Khao Lak to Khao Sok…..end of relaxing & onwards to the jungle

November 19 – 20th, 2018

The weather was mixed for our last beach days but we did optimize them enjoying the beach, water and kayaks….and yet another beach dinner >>> they are very kid-friendly here and  even include various toys so the kids can entertain themselves:

We also squeezed in a trip to the Tsunami Museum. Khao Lak where we are staying was the coastal area of Thailand hardest hit by the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

The final death toll was over 4,000, with local unofficial estimates topping 10,000 due to the lack of accurate government censuses and that much of the migrant Burmese population was not documented nor recognized as legal residents. Most of the coastal landscape, i.e., beaches, resorts and vegetation, was destroyed. The waves swept in the patrol boat (above pic) and it is resting where it was deposited some two kilometres from the beach. The pictures in the exhibits are quite compelling and, in case we haven’t figured it out yet, the raw and unyielding power of nature was demonstrated here in startling fashion…. almost 15 years later to the naked eye everything seems normal…..but what would happen if the event repeated itself?….from what we have seen my uneducated guess is that the results would be largely the same….perhaps the early warning systems have been improved…but the buildings etc. seem very much unlikely to survive a tsunami event…

A less maudlin visit was to the night market …..

….we had our dinner here buying this and that’s, hither and thither…

….pleasant but nothing special, we then returned with the hotel shuttle and prepared for our trip to Khao Sok.

 

November 21st, 2018

A filling breakfast…with a last bowl of rice soup with chicken (an acquired taste)…

…settle our bill and wait for Cheaper Than Hotel Taxi …..the original plan was to go by bus but it is pouring and does not look good for the balance of the day > standing by the side of the highway waiting for a bus or minivan to wave down does not sound appealing. Today we are heading inland some 60 km but a world away to Khao Sok National Park. 

The park is covered by the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world and features huge limestone mountains shooting straight up in the air, deep valleys, exciting caves, and a 185 square kilometres lake > Cheow Larn Lake. But I am getting ahead of ourselves, first, we have to get there…

Our guy is a little late held up by traffic on the way back from Phuket Airport…..a man of few words as we weave our way into and through the hills reaching Khao Sok and Our Jungle House in about an hour. We were glad we opted for the taxi as it was raining all the way, as well as at our destination, reminding us a lot of our stay in Costa Rica.

Check-in, orientation, a light lunch.….and a short walk on a rather rain-sodden nature trail…

  …..before retreating to our tree house called Forest to organize ourselves for tomorrow’s outing….

 

The place is quite funky and after supper we head back to our tree house engulfed by the sounds of the jungle >>> no TV, internet or a/c,  just a fan and the jungle, pretty cool !!