Hiking in Khao Sok

I just got back from a long weekend of hiking in Khao Sok national park, which is the the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world. I started my adventure by trying to get the campus tuk-tuk drivers to understand that I wanted to go to Phan Tip tour agency. After about 10ish tries (all of which sounded the same to me) the driver smiled widely and seemed to have an epiphany as it suddenly clicked. After getting to Phan Tip I was able to get on the first minibus to Khao Sok...sadly this ment I got shoved into the last seat which also had absolutely no leg room :( After about 30minutes, where my legs started to fall asleep, my neighbors got off the minibus so I had a whole row to myself. Once I got to Khao Sok Rainforest Resort in the late afternoon I decided to relax and watch the rain.

On Saturday, I woke up early to venture into the park for some hiking. Since it was raining I threw on my poncho, threw my camera in it's water bag, and packed up the other hiking essentials in my super awesome vinyl backpack (everything stays dry as long as it's cinched down tight). With the assistance of my trusty work permit photocopies I was able to get into the park as a Thai person for a grand total of 40 baht instead of the inflated 200 baht tourist price. The cheap price definitely made up for the fact that they close most of the park during the rainy season. About 40 minutes into my hike I decided it wasn't raining that badly and I was getting hot and sticky in the poncho so I took it off...big mistake. No sooner did I take off the poncho the sky decided to open up and start pouring turning me into a drown rat. Since I was already soaked I decided to just forget about the poncho and kept going. Fortunately, I was smart enough not to take my camera out of it's bag. During my hike I discovered that with all of the rain none of the waterfalls were easy to get to or see. After 3 hours of hiking, and 4 leech bites, I went back to my room to get cleaned up and relax again.

On Sunday, I woke up and thought I was going crazy. The sun was shining, the river was blue green instead of brown, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I immediately decided that I had to go back out to the waterfalls to try and see them again. The hike was absolutely beautiful without the rain. The river was also much lower so I was able to go out and see both waterfalls. During this hike I only fed 2 more leeches but one of them crawled all the way up my leg to my thigh...I didn't even know he had bit me until I got back and noticed a big circle of blood inside my cargo pants.

The whole trip was a blast and I will definitely be going back out in December or January when they re-open the rest of the trails and when the big rot flower is blooming! Pictures coming soon!

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