Today it’s Friday and we spent last night chugging away on the train. Actually we did get a decent sleep – I had the lower bunk bed while Gerry climbed gallantly to the top bunk. While we did have a 2 hour delay at Nakhon Pathom, it seemed that the train driver made up for lost time and we arrived at Surat Thani just an hour later than scheduled i.e. at 9.30 a.m. Our new driver was waiting patiently for us but had already seen that our train was delayed. As soon as we came out of the station there were many drivers waiting for their pickups and all holding the names high above their heads! And yes I saw my name in full – Mrs. Liliana Maria Helena Spiteri – long before I saw our driver!!!
As we had had no breakfast on the train – there was no buffet service but rather vendors came along after our stop at Champon and had hard boiled eggs, biscuits, sticky rice and even coffee but we decided to wait till we got to Surat Thani and our driver could take us to a decent place where we could use proper toilets and washrooms and have coffee.
The driver designated to pick us up and bring us to our accommodation, was waiting outside with many more waiting for their pickups. Luckily he held his sign with my full name – Mrs. Liliana Maria Helena Spiteri – high up above his head as he was quite short and I could not see him except for the sign! As usual, this friendly driver took our luggage and packed it into the car – he had been waiting an hour and so was eager to get on the road again – we had an 1.5 hour drive to our destination – but of course Gerry had to have his smoke first! Also we asked the driver if we could have a bathroom and coffee stop somewhere and he said we would do that in 20 minutes!
As soon as we left the town of Surat Thani, we entered a different countryside – luscious green vegetation made up of gigantic ferns, bananas, palm trees and other huge trees and of course the huge limestone rocks rising high.
Within 20 minutes we stopped at a food and fuel court – the bathroom facilities were excellent and so was the coffee at Cafe Amazon. We had a friendly chat of sorts with the guys sitting next to us on the outdoor tables – they were interested to know where we came from – then one of the guys gave us a little bag of sticky rice with fried onions and chicken which we tried to refuse politely but he insisted that we take it – did we look so hungry? Actually at the coffee bar they only had sweet pastries and we didn’t fancy that, so we took this little bag and rather enjoyed snacking on the contents. In return Gerry rolled a cigarette for the guy and immediately the others wanted to see his tobacco. So he gave them some and they rolled really thin cigarettes in strips of paper thin bamboo! Well we had to break up this smoking party as we had to get on our way.
Back on the road, we just enjoyed the view and soon we arrived at our Khao Sok National Park where we will be spending the next two nights. This park is one of Thailand’s most beautiful and oldest rain forests estimated to be more than 160million years. Thailand is very protective of its National parks and this evergreen rain forest with its huge limestone mountains shooting up high is one of the oldest in the world.
We arrived at the Rock and Tree House Resort and had a couple of hours to relax before we went off for our first activity – canoeing on the River Sok.
Our tree house is actually built around a tree – we have a tree jutting out of our terrace and the resort is built on trees and rocks.
We settled down for a while and had coffee on our verandah before meeting getting back to the reception area for our canoe outing. We were told this was a great way to experience the natural beauty around us and spot any wild life. Apparently we were going to have one canoe which was pumped up properly (well Gerry and I can account for at least 150kilos together!) – but we only realised when we drove to the river Sok that we would be canoed on the river by luckily a very slight young man.
Right now the River Sok is very low but in the wet season it can rise up to three meters. Well once in the water, there were times that we scraped the bottom of the canoe along the rocks so Gerry and I managed to spread our weight by lifting ourselves on our arms…….. but the scenery was breathtaking and our canoe-er pointed out to us the monkeys (loads of them), fish, huge tadpoles and frogs and even camouflaged snakes coiled up on branches above us ( it reminded of the film Jungle Book where Ka the snake lay lazing on a branch observing the world!). We even spotted a white heron who when he saw us approaching, lazily spread his wings to fly away!
Half way on our expedition, we stopped for coffee – no not at a coffee bar but rather on the banks of the river where a bamboo table and lean to posts were assembled with a sun shade above. We climbed up the bank and our guide who had brought water with him as well as coffee ingredients built up a fire from splinter thin bamboo and started boiling water in a hollow bamboo stick! We drank our coffee also out of bamboo mugs and had little bamboo spoons to stir our instant coffee! This was the way that the indigenous folk used bamboo for cooking going back many, many generations before the western world invented plastic!
At times it was very peaceful on the water that our canoe-er stopped paddling so that we could hear the sound of silence but at other times it was a cacophony of different bird songs and the most deafening screeches of the cicades.
After our coffee break we were off again being canoed on the river where we just relaxed and enjoyed the passing scenery. Some parts of the limestone rocks were hewn out by the rushing waters over millions of years and other parts we saw the roots of ancient trees spreading along the banks.
This canoe trip was just exhilarating however we soon reached our end point where we were picked up by one of the crew members who loaded the canoe on the back of the pick up truck (together with Gerry) and we made our way back to our resort.
By the time we got back to our resort, it was near 5 pm and actually we were feeling quite hungry as except for our gifted sticky rice and chicken this morning, we had not had anything else today. So we relaxed first on our verandah before we made our way to the main area for drinks and dinner and update my blog as well as catching up with our social media.
As dusk descended, the resort looked magical with all its fairy lights on – there was even a (man made) waterfall gurgling down the mountain side into the pool.
Once again, we had a full day which we enjoyed tremendously – tomorrow another day of exploring the lakes and jungle! Goodnight all!
