Gibbons, caves, and motorbikes

...and wake up to the calls of gibbons we did! No other sound can match the eerie, high-pitched wooping of those great apes echoing in the morning.

We arrived in Khao Sok National Park in the afternoon of the 8th after eight long, arduous hours on the road from Koh Lanta. It was worth the trip. Khao Sok, as Jen mentioned in the last blog, is considered to be one of the oldest rainforests in the world. Although, it's not a "true" rainforest like its counterparts to the south in Malaysia. Technically speaking the park consists mostly of tropical evergreen forests, but to the clueless farang (foreigner) like us, it oozes with plenty of jungle vibes.

We spent the first day in Khao Sok trekking around in the cool morning, attempting to escape the heat of the day. We walked through giant groves of monastery bamboo, creeking and groaning, and soon spotted our first Dusty Langurs. They were cruising across the tops of the massive trees across the the river. These are Jen's favorite monkeys and I can see why. They are almost completely black, except for a large white-mask that looks like oversized goggles. They are nimble tree climbers too. Moving along, we happily meandered through the forest until we were startled by the explosive whooshing of giant birds above us. From the floor of the jungle we could just barely make out streaks of black and white until all of a sudden we saw three massive birds the likes of which we had never seen come into full view. Enter the hornbills. Residents of Khao Sok, there are over six species of hornbills (and if you don't know what they look like, I recommend looking them up). These were the massive white-crowned hornbill; they have giant gray-white beaks and fuzzy white mohawks. We listened in rapture to their loud cackling and booming woot-woot-wudwudwud. As I said before, Khao Sok oozes with jungle vibes.

And we got to find out just how much the next couple of days. That evening we booked an overnight safari into the jungle with the most reputable looking agency in town. A.k.a. the one with the most Bob Marley paraphanelia and least amount of hype. It was a great choice. Our guide, Sak, was a local who had spent 21 of his 32 years as a guide in the forest. He was filled with an encyclopedic knowledge of the park and happily shared it with us. We left early in the morning with three other farang and drove an hour east to Bantakun, grabbed some tasty fried banana treats, and then made our way north to the massive 165-sq. km. man made made lake created by the Rajjaphapa Dam. We hopped onto a sleek long-tail and zoomed across the water for an hour and a half. For you geography-geeks (like me), the entirety of Khao Sok is your classic karst topography. In other words, there are massive limestone cliffs and mountains that jut into the air to dizzying heights and are littered with undergroud caves (more on that soon). So as we skimmed the water we took in the breathtaking cliffs that lined the lakes shore.

We stayed in National Park lake-rafts at Tone Teuy that night. The rafts were made out of bamboo, which squeeked under our feet as we walked. But that was the only sound we heard except for the myriad hoots, chirps, and buzzing emanating from the forest. Before settling in for the night, however, we made an afternoon trip to Nahm Tah Lu cave. Only an hour long hike, my feet were soon shredded to pieces by the three dollar sandles I had bought the day before so that I could hike through forest streams and swim in the cave. We arrived quickly however and after pulling out our flashlights submerged without any ado into the dark opening of the cave. Soon we were dazzled by the massive stalagtites shimmering in the faint glow cast by our lights. Thousands of bats clung to the ceiling and ominous six inch spiders passively observed us in the dark. We walked, swam, and climbed our way through the cave for an hour before emerging on the other side into radiant brightness. Only afterwards did Sak, our guide, regall us with tales of rescuing people from the cave the year before. Thanks for that Sak.

That night we drove by longboat around the lake searching for nocturnal creatures. Unfortunately, because it was a full moon, the skiddish animals didn't put on a show for us, except for giant great hornbills sleeping high above us. The next morning we woke up before the sunrise to go out again in the boat, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ellusive gibbons we had been heard each morning since we had arrived in Khao Sok. No sightings there, but plenty of pig-tailed macaques and langurs sedately munching on the fruit of palm trees. In the afternoon we hiked to the top of a viewpoint about an hour north of Tone Teuy. The climb was steep and a little treacherous, but everyone handled the terrain easily. At the top we gazed in silence at the pre-historic jungle breathing below. Gibbons' calls reverberated against the limestone cliffs and echoed down the valleys of time. I felt as though I could fly.

We packed up the following day, February 12th, and began our slow return to Bangkok. We stopped in at Prechuap Khiri Khan, expecting to stay for only a night, and have ended up hanging around for four. Far different from its cousins to the south, Prechuap is a quiet seaside metropol that caters mainly to vacationing Thais. We rented a scooter the following day to explore the surrounding areas. On the first day we discovered an out of the way temple complex called Wat Ao Noi. The grounds were covered in Bougainvillia and colorful roosters. A giant Wat made of dark teakwood stood in the center. One of the resident monks beckoned us up the hill nearby, intoning simply "Big Buddha". He was right! At the top of the hill we found a cave with two reclining Buddhas, each over 50 feet long. Supposedly over five-hundred years old, we felt like we had stumbled into a very sacred place. For the rest of the day and next we took some time to relax and get rejuvinated after almost a week of non-stop moving, trekking, and exploring.

Yesterday, however, we got right back to it. Waking up at 6 am we drove north from Prechuap to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. Known for its bird diversity and excellent caves, we found ourselves like children in a candy store. We hiked early in the morning to a viewpoint and watched playful swifts and martins. In the afternoon we went to Tham Phraya Nakhon, the supposedly most photographed cave in Thailand. We found out why. Discovered several hundred years ago, and then officially "blessed" by King Rama V in 1890, the cave is made up of two massive karst sinkholes each over two-hundred feet deep. There is an ornate pagoda built to commemorate Rama V that hordes of Thai tourists flock to each day to pay homage to their king. We spent several hours simply wandering around taking in both the natural beauty and the cultural spectacle.

Now we leave for Petchaburi for a night before we complete our last leg of our trip in Bangkok! Sawutdee-krup!