08 August 2005
Lychees and Leeches
What the booking comapnies fail to tell you about Khao Sak National Park is that it is actually a rainforest. This fact becomes somewhat important when you arrive in the middle of the monsoon season. The rain was so intense you could actually hear it approaching (think semi truck) and wihle this would be great if it gave you 15 seconds to get out your rain gear, it hits you at about 8 when you have your pack wide open soaking all of your stuff. Also, rain tends to combine with dirt hiking trails to form a cross between a mud wrestling pit and a raging river. This ceased to be a problem when the trail took a left turn and actually became the river.
Despite (maybe because of) the emphasis on rain, the trek turned out to be marvellous. We "hiked" into a cave that had chest deep water, pulling ourselves forward with a rope, and frolicked (not a term I throw around lightly) in a pretty impressive waterfall. There also was a great little place to swim and cliff jump. Well it would have been great if the Thai guide didn't charge at me with his butane lighter spewing out fire yelling "bilich! bilich!" which roughly translates as "there is a huge fucking leech crawling up your leg that I'm gonna burn whether you like it or not!" Also, as an interesting aside, Khao Sak has the only Thai restaurant in all of Thailand (as far as I can tell) not to have chopsticks. I mean McDonalds has chopsticks, and delivers in Bangkok.
After Khao Sak I moved on to Khao Lak which was pretty well ravaged by the tsunami. I started volunteering on a little island today which was great fun (except for the combination of sawdust and tropical heat). For one to file under the small world category: the guy in charge of this project not only went to GW (my highschool) but also coached swimming when I was there. One final fun tidbit, especially for you doctors/aspiring doctors, of the $9 I spent on a visit to the emergency room here $8.50 was for the rabies shot and $.50 was for the doctors fee. Only slightly different than the six grand Duke charged me to (unsucessfully) stitch up my arm.
Cheerio!
Steve
PS> There were also lychee trees in Khao Sak, hence the title of this post.
Despite (maybe because of) the emphasis on rain, the trek turned out to be marvellous. We "hiked" into a cave that had chest deep water, pulling ourselves forward with a rope, and frolicked (not a term I throw around lightly) in a pretty impressive waterfall. There also was a great little place to swim and cliff jump. Well it would have been great if the Thai guide didn't charge at me with his butane lighter spewing out fire yelling "bilich! bilich!" which roughly translates as "there is a huge fucking leech crawling up your leg that I'm gonna burn whether you like it or not!" Also, as an interesting aside, Khao Sak has the only Thai restaurant in all of Thailand (as far as I can tell) not to have chopsticks. I mean McDonalds has chopsticks, and delivers in Bangkok.
After Khao Sak I moved on to Khao Lak which was pretty well ravaged by the tsunami. I started volunteering on a little island today which was great fun (except for the combination of sawdust and tropical heat). For one to file under the small world category: the guy in charge of this project not only went to GW (my highschool) but also coached swimming when I was there. One final fun tidbit, especially for you doctors/aspiring doctors, of the $9 I spent on a visit to the emergency room here $8.50 was for the rabies shot and $.50 was for the doctors fee. Only slightly different than the six grand Duke charged me to (unsucessfully) stitch up my arm.
Cheerio!
Steve
PS> There were also lychee trees in Khao Sak, hence the title of this post.
