Good. We shall continue.

A. There are never seatbelts. (Says I the guy who is about to get on my FIRST mini bus ever) (But seriously.. They won't be there)
(Holly) Not true there are seatbelts. Sometimes they are cut out, sometimes they are zip-tied neatly, and other times, yes there are seatbelts. Do Thai's use them? Rarely.

B. Really. You had this one already. Pleasant company.... I've got that cute thing in the hat just a paragraph below. ((Blog pauses for Amanda to respond))

(Holly continues...) With Nick's research during my work hours, he had our lodging situation squared away. We showed up at "The Nature Resort." It is just how it sounds, beautiful vegetation, quiet and serene. A bungalow for the night? Nope, this guy of mine had higher expectations for resting our minds.

(Nick) Our minibus even dropped us off right at the doorstep of the resort. Which was about a half mile back into the jungle from the main road. Pretty nice of them don't you think.

How do I look in my Thai?

  Our treehouse. Just is and the jungle scene.

(Holly) I made Nick take a pose.

(Holly) Our shower room.

(Nick) In the treehouse. This is why we went to The Nature Resort. There's other treehouse resorts in Khao Sok but nobody else had bathrooms like this. Waterfall shower. Rolled pebble flooring. And no. You don't ever have to close the windows. Neighbors weren't a problem. Though they did suggest that windows be closed when you leave the room so the monkeys don't steal your stuff.

 

Check out that floor.

 

  Oh look, a swing.

(Nick) Isn't she cute?

 (Holly) Friendly rowers greeting us as they were pulled down an active water. I can't wait to do this!
(Nick) Did anyone out there spot the dog in the water too?

(Nick) Same river. Kind of makes you wonder what's around that bend?

But first, dinner!

 (Holly) Our supper at The Nature Resort. The meal included Massaman Curry and stir-friend Thai eggplant with garlic.

(Nick) That same dish from another angle.

(Holly) Oh, Nick you would put this photo in here. 

(Nick) And the other view from our table.

(Holly) Getting prepared to leave for our night safari in the park headquarters. Some of you may recognize the special lighting sent to me from overseas. Yes, it's a neon pink flamingo.

(Holly) Nick dropping his name and identification with our guide and the park dude.
(Nick) Night safari. In the jungle. Rangers in full fatigue. Sign in/out required so that they know if the tigers or elephants eat you. Luckily Holly brought a flamingo lantern. And as everyone knows, tigers don't eat flamingos.

Our guide was not amused.
(Holly) He was definitely not amused and confused. haha.
 

(Holly) Our spot on photo before taking on the wet jungle darkness.

(Holly) This is kinda how we saw our night. Isn't this cute? It's our two lights shining in a general direction. I love our romantic dates. I can only image how we can up the romance at this point.

(Holly) Spider Nick, Spider Nick.
(Nick) Fun fact! Spider's eyes sparkle like stars when you hit them with a spot light.
(Nick) Fun fact 2! The jungle landscape can at times resemble the Milky Way.

(Holly) Not sure what this creature is, but I think it has more legs than a Chinese dragon. And somewhere in the world I have an aunt who is feeling rather frantic. Sorry Cindy.

(Holly) Oh my Buddha. It's miraculous.
(Nick) P.S. These moth's eyes glow bright red.
(Holly) A nice badger red.

 

(Nick)The famous Thai jungle 'walking stick'. As seen on Hollydefined.blogspot.com

We also happened across a "civet cat" both in the trees above us and along the path we were walking. That's what our guide called it anyway. I understand now what Holly means when the Thai's reach for a word and don't have the English translation. Sometimes there just isn't one.

(Holly) I recall looking up into the street and saw a black cat. Why is this significant? Well, when I was up north I ate some sort of jungle cat, shot by a villager. The man spoke no English, nor Thai.. a tribal language, if you can recall from a previous blog. Anyways, I tried describing this to our Khao Sok guide and he said that it was likely the cat I ate, again no name on that cat other than it's black with a long tail. Maybe it was a civet cat I ate, I just don't know.

(Nick) Doing a little research it looks like Wikipedia calls it a "marbled cat". Really cool experience whatever it's called as the cat's eyes glow bright yellow in the light. What I remember best is seeing the length of the cat's tail as it rain across the path and into the jungle. Very long. Very skinny.

(Holly) Oh look, it's a WI boy. You know what he's saying? Cheese! He is saying CHEESE. 
I like this photo so I made it big.

 (Nick) And a cute SoDakie standing on that nice new bridge in the middle of the city.

(Holly) Yes, that Thai city in the jungle.

(Nick) Before we went back into the park the next day we found something to eat along the road on the way in. BBQ pork in a noodle soup on the right. Fresh greens above. And I got a plate of stirfried vegetables and a Thai noodle soup with barbequed pork with rice. After adding a little bit of spiced fish sauce it got really salty. I still ate it.

(Holly) It wasn't pleasant for me. But the lady was so sweet.

(Holly) Our Satuday morning, back in the park headquarters. We decided to take the same path by day, but with more rain and a few more rugged steps. 

Also jungle mustaches.

 

 (Holly) "That's a lovely hump you have on your back, honey."

(Nick) She didn't really say that. Lots of giggles though.

(Holly) Look! A turtle with a hat on, sunning along the river.

(Holly) I think it's safe to say that Nick and I have crossed some beautiful bridges together.

(Nick) I've learned several things.

