FROM TARZAN TO JAMES BOND
Tarzan and James Bond in rehab yesterday.
Now, be honest. How many of you have ever stayed in a tree house with bath? No? Well get yourself to Khao Sok National Park then. When I read in a guidebook that such accommodation existed, I, like any child trapped inside an adult’s body, couldn’t resist. The fact that it also happened to be in a national park was just a happy coincidence as far as I was concerned. It could just as well have been in the middle of a garbage dump and I would have signed up.
Khao Sok is directly east of Surat Thani, about halfway between the east and west coast. Apart from the obvious attraction of tree houses with baths, there is also something called “nature,” which manifests itself in the form of jungles, limestone cliffs, rivers, a lake and several dogs.
The tree house was next to a delightful babbling brook and, while the “bath” actually turned out to be a shower, that’s still pretty impressive in my book.
I spent a few days exploring the park with some friends after one of my Koh Tao trips. We followed various trails into the jungle and along river banks, hoping to see some wildlife. It was an entomologist’s dream with more spiders and butterflies that you could shake two big sticks at, but we saw none of the big game we were after. In fact, the closest encounter with a deadly creature came just after checking in. As I sat on my tree house bed chatting with Bob, a small scorpion decided to drop in from the ceiling and landed on the bed between us. Of course we stayed very calm. In fact, other friends commented on just how calm our screams sounded from neighbouring tree houses.
After Khao Sok, we headed to the west coast town of Krabi. This sleepy little town is fairly unremarkable on its own, although it is a great base for exploring some of the beautiful beaches and islands in the area.
We spent a few days at Raileh Beach, which is on the mainland but can only be reached by boat. It has two beautiful bays separated by a narrow sand bar. Impressive limestone cliffs rise majestically along either side of the bays and conceal a lagoon that you can only get to by way of a steep climb up and over one of the cliffs. There were definitely no dinosaurs in this hidden lagoon. I know this for a fact because, unlike swimming, I have no problem with climbing. Nearby, there is also a cave, although that’s much easier to get to.
From Krabi, we also took a trip to the islands of Phi Phi, where droves of visitors come every year to see the white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. The smaller island is uninhabited and famous as the location where much of the movie The Beach was shot. The larger island is stunningly beautiful and, like Raileh Beach, has two horse shoe bays sitting back to back and providing a spectacular view from a nearby hilltop. It was certainly worth the climb.
Unfortunately, Koh Phi Phi, and in deed Raileh Beach, were living examples of what unchecked development can do to the environment. While I enjoyed visiting both places, the bungalows were packed in to maximize profit just as at Had Rin. It was like having economy seats in first class. Both places were also hit hard by the tsunami. I haven’t been back since, but it would be interesting to see how they have been redeveloped.
The last leg of the journey saw Jim and Monique head back to Bangkok while I made a final stop at Phangnga Bay with Bob and another friend, Doc. We took a two-day boat trip around the amazing bay, first passing through mangrove swamps and then out into the open ocean. We spent the first night at a Muslim fishing village on stilts. It was a bit commercialized to say the least, but a pleasant experience, nevertheless. On the second day, we rode around the bay, taking in the bizarre limestone rock formations and water-filled caves along the coastline. The soft rock has eroded into some surreal shapes, none more so than James Bond Rock, so called because of its starring role as the baddy’s hideout in The Man with the Golden Gun.
Paul Snowdon – Excerpt from Naked Farang: Four Weddings and a Coup
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