Khao Sak National Park

January 3rd, 2016

I didn’t need an alarm clock this morning, I awoke to a chorus of cooing and whoops and cooing.  At times it sounded like an infant and at other times, it sounded like a bird.  It was a little bizarre, sometimes a solo and other times a chorus.  I peeked out of my tent thinking I had to be able to see something but all I could see was that lake and the jungle and it seemed like the noise was coming from all directions.  Later that morning the guide told me that it was the gibbons who sing each morning before the dawn and that the sounds they make can travel up to 2 miles.

After breakfast we tagged along with our guide on a kayaking tour.  There was a total of three kayaks who went along with the guide.  He pointed out monkeys, squirrels, snakes and lizards. In addition, I finally got the hang of kayaking and didn’t steer our kayak into any branches.

After lunch we were put back onto a boat to head back.  It was a wonderful experience but would have been better if it had lasted a little longer!

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Saturday, January 02, 2016

It was off to Elephant Hill’s Rainforest camp, which is a floating camp on Cheow lan lake. We stopped on the way to the camp to see the dam that created Cheow Lan lake.  According to the literature, the creating of the lake created in the 80’s.  When the area was flooded it created a lot small islands.  Prior to the flooding, communist students used the area to hide out from the government.

After the dam, we headed by boat to the camp.  We passed one other camp on the way but besides that, there was no sign of civilization.The lake was surrounded by limestone mountains.  It reminded me of Halong Bay and Guilin.  I cannot imagine how this looked before the flooding.

After an hour, we arrived and were served lunch.  Afterwards we were handed our keys, we stayed in tent 7 – the Sun Bear.  Each tent was named after a local animal.  The tents were pretty much the same tent as the base camp, just a bit smaller and they sat on rafts.  All in all, there were a couple dozen connect rafts with two common areas for dining.

There was a jungle trek in the afternoon. The trek was  4 km and would take over three hours.  The guide warned this was a challenging trek and there was no turning back once we set out. As much as I wanted to go, I reluctantly decided to stay at base camp. With recent surgery, I couldn’t take the risk.  It was something I really wanted to do and it was hard to watch the boat depart. On the positive side, the camp was very quiet and it was very relaxing to sit and listen to the jungle.

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December 31st, 2015 – What a way to spend the last day of the year!

Generally, I disapprove the use of animals as entertainment.  There is a fine line between using animals for educational purposes and entertainment.  I try my best to avoid places that use animals as entertainment.  At the “Elephant Experience”, we learned about the elephants, we watched them play in the pond and then we washed them down.  Afterwards we chopped up food and fed them.  Although there we posed with the elephants, there was no trained show and there were no elephant rides through the jungle.

The elephants at this camp are elephants that were used in work camps and then abandoned.  Traditionally, elephants have been used in Thailand for the logging industry and to help clear land.  Asian elephants are smaller and have a better temperament than the African Elephant.  The elephants have been a part of the Southeast Asian cultures for hundreds of years with a lot of mythological references.  The knowledge of training an elephant has been handed down in families over generations.  The elephant trainer, known as a mahout starts as a boy who is assigned a young elephant.  The remain together through their lives.

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December 31st, 2015

After lunch our first adventure was rafting down the river.  Although I call it an adventure, the boat came with a paddler and there weren’t any white water rapids, just a slow flowing small river.  It being the dry season, it was quite shallow.  Along the way, the guides pointed out a beehive, a few snakes and a toad.

Our paddler took us up close and he asked if I we would like to take a picture of it.  I declined thinking that where I grew up, we had plenty of frogs and toads that looked just the same.  I noticed a lot of other people in the group taking a lot of pictures.  Then again, when we boarded our rafts the selfie sticks came out along with go cameras and cell phone cameras.  I always thought I took a lot of pictures but I am finding that the opposite is true, there are a lot more people who take a lot more pictures and video.  I wonder if they ever look at them all and just how many do the end up having over time.

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The view from my tent

Thursday, December 31, 2015
Arrived in Bangkok on December 27 and spent a few days there while Sophon visited family.  This morning, we flew from Bangkok to Surat Thani which is in the southern part of Thailand.  I had booked a package at the Elephant Hills resort and was really excited about it.  In addition to seeing, feeding and washing elephants, there was a list of activities that sounded like a lot of fun.  This was going to be camp for adults and kids.

Khao Sak is a national park close to 300 square miles including a large man-made lake.  It was established in the 1980’s and is the largest protected rain-forest in Southern Thailand.  We were staying at the eco-friendly Elephant Hills Camp (http://www.elephanthills.com/)  for two nights in a deluxe safari tent with an attached bathroom followed by a night at the Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp staying on a floating tent.

We were picked up at the Surat Thani airport by the resort and taken to the camp.  We were given tent number 34 and we settled in before lunch. Although technically it was a tent, it was built on a platform with hardwood floors and there was an attached bathroom with sink toilet and shower.  It was not like we were roughing it in the wild.

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