Our "rest day" in Khao Sok was pretty wet. It rained for the biggest part of the day. We did go for a walk, when the rain was less however, which was nice. A bit disappointing however: you pay a park entrance fee of 300 THB pp (about 8 EUR),but there is only a few km of trail you can easily do on your own - in fact, that trail is very wide and easy. After this, it becomes a small muddy track (yes of course with leeches!) with lots of side trails, with hardly any signs, pretty confusing, even for "experienced" hikers. You have to go with a guide if you want to go for a bit longer. Still, it was nice to spend some time in the jungle, hike a bit and take a dip in the river.
 |
| The wide trail in Khao Sok, lined with giant bamboo |
 |
| A river through the jungle, always attractive |
 |
| View from outside our chalet |
Thailand has a lot of national parks in fact, apparently 102. I read that this is more than Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia. Combined! Khao Sok is perhaps one of the biggest and most well known, yet there are many other that will all be attractive. We have done quite a few of these in the years we lived in Thailand: Nam Nao, Khao Yai, Phu Kradung, Phu Rua, etc etc - all very nice. Many parks are well maintained, with a lot of wildlife, including elephants, tigers, different kinds on monkeys, and much more. We plan to stop regularly at these national parks, overnight or just on our way. Very often there is also some basic accommodation or campsite, so it's also practical for us.
 |
| Looking back at where we came from |
Interesting anecdote. We had done some laundry yesterday, but thanks to the rain it was extremely humid and things did not dry at all. We put the fan on our wet stuff the whole night, and still it was wet this morning. In fact, even things which were not wet before, were also wet this morning, such humidity!
 |
| Impressive scenery |
Then today we left Khao Sok and planned a relatively short day (did 53km in the end), to a place called Takua Pa. Again, an unknown town, although this one was well known many many years ago but lost its appeal. It has an old town, which is even being compared to Hoi An in Vietnam! This is a bit exaggerated, but it does have a nice charm, and could be very nice if it would get restored in a well planned way.
 |
| Takua Pa, a gem that still needs a lot of polishing but the potential is there |
The road from Khao Sok was just fantastic! We cycled (with a good climb and descent!) for about an hour through wonderful jungle on both sides of the road. No plantations, no villages, no houses even, just jungle. In the first few kms we were accompanied by the singing of gibbons in the forest, one of my absolutely favourite jungle
sounds. Ahhh, so great, luckily this kind of places still exist. With Thailand's strong emphasis on national parks, there is good hope it will be there for many many years to come...
 |
| At a temple where we took a break, we're being watched over very well |