Khao Sok – The best place in Thailand you’ve probably never heard of

It could very well be that in 9 months’ time, we will be looking back at our entire trip and agreeing that Khao Sok was our favourite place.  It’s a bold statement when we have only been travelling for 2 weeks but the past 5 days in this magical place has really been amazing.

Khao Sok is the largest national park in Thailand, it’s located in the strip of land between the islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samoi on the east and the west coast resort area of Khao Lak.

We flew from Bangkok to Surat Thani on 29^th Oct, all of us in good spirits after Mili received her new retainer from the great orthodontists at Smile Siam Square. A 1.5-hour flight from the noise and chaos of Bangkok and we were in the quiet south.  Two hours later in our van transfer and we arrived at the Morning Mist Hotel, our home for the next 5 nights.  It was 7pm, dark and so we could not see too much.  What we missed seeing, was made up for in hearing, with the most amazing jungle sounds of crickets, frogs and various other animals – it was almost deafening at times.

Day 1

We awoke the next day to see that we were basically in the middle of the Khao Sok jungle.  Our room was a wooden jungle cabin, couple of double beds with mosquito nets, surrounded by trees, bushes, flowers and wildlife.  Instantly we felt relaxed. 

We picked this hotel for 2 reasons – price and pool.  At only $25 per night, it was an absolute bargain and the added advantage of a pool meant the kids could have some time just to swim and play which we felt they needed.  So we decided to spend our first full day at the pool.  Dad worked, Mum read and the kids swam for about 7 hours (with a little schoolwork thrown in for good measure).  We then headed out for our typical evening of noodles, rice and curry.

Day 2

The main attraction in Khao Sok is the lake  trip (180 sq km of lake) so we booked this for our second day.  We had heard plenty about how beautiful it was, and we had planned to be here in April before we had to cancel that vacation so we were really looking forward to finally seeing if it matched up to the hype.

The day consisted of a boat tour, amazing lunch on a floating resort, swimming and kayaking on the lake, a 2 hour hike and motor raft to an amazing cave and then a boat tour back to land.  To say it lived up to the hype would be an understatement.

Aside from the world-class, breathtaking scenery, highlight of the day was the now weekly attempt by another Thai woman from ‘adopting’ Guy.  On the floating lake resort after lunch, the conversion went along these lines:

“You velly handsome boy, you velly beautiful, you want to come with me?”

But back to nature, I’ll let the photos tell the story, suffice to say it is a day that will live long in the memory.

Day 3

After the exertions of the Lake trip, the kids wanted another pool day so we duly obliged.  I did some work again (although doesn’t feel much like work when this is the view).

In the afternoon, we decided to go for a short trek down the river and explore the local area.  We stumbled across a beautiful spot in the river, blue/ green water and a swinging rope which the kids loved.  We must have spent a couple of hours here and was a highlight for the kids.

 

The evening was like every evening in Khao Sok – some food in one of the nearby restaurants, completely chilled-out atmosphere, not a care in the world, then sleeping by 10pm. I think it might have been on Day 3 that Shoshi casually asked if I thought we could run one of these guesthouses.  The magical atmosphere in Khao Sok gets to everyone in the end!

Day 4

Continuing our trend of rotating exploring and relaxing days, on Day 4 we hit the National Park for an 8km trek through the jungle.  The first 6km or so was on a fairly good path, surrounded by amazing lush jungle. At various points, we were able to climb down and go for a dip in the Sok River which was a welcome respite from the heat. 

The last 2 km was on unmarked trails, real jungle trekking and provided us with a magical experience.  We heard some rustling in the trees and looked up and saw what we thought was a monkey swinging across the branches.  It was amazing, we couldn’t believe we were seeing a monkey in the wild, a real David Attenborough moment.  As we tried to follow him/her swinging, we suddenly started to see more and more monkeys, quickly realising that we were actually watching a group of up
 to 20 monkeys in the trees above our heads.

As we said to the kids, they will probably be telling their own kids about this moment in another 30 years’ time.

Aside from the monkeys, the highlight of the day was Mili finally agreeing to eat some local Thai food and actually enjoying it.  She has now decided that fried rice with vegetables is her favorite food so the last 2 weeks of plain boiled rice have not been in vain.

Day 5

Up early for a walk through the jungle, then a van back to Surat Thani airport for our afternoon flight to Bangkok.  We’ve now got 24 hours there before taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai for the next part of our Thai adventure.

Special mention to Andy and Suwipa (and their 2 year old English-speaking daughter), the owners of the Morning Mist Hotel who gave us plenty of advice on planning our time and made us feel so welcome. Israeli hotel owners could learn a lot from them.

If the north of Thailand lives up to our time in Khao Sok, then we are in for some unforgettable experiences.