Wildlife

On Friday we went from Krabi to Khao Sok National Park and stayed in the village at the entrance of the park. The next day, we set off at 8am for a trek through the rain forest. Our final destination was Ton Kloi Waterfall: going there and back took 6 hours despite it being only 15 ms, but tracks through the rain forest are not the easiest to walk on! In fact, for the last hour before we reached the waterfall, we were mostly climbing up or down slopes that were not far from vertical, clenching the huge vines and tree roots surrounding us.

It was hard work (the photo above is actually one of the easy bits!) but so beautiful, it almost felt like being Tarzan in the jungle! And to top it off we got to see some great wildlife. The best one of all was a snake - I remember walking around thinking "I wish we'd see a snake, but we were already lucky to see one in Australia so what are the chances..." and a few minutes later, there it was! Here is a sample of our finds - Fiona, check out the bokeh in the dragonfly pic ;)

On Sunday, we made our way to the island of Kho Pha Ngan. For the last two nights we stayed in Hat Khom, North of the island, and spent some time on that beach which was amazingly quiet and remote. We've now decided we want a bit of "life" around us, so this morning we moved to Hat Rin, on the South of the island. The place is a lot more developped and reputed for its "Full Moon Parties", where old and young hippies and backpackers gather up on the beach once a month to party till dawn (there can, apparently, be anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people around!). Understandably, it's impossible to find accomodation in one of the 4,000 or so rooms on the island, and prices increase majorly before the full moon. I have to say, it's not something I'd be particularly keen to experience...

C.