Khoa Sok National Park
Khoa Sok 2/6/2025-2/9/2025
A small plane ride from Bangkok to Surat Thani brought us closer to Khao Sok. We got off the plane and had no concrete plans on how were were going to get to our stay for the night. Thankfully there was a group van that was coming in an hour that would take us to the little village of Khao Sok and to our stay at the Morning Mist Resort. We had lunch at noon at the only place that was open (and reasonably priced) which overlooked the Sok River. Without wasting anymore time, I took the 2 kilometer walk to the highest rated motorbike rental place I could find. The people I met could not have been more friendly. They hooked me up with a 125 Honda Click and two helmets. I gave them my passport as collateral, paid them 600 baht for the two days of use, and I was on the road. If you do not know this, much like I did not know this, in Thailand you drive on the left side of the road. This took some getting used to.
To get used to the bike as quick as possible, I threw Camila on the back and took her to a high up view point. We had to do a little photo shoot of the scooter when we were at the view point. Riding the high of the journey, we ventured higher on the road to check out a waterfall. In my ignorance, I forgot it was dry season and the waterfall looked more like some one forgot to turn off a faucet than a flowing river coming down a mountain. Still feeling the jet lag, the rest of the day was filled with a quick dip in the pool, a nap, waking up from that nap to find somewhere to eat, then promptly falling asleep for the night.
Well rested and ready for a new day, we piled onto the scooter and went up the road to a coffee place that looked really good and had espresso being sold at 40 baht a shot. We also had two ham and cheese rolls for 20 baht a piece. 80 baht breakfast ain't too shabby. With a shot of espresso and a ham and cheese roll down my gullet, we set off to a goat farm that we found on google maps. It was about a 40 minute ride from our place but along the way we got stunning scenery and elephant crossings. Getting closer to the goat farm, we turned off the main road to trek up the dirt road that led to the farm. We greeted by a sweet lady who could speak a little english. As soon as we got there we were feeding ducks out of our hands. As we are occupied by this sweet mother duck and her ducklings, the lady brings out five adorably clumsy baby goats. She is handing us the baby goats and giving us a bottle of milk to feed them. My heart was pretty content with that experience when all of the sudden the woman is making a call to the other goats and out run ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY full sized goats. For the next half hour, I am wandering around this goat pen meeting and petting these goats. We also got to see sheep, birds, and turtles. Spending about an hour and half there I could not believe this experience was 100 baht and we had it all to ourselves. After feeling like we robbed them blind, we said our goodbyes to our host and all of the animal friends we made and headed back down the dirt road.
You might be thinking "wow thats a lot of animals" but there is still more. Just about an hour before sunset, we went to an elephant sanctuary and met two amazing elephants named Maruay and Wassana. They both have lived full lives and are both over 40 years old. Wassana had an especially hard life being used in the logging industry to pull lumber. We got to feet them bananas, chunks of sugar cane, and palms. When feeding there there are about five of six other people trying to feed the same elephant so when the elephant reaches out its trunk to you, you feel like they choose you. Very special to feel like you're being chosen by one of these great creatures or maybe you just happen to be holding the best looking banana. It is nice to know they are both having a great retirement. It was sad to leave them. It was also a sad evening because it was time to return the scooter I had grown so fondly of.
Having spent a day and a half in Khao Sok it was time to head to the national park. We booked a one day lake tour with our resort. Day trip included a free breakfast at the resort which we showed up promptly to at 7:30 AM when they opened. We took an hour van ride to get to the entrance of the national park and we were met with a beautiful blue lake full of fish you could see just by peering into the water. The boats were long and flat with a tremendous engine on the back with a long rod with the propeller at the end of it. The lake seemed to have portions as deep as 50 meters and then shallow swampy areas. I found it interesting that the lake is not entirely natural. There are three dams that were man made back in the 80s that cause the water levels of the lake to rise. This dam now provides a better water resource and power generation resource to the Thailand Nation. Because of the man made dams, approximately 350 families were forced to move from there homes on the old lake and force to move to the villages surrounding the national park.
It was pretty surreal to see trees growing from the vertical walls of limestone. The day was spent traveling by boat around the lake to check out scenic spots. At mid-day, we had lunch on a man-made floating island. The meal consisted of rice, fried chicken, red curry, fried veggies, and pineapple for dessert. It was an all you can eat situation so we had our fill (also perk that we both don't get sea sick). After lunch, we had a break to swim in the lake and soak up the sun. The sun was totally soaked. We boated over to a cave were we saw stalactites and stalagmites. Got to taste the water dripping from the ceiling. Our tour guide pointed out bats to Camila but not me which was BS. And to end the day we had a short jungle hike where we got to learn about the trees that grow there. We made it back to our little village town after a long day of exploring. The whole time we were in Khao Sok we were trying to eat at this little hole in the wall thai place right across the street from our stay but every time it was close except for our final night there. They must have been saving the best spot for last because that place was amazing.
Now it was time to rest of for a bus ride down to Krabi in the morning.
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