Khao Sok National Park

Khao Sok National Park; think the film Jurrasic Park and you got it. Mountanous and craggy, the park has jungle, rainforest, rivers and a lake. All of which was unbelivably stunning. We were very excited about Khao Sok NP as it was our first opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the roads and cities and experience nature, as well as it being our first opportunity to camp. The camp site of the park was actually situated in the rainforest, not just any though, this is one of the oldest rainforests in the world. And when I say rainforest, boy do I mean rainforest; we were in a forest and yes it rained - a lot!!

Luckily for us the park also has a touristy strip, so we able to get our laundry done, emails answered and eat some pretty good meals, although we did cook our own dinner on one of the nights, which is a must when one is camping of course!

Our first day in the park, we were up and had breakfasted and were down by the river for 9am. James, myself and our tour guide boarded an inflatable bright blue canoe. Our guide paddled us down the river for 2 hours, taking the small rapids very well; we could tell he was an experienced canoeist! It was great to sit and enjoy the ride. We didn't see another sole in sight for the whole time and all we could hear was the rapids. We saw wild monkeys running along the trees above us, kingfishers, herons, and a snake asleep in the trees.

Much to our delight we stopped on a 4 metre long beach for a rest, well at least our guide rested. J and I however saw it fit to climb up the bamboo ladder with rope in one hand and swing out into the river - brilliant fun!!

The great thing about the canoe trip was we didn't then have to come back to same way, but we scrambled up the banks and on to the main road to then be picked up in a 4x4 pick up truck (naturally) with the canoe in the back!

The second day, we were up early and into another pick up where we were driven out for about 20 minutes to an elephant park. Both incredibly excited as James has never ridden on such a beast before and it has been a long time since I have and I just generally love elephants. I was delighted that our elephant was controlled only by his masters voice and not by whips or metals rods with sharp edges as I have seen previously. He also looked healthy. James was a little terrified, it was quite funny! We were taken up on the elephants back up the most beautiful track and I would not have looked at it and thought it to be an elephant track but guided by his master he walked us up a craggy and narrow opening in the forest. It had rained heavily the night before so the track was almost a mini waterfall from the high mountains above - and very muddy! We got off at the top to let the elephant rest and have a play and a splash in the muddy water. To my utter delight, one the way back down, the master let me sit bareback behind the elephants head with my legs dangling round his ears and neck. I have to say I was a little nervous as I had nothing to hold on to and going down hill along an uneven path there were a few times when I thought I could have easily toppled off! We asked the elephant master to take a photo of us and he got the nelly to lift his very muddy trunk up to me leaving me filthy, but the muddy hand prints I left on the top of his head was very cute! I then enjoyed feeding him bananas at the end, which he grabbed off me with his trunk and gobbled them two at a time - magical!

After our elephant trek we decided to go for a mini jungle trek. We set off down a track to a waterfall marked on the trail. It was incredibly muddy though and we were slipping and sliding all over the place, it was hilarious watching James scoot around as though he were on ice! We didn't make it to the waterfall as our trek sandals weren't quite up to the terrain - we needed full boots and gaiters! Leeches were also a problem. Having had a leech on me before (out in India) I know not to pull them as they suck harder, but to either pour salt on them or burn them. Burning them with a lighter was our only option (as one doesn't normally carry salt with them), but they were so diddy that I ended up burning my toes instead. Luckily because they were small, James managed to pick most of them off. Checking our feet every now and then, I think between us we had about 9 leeches on our toes. Once back to the tent I discovered that somehow, three of the little blighters had crawled inside my clothes and had a right good old suck. One of my elbow, one on my heel and one on the back of my calf!

From Khoa Sok we then headed south, eventually to the last town of Thailand called Satun. From there we will take the ferry over to Malaysia.