Your virtual Thailand vacation continues as Thor and I catch the ferry from Koh Samui to the mainland and Khao Sok National Park.
NOTE: “And now for something completely different.” Thor and I made our first trip to Asia — the beautiful country of Thailand. We were lucky to squeak through the pandemic flight closures in January/February of 2020 as we returned from our three-week trip. Since more travel has now become a distant prospect, we hope you’ll take a virtual vacation with us in the following weeks. (This blog series started on June 13.)
After a torrential tropical downpour that we enjoyed watching from the covered deck of our condo on our last night on Koh Samui, we headed for the ferry to the mainland peninsula on the upper Andaman Sea. On the way, we stopped for one more island attraction, the Hin Ta and Hin Yai rock formations that attract a lot of pilgrims. Also called “Grandfather” and “Grandmother,” they celebrate sexual organs of fertility.
At the ferry dock, we had a long wait while routes were adjusted, probably because of the storm the night before. We enjoyed watching fishermen piling nets on this distinctive vessel.
A local dog adopted us to help pass the time.
Next to the docks, an outdoor Thai dancing lesson was underway. I love the graceful hands!
A long, very crowded ferry passage took us to a rerouted landing, then an hour bus ride to our original destination of the Surat Thani train station, where a van from Our Jungle House waited. Another hour and a half through spectacular scenery brought us into Khao Sok National Park. The area is famous for the dramatic limestone karsts dripping with greenery.
At 285 square miles, the park offers the most extensive virgin forest in southern Thailand. The original rain forest is apparently older and more diverse than that of the Amazon, with annual rainfall of 138 inches. A fortunate beneficiary of political unrest, the wild area was saved from loggers, miners, hunters, and Thai army development by student activists and communist insurgents who holed up in caves during the 1970s and fought off intruders. The area was declared a national park in 1980, a precious sanctuary for countless species including elephants, tigers, bears, boars, monkeys and birds.
Our Jungle House eco-lodge aims to respect the natural environment, with a few treehouses for guests, separated by winding paths through the lush jungle and along the banks of a clear river at the base of a karst cliff.
After check-in, we headed down a quarter mile of pathway…
…past secluded treehouses…
…to our lodging in Liana Treehouse. Ours was “the end of the line,” which Thor deemed appropriate for us. Hmm.
The interior was all wood, with ventilation screens, and mosquito netting over the bed. (Tall Thor tied bandannas over the suspension wires to remind him to duck and avoid being garroted.) Our lovely deck put us at bird and monkey level among the trees.
We were surrounded by troupes of Long-Tailed Macaques, who can get up to considerable mischief. As one staff member put it, they love to party in guest rooms that are not secured.
This one was munching bamboo beside our deck:
We’ll see more lively macaques up close and personal in upcoming blog posts, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we’re off to sleep among the calls of night birds and insects.
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
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