Day 218 (Sat 10 Feb) - Khao Sam Roi Yot
Up early to have breakfast.
We were soon all comfortably esconced in the car that Steve and Fiona had hired. Together with the driver and the guide (that came with the vehicle ;) ) we made a merry little party.
Today's jolly was to walk around the National Park. We travelled to the HQ and picked up a park guide. This short sturdy looking chap clad in khaki coloured clothing and a cowboy hat was a right barrel of laughs. He was constantly smiling and cracking jokes and generally had such a sort of friendly, chummy attitude it was hard not to warm to him. The fact that he spoke not a word of English was moot.
With our newly acquired guide we then set off as a pack into the National Park. The driver, who spoke not a word of English, was charged with carrying the telescopic scope on a large tripod.
The weather was extremely hot so we were thankful to walk through the shade of the forest. We saw a few birds and some monkeys through the trees.
From the forested area we walked on road to a small stream where kingfishers were normally found. No kingfishers unfortunately. We did pass a mobile shrimp processing plant though.
Really, really hot as we walked on the road lined with mangroves. The surroundings were dotted with large hills but thankfully our road stayed flat as it threaded its way round them.
Got back to the HQ and saw some large mudskippers lying by the stream that runs alongside the building. We then walked on a raised walkway. Hard to believe that during the wet season water would be a couple of feet deep; it felt as though we were walking through a desert, complete with growing cacti.
Beautiful landscape however. We crossed small streams and walked amongst huge granite boulders.
Had lunch and then went back to our hotel for a rest, leaving our newly acquired guide at HQ.
At about 4ish we set off again and went for a boat ride. We headed towards the jetty that was located on a grassy plain on the edge of which were two beautiful Wats surrounded by large menacing granite hills. We met up with our guide from this morning and we all boarded the boat. Together with the captain of the boat that made eight people, four of whom were tourists!
The boat captain was clearly on something illegal as he continually talked and laughed at the top of his voice. His best jokes were lost on us, as they were in Thai, but judging by the reaction of our assorted guides and driver this man clearly had missed his calling as a standup.
Nevertheless the journey was breathtaking. On one side of the river huge rock cliffs towered above us and on the other we could see across to mountains or hills in the distance. As we floated downriver we spotted all manner of birds; kingfishers, egrets and herons, to name the only ones we remember ( [1], [2], [3] ).
We motored up and down the river, eventually reaching the mouth of the river, passing a small colourful fishing village.
Headed back to the jetty and got back in the car and headed to a beach where we watched a glorious sunset ( [1], [2] ). We finally headed back to the hotel
Unfortunately, the hotel is hosting some kind of Thai bankers corporate function. A stage had been built on the beach on which senior people were trying to gee up the troops assembled before them. As at all corporate functions the world over the troops wore glazed expressions whilst all the while probably wondering when the eejits would shut up and the free booze would begin to flow.
We went for dinner up the road at a small restaurant.
By the time we got back someone had wheeled out the karaoke machine. We could still hear some really mangled singing till about 1ish until someone thankfully pulled the pin.
We were soon all comfortably esconced in the car that Steve and Fiona had hired. Together with the driver and the guide (that came with the vehicle ;) ) we made a merry little party.
Today's jolly was to walk around the National Park. We travelled to the HQ and picked up a park guide. This short sturdy looking chap clad in khaki coloured clothing and a cowboy hat was a right barrel of laughs. He was constantly smiling and cracking jokes and generally had such a sort of friendly, chummy attitude it was hard not to warm to him. The fact that he spoke not a word of English was moot.
With our newly acquired guide we then set off as a pack into the National Park. The driver, who spoke not a word of English, was charged with carrying the telescopic scope on a large tripod.
The weather was extremely hot so we were thankful to walk through the shade of the forest. We saw a few birds and some monkeys through the trees.
From the forested area we walked on road to a small stream where kingfishers were normally found. No kingfishers unfortunately. We did pass a mobile shrimp processing plant though.
Really, really hot as we walked on the road lined with mangroves. The surroundings were dotted with large hills but thankfully our road stayed flat as it threaded its way round them.
Got back to the HQ and saw some large mudskippers lying by the stream that runs alongside the building. We then walked on a raised walkway. Hard to believe that during the wet season water would be a couple of feet deep; it felt as though we were walking through a desert, complete with growing cacti.
Beautiful landscape however. We crossed small streams and walked amongst huge granite boulders.
Had lunch and then went back to our hotel for a rest, leaving our newly acquired guide at HQ.
At about 4ish we set off again and went for a boat ride. We headed towards the jetty that was located on a grassy plain on the edge of which were two beautiful Wats surrounded by large menacing granite hills. We met up with our guide from this morning and we all boarded the boat. Together with the captain of the boat that made eight people, four of whom were tourists!
The boat captain was clearly on something illegal as he continually talked and laughed at the top of his voice. His best jokes were lost on us, as they were in Thai, but judging by the reaction of our assorted guides and driver this man clearly had missed his calling as a standup.
Nevertheless the journey was breathtaking. On one side of the river huge rock cliffs towered above us and on the other we could see across to mountains or hills in the distance. As we floated downriver we spotted all manner of birds; kingfishers, egrets and herons, to name the only ones we remember ( [1], [2], [3] ).
We motored up and down the river, eventually reaching the mouth of the river, passing a small colourful fishing village.
Headed back to the jetty and got back in the car and headed to a beach where we watched a glorious sunset ( [1], [2] ). We finally headed back to the hotel
Unfortunately, the hotel is hosting some kind of Thai bankers corporate function. A stage had been built on the beach on which senior people were trying to gee up the troops assembled before them. As at all corporate functions the world over the troops wore glazed expressions whilst all the while probably wondering when the eejits would shut up and the free booze would begin to flow.
We went for dinner up the road at a small restaurant.
By the time we got back someone had wheeled out the karaoke machine. We could still hear some really mangled singing till about 1ish until someone thankfully pulled the pin.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
2/10/2007 06:12:00 am
2 Comments:
what a great day, we seemed to pack alot in our mad boatman gave us an unforgetable experience pointing out the rock shaped like a Chinese head then roaring with laughter! Our park ranger was great value, every time we spoted and identified a bird he would point to it and shout out it's name then show it to us in the book - I'm not sure he knew what any of them were!
By
Anonymous, At
4:28 pm
the birds are 1 colloared kingfisher 2 white breasted kingfisher and 3 Chinese pond heron - glad you didn't get one of the common kingfisher as I know how Jo hates the 'common' bit - we can rename them if it helps!!
By
Anonymous, At
4:38 pm
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