In the Thai jungle

Our next stop was Khao Sok National Park. Getting here was interesting. Flight from Chiang Mai to Surat Thani, with transfer to Bangkok and minibus then for an hour and a half to the jungle, reserved with 12go.asia. The place is easily accessible from Phuket, but flights via Surat Thani were significantly cheaper. Along the way we discovered incredible views of sharp and covered by plants and trees and cliffs (lime stones, with which the area is famous).

Lime stones – live looks even more unreal

We arrived in the evening and settled in the coolest place I’ve ever slept in! I highly recommend the Palm Garden Hotel. At a price of 700 baht per night (40 leva for both) we received an incredible exotic – a luxury bungalow with a full glass wall overlooking a palm garden, secluded and exotic. My most enjoyable time in Thailand, despite all the beauty we saw, was the few hours I spent on the bungalow terrace, enjoying the sounds of the jungle and the tropical rain on the palm leaves. The funny thing was that a flock of chickens ran stubbornly between the palm trees and climbed on them, and in the evening the crowns of the palm trees greeted us with a soft croak.

Our bungalow

In general, in Thailand we hit on time and it only rained 3 times for a short. The first time it was here. We went out for a dinner and the weather was completely calm. After 5 minutes there was an unprecedented downpour, and after another 15 mins it was calm again, as if there had never been a storm. I will not forget the sound of the drops on the leaves of the palm trees, foretelling the beginning of the rain, magically.

The next day we came across this place from the postcards

If you visit the place, I recommend that you stay close to the village itself, so that in the evening you can choose one of the many shops or restaurants. The place itself is full mainly of tourists. I was very surprised why, despite the delicious local food, the only Italian restaurant was always full. After another 10 days in Thailand, I fully understood them. I couldn’t stand rice or spaghetti anymore. I couldn’t wait to go home and eat a normal steak or tomato and cheese.

Boat trip

The next day we signed up for an organized tour of the national park through Ratchaprapha Dam, also known as Cheow Lan Lake. It was 1100 baht + 300 baht entrance fee for the national park. We were still young and naive and we didn’t bargain. But even at that price, it was totally worth it.

We couldn’t get enough of the beautiful nature in the national park

In the morning they took us by bus and collected several more tourists. We also gathered a very nice family with two little boys with straw blond hair and to my biggest surprise, they turned out to be Bulgarians. Teddy, Lyubo and the children were the first Bulgarians we met for more than a week. We were told how they lived in Prague for a long time and worked hard, but now they are selling their house and have the idea to nomadize in East Asia for a long time. I am very inspired by such people, it certainly requires courage, dreaming and a little madness to undertake such an endeavor. I wish them a lot of success and to meet them somewhere again. You can check out their Born To Live Wild page.

Our new friends from Bulgaria

There was also a couple of Poles. I immediately became enthusiastic about trying to speak Polish with them, fortunately I had some words left in my head and I understood their story of how one day, as a young couple, they went to climb Koncheto in Pirin.

Widely smiling for the beautiful views

We got on a boat and went across the lake. The rocks towered over us. Sun, blue water, blue sky, greenery everywhere, incredible beauty! An hour later we came to something like a village above the water – bungalows and a restaurant built on platforms on the water. There we ate a traditional lunch with very tasty fish and went to the next part of the adventure – a trek through the jungle. After this walk, my swimming shoes for 18 leva from Decathlon became my favorite possession. Despite my prejudice, I didn’t come across mosquitoes or leeches in the jungle. But maybe I was just lucky, because in the other jungles, at least, there were mosquitoes.

We begin the transition

The trail was interesting – through bamboo, palm trees and their exotic trees. We were told to beware of certain things because they were harmful for the skin. We were constantly crossing the river. After an hour and a half we reached our final point – a hole in which we rushed and turned out to be an underground cave. It was interesting – here and there you swim to move forward, and around you beautiful formations and mystery. We took a short walk inside and then headed back to where we had lunch. There we were left for about an hour to eat fruit, swim and canoe. A herd of monkeys watched us curiously as Itzo and I tried to move in the desired direction with the canoe.

The place is really wonderful, next time I would stay for the night. I still remember the splashes from the motorboat and the beautiful landscape that unfolded before us. One of the most beautiful places I’ve been!

Satisfied after an emotional day

With the elephants

The next day we decided to fill a serious gap from our visit to Chiang Mai – to visit the elephants. There was a rescued elephant center nearby and we spent the morning taking care of a beautiful female elephant.

They are still getting to know each other

The procedure is as follows – you feed the elephant with bamboo, then you go into a muddy puddle and rub each other, then you go to wash in the river, and finally you feed it again. It’s a lot of fun when the elephant decides to hang up and sprays you with water, bathing gives them great pleasure. I was also impressed by how capable they are of fine movements with their trunks. Our program was completely touristy, but the very opportunity to be so close to such a delightful animal, to pet its cheeks, belly and ears and enjoy it, was an invigorating experience for me. The emotion was worth it and left us very good memories. My biggest surprise was that the Thai elephant turned out to be quite a furry animal. The whole was covered with a short bristle, like a toothbrush. On Animal planet channel they have always looked very smooth to me.

It’s time for a mud bath

In the evening we decided to walk around the “resort”. Naturally, we caught some shady paths through the jungle and found ourselves in a huge complex with tree houses, which were slightly abandoned and annihilated by the nature.

The nice guest houses, some of which were on the trees

There we met a herd of macaques – they jumped on the roofs of houses and from branch to branch on nearby trees. I love how something so spontaneous and unexpected can happen to you in Thailand. As we see dogs and cats at home, a big monkey appeared in front of me, we were a meter away. I watched it cautiously after reading an article the same day about a monkey-bitten tourist in Malaysia, but it turned out to be an absolute pacifist, only it stubbornly refused to let me pass and I had to round it.

Count the monkeys in the picture

We also found a place where the river widens, becomes shallow and has an ideal place to bathe, plus a tire hanging from a nearby tree, just like in the movies. This place was a hidden jewel, like a fairy tale.

A typical path in the resort

In the area, monkeys chased the trees, some exotic birds sang, and there was a distant noise of people having fun by the river or roasting steaks. It turned out that the walk around the resort will be a little kind of adventure. I would stay in this place for a few more days with pleasure and do some of the two-day tracks through the jungle next time.

Happiness

The next day we went to southern Thailand and the exotic islands from the postcards, which I will tell you in a separate story.