Khao Sok National Forest (July 24-27)

The other weekend was a long holiday here in Thailand for some Buddhist ceremonies. So, I went on an adventure with some of the other foreign teachers in Surat. 10 of us went on a trip to Khao Sok National park, which is a huge park that actually has three parts including the floating bungalows. This time we went to the hiking portion of the jungle. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of the rainy season so it rains EVERYDAY but that didn't stop us from having an adventure!

On Saturday afternoon we left Surat. After we got situated in the guest house we pulled a couple tables together in the restaurant to relax and play Uno.

On Sunday we decided to go tubing even though it was drizzling. We figured we were going to get wet in the river anyways so the rain doesn't matter. On our float down the river the trees were out to get us...Brian, Sunny, and I all got stuck in a tree at some point (I think the trees like to eat foreigners, we must be tasty). About half way down the river we stopped at a rope swing and jumped into the river a few times...we all kinda sucked at it (except 2 of the guys) cause we couldn't jump up high enough on the rope. The tubing went by way too fast and we all wanted to keep going when it was over. When we got back to the guest house Sunny and I went Rambutan hunting...I wound up climbing one of the trees only to find that all the good Rambutan are way out on the branches and I couldn't reach them from the middle of the tree :( We spent Sunday night playing cards again and talking.

On Monday it was drizzling again but we still decided to actually go into the park and hike out to a couple waterfalls. I'm so glad I work in Thailand cause without a work permit it cost 200 baht to get in (foreigner price) but with the permit we got in for 40 baht (Thai price). It's common in Thailand for place to have 2 prices (and foreigner price is always at least double the Thai price). Once we actually got on the trail the sky's decided to open up and start really raining (not pouring but a steady rain). So, about halfway up the trail we took a detour to the swimming portion of the river. That was a blast cause the current in the middle was really strong so you could float down the river! After the rain slowed down a bit we got out of the river and continued up the trail. We quickly got to the first waterfall which was just part of the river but it was still fun to relax on the rocks and take pictures of things. The second waterfall was amazing! It was across the river and huge! Hiking was a balst!

Monday night was Jole's (one of the guys) 23rd birthday so we were going to go out to pizza to celebrate. Unfortunately, the electricity decided to take a 4ish hour break :( once we finally went to pizza the waitress ignored us and when she finally got around to taking our order (almost 3o minutes after we got there and after helping 2 families that got there after our group) she told us they were out of pizza for the night. So, we just went back to our guest house restaurant to eat and play cards by candle light (the power came back at about 10pm).

The trip was amazing and I'm so glad I went! I definitely want to go back to the national park again to go hiking....maybe after the rainy season! Pictures will be up soon :)

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