A. Thailand ground is very wet. Wear shoes that dry quickly and have good grip. Like Holly said.

B. Sometimes the easy way off a waterfall is the right way to go. Like Holly said.

C. Use backpacks to carry vulnerable objects in slippery situations. Like Holly said.

D. iPods do not like rocks. Especially wet slimy ones. Like Holly would have said.

E. This is getting out of hand. There is no E.

(Holly) As long as I can still capture the rest of our ventures, I'm ok with the added sunburst on my screen.

(Holly) Nick safely helped this butterfly hatch from it's mangled cocoon.
And then, he ate it. 

Monkey spotting.

And we even made it out of the park by 4.

However. At this picturesque point in our adventure our plans snagged a bit. The goal of the day was to see the park and then head to this big beautiful lake an hour away. This ended up being a much more difficult trip than I had forseen. It took us awhile to get from the park entrance to the main road. The distance was only a mile or so. But a driving Thai downpour didn't help. So we hid in a shop along the road for about a half an hour. Then restarted our march. (Nick marched, I watched). We hadn't gone far before a couple of friendly Thai men in a pickup asked us if we needed a lift. Turns out we did. So we unshouldered our packs and hopped into the pickup bed. Two minutes later we were at the main road.

That was good. But... We ended up sitting by the road for awhile trying to catch the next bus to roll around the bend in our direction.

In the rain. Didn't happen. However. I did get to see first hand some of the kindness and generosity that Holly talks about from time to time. An older Thai woman with a shop by the road brought me an umbrella to use as we stood there discussing our next move.

(Holly) I have to interrupt.. I watched this happening behind me. Nick was holding my folded umbrella as she handed it to him.

(Nick) A group of Thai men were gathered about 50 yards away from us in one of the numerous Thai gazebos that seem to be meeting places and shelters along the road. After about a half an hour by the road one of the men came over and asked us about our situation. After explaining to him our desire to get to the damn dam he said that there probably wouldn't be any more buses that evening but that if would would stay another night in Khao Sok we could join the tour that the resort he owned/worked for was having the next day.

It took us a moment our two to make up our minds but once we said the word that guy made things happen for us. A car appeared and took us to "The Jungle Resort" and within an hour we had a hot shower and a place to put down our bags.

Shortly after that we found a tall beer and few tasty dishes.

 

Dinner at the Jungle Bungalows. Massaman Curry and garlic chicken. Yes, that's garlic sprinkled all over the top. Yum.

Departing the Bungalow to find a dam boat.

(Holly) Sunday morning in a lodging area in Khao Sok. I called my family this morning as it was Girl's Weekend. It was nice seeing them. I was in hiking gear and they were dressed as murder mystery dinner characters. The conversation was one I shall remember for a while now.

Lets find a dam.

Longtails rule the waves.

Fresh and tasty stirfried vegetable lunch, tofu or chicken. Lots of rice, lots of food.

Lookout point view of the rafthouses.

What's a rafthouse? Photographs are the best answer.

Our rafthouse. If it floats. You can float a house on it.
Electrical wire clothesline? Ok sure.

A giant black fish scanning the water.

And this is the inside of our raft house.

(Holly) Don't go chasing waterfalls.. The man that defies lyrics.
(Nick) I think with a little more practice I could do this blindfolded. But as it was I was grateful for the guideline. That bridge is not as big as it looks...

(Holly) A refreshing afternoon rain over the lake. I didn't follow Nick on a nature hike he was on as I wasn't feeling the best. The sounds were so great. Have you ever heard gibbons calling each other? It's amazing. I was the only person staying at the raft house. I watched a big charcoal colored monkey come down to the water for food. It was so close to me and perfectly content.

(Holly) Bringing sexy back before sundown. Oh wait, no, that's not Nick on the boat.
What's dusk like on Ratchaprapha Dam? (Check the link)

Supper Sunday night - fresh fish, Massaman Curry, Thai omelet, and yes, steamed rice.
(Nick) So good.

Sunday morning monkey spotting.

(Holly) We saw so many monkeys and gibbons. Have I mentioned how great jungle sounds are? They are amazing. And then there was a giant horned bill. This is one large bird, so big that it's wings made a loud whipping sound as it cut the air. Lucky for us it and it's friend stayed in close proximity to our longtail. I just learned from my Thai friend, P'Phen that the mother hornbill cares for her babies, from hatching to the first flight. However, the mother bird is encapsulated in the nest through all of it. There is a small hole in the nest where the male bird brings the mother and babies food. As you may have inferred, if the male dies, well so do the nesters. P'Phen described them as 'love birds.'

A rare spotting a pair of migrating, Midwestern love birds.

Leaving our rafthouse heading towards some hiking fun.

Setting off for the hike, leaving our boat behind.

(Nick) No Holly. Stand by the big tree. Also notice the slope that tree is on.

We found the top and some great ocean scenery.

Then we got lunch. Our guide asked if I wanted spicy. The answer, yes. He went into some bushed and came back with some birds-eye chilies.

Our bags were packed and in the boat. Holly was the first one to the boat and helpfully marked the way ahead by making monkey noises to guide our group along.  After I caught up to her we made a break for that beautiful turquoise water and jumped right in. It was a refreshing end to our time on Ratchaprapha.

The bus ride back to Surat Thani wasn't bad either. We even got ice cream along the way.  Which was cool and delicious. I think we should head towards the equator tonight.

Anybody want to go to Malaysia with us?