Limestone Lake and Jungle Walks, Thailand

Khao Sok, Limestone Lake and Jungle Walks.

The owner of the Green Mountain View Guesthouse, Tawee, gave me a lift after breakfast to the turn off for Khao Sok head quarters where a mini van was waiting for me. There were two Yanks, two German, and a lost boy from Montreal already to go. I hopped in and off we went the 65 km to Rachaprapah Dam (Cheow Lan Dam) and lake. The lake covers 165 square km and as it was filled, over 100 islands were formed. As we sped our way across the lake, knowing there were houses and villages that were submerged into a modern day ‘Atlantis’, we looked down the numerous fingers and up the limestone spires jetting out of the water covered in jungle green. An hour past before we turned into a finger and headed for the narrows to find Tone Tuey floating bungalows. Tone Tuey is complete with a restaurant and a 3 beer bar; Singha, Chang, and Leo, but it’s cheaper if you pack a few of your own if you’re in the mood. There are a few kayaks available free of charge and you can search the seemingly endless shoreline for signs of life at your leisure.

It became really hot once the boat stopped forcing a breeze. The water was inviting but surprisingly warmer than I expected. Diving down a few meters it got cool and deeper cold. There’s about 20 meters below the floating bungalows so be careful with your cameras, your going to need it.

We had a nice lunch and our van driver/boat captain/jungle guide took us on a short boat ride to a trailhead where we headed off into the jungle. It hadn’t rained for a few days but it was threatening to do so in the near future.

We walked through bamboo forests where at one time roads for log extraction below the water level had been carved into the loose dirt. The rest of the forest is still a true original forest barring any major burning from long ago. There were lots of creeks to cross and since my shoes disintegrated on my trek from Mae Hong Son to Pai and I hadn’t needed to buy any until now. Lucky for me the guide didn’t wear shoes so I wore flip-flops until it came to the water then I’d take them off. We saw buffalo spiders, centipedes, butterflies en mass, and lots of fish in the creeks. There was the occasional leech but that was infrequent but kept everyone looking at their shoes, socks and legs.

We came to a point in the trail where a sign had been erected saying that the Nam Ta Lu Cave was closed due to frequent water flow surges. Our guide thought we should go look since it hadn’t rained in a few days. The water level was low and we went in and I removed my flip-flops, turned on my torch and into the darkness we went. It was a bit of a stumble but nothing to stress about. I was the slow guy in the back.

While in the cave I saw fish between my feet and fist size spiders on the walls. I don’t like spiders. We walked in and out of the water for a ways before our guide asked for anything we wanted to keep dry and put it all in a waterproof bag that he carried. Then the water went from our knees to our wastes and then a bit further along we were either barley touching bottom or swimming for a short distance. (Not far).  Once out of the deep water we maybe covered 100 more meters and we could see light from the other side of the mountain. The river runs through the mountain.

A few years ago a group of, I think, 8 went in the cave while it was raining and only one survived. Our record was better. The one woman that lived stayed on top of the water as it rose and she clung to the rocks for around 12 hours until the rains and river subsided and she could make her way to the rescuers coming in from both ends to look for survivors. Just FYI. The guides are aware of the situation and won’t put you in harms way.

We returned through the jungle for a late afternoon swim or kayak and time on our own. After a wonderful dinner of local fish we got back in the boat to do a nocturnal tour of the shorelines with a searchlight looking for reflecting eyes. We found a Civet cat way up in a tree. Apparently they’re easy to hunt because they don’t move once seen. We found an irritated fish owl and some resting Hornbills, both sizes, but too far away for photos. When we shined our search light one Hornbill bird spread it’s wings as if we could help dry them with our meager light. The glow flies had a better chance of helping the birds than we did. We turned off all our lights and the forest lit up with glow flies traveling through the canopy. We also turned off the engine and sat for a spell listening to the dark jungle stir.

We returned to our floating bungalows and some people crawled in under their mosquito nets and others sat out watching the evening rains go torrential. The sound of the rain drummed on the tin roofs for a period of time and then subsided giving way to the sounds of the jungle. I found a six-inch skink lizard under my pillow. I told it to piss off and it slept somewhere else. I don’t give in to lizards, snakes, mosquitos, and things like that, only spiders. Did I tell you I have a strong dislike for spiders especially the oversized species on steroids? Let’s put it this way, I like them better when they are not around. There are not a lot of poisonous spiders in Khao Sok or on the lake.

Before breakfast if it wasn’t raining we were going out for a morning tour on the boat to see what was stirring along the shoreline. In the back ground Gibbons howled at the top of their lungs, birds sung or squawked, frogs bellowed in the wet and fish jumped for a new hatch of bugs driven out of the ground by the rain. We ran into a female Gibbon with two babies playing near the lake, very rare. We also crossed paths with a troop of Dusky Languor and then some rather common Macaque monkeys watching us pass by. If you click on the pictures the animals are easier to see.

Due to the rainy conditions that night, our guide chose not to climb a big muddy hill and down the other side. We went to another cave instead still walking an hour or so through the jungle to get there. On the way we stopped at the old communist vegetable fields for a quick look around and then on back into the woods. There is a saying in the diving world that says, if its beautiful, ugly or unique, don’t touch it. This is also true in the jungle. Plants want to saw your legs off, bugs want your blood, and if it’s big then you’re in trouble. Tigers do make an appearance periodically but they are very reclusive and don’t play well with others.

The cave we went to was See Ru Cave, a communist strong hold back in the late 70’s with four separate exits for retreat if the Thai Army got within range. A sniper would stay behind and defend the cave while the others escaped deeper into the jungle with what little they had to carry. The local villagers in the valley traded with them before the reservoir filled and the villager’s homes were buried under water. Gunshot holes are everywhere from helicopter fire. Bat guano ammonia is in the air in every cave. Some caves held 30 people and other caves held many more.

Cicadas tore up the silence as bugs focused on your ears. It was awesome and I can barely imagine living in this environment for extended periods of time struggling with Malaria, injury infections, and the constant battle with the wet humid conditions.

We ate lunch back at Tone Tuey and headed out for our last sight seeing venture before returning to Khao Sok National Park and our respective bungalows on ground. By this time the jungle seemed tame and less daunting. It’s still humidly wet but when I see a large spider now I just keep an eye on it while I have light. I hope I’m learning something about the jungle as well as myself, kudos to those before me.

www.davidcdagley.com

Khao Sok, Rachabrapah Dam and Communism

Khao Sok, Rachabrapah Dam and Communism

In 1984 approximately 850 villagers were flooded out of their villages by the completion of Rachabrapah Dam and the beginning of Cheow Lan Reservoir. 20 to 90 meters under the surface of the lake temples, Buddhas, schools, orchards, houses still stand along what was once the banks the Pasaeng River. Over 300 families were displaced in the process of filling the reservoir. The river had many native species of fish that now live in a lake or have moved up streams. Farmable deep-water fish have been added to this massive lake that can reach 180 kilos per fish, or more. Dam construction started in 1982 under the guise of a watershed and producing electricity. At the same time large logging companies were lining up for contracts to cut the tropical hardwoods below the reservoirs’ expected elevation level and a road was established in some areas for log extraction. The road is barley visible as a cut in the side of a slope and a bamboo maze has retaken if rightful place in the forest. Many of the families argued for the right to fish the lake and were granted. Other families built floating bungalow systems and began to attract tourists to the lake borders to see the plethora of animal and plant life still surviving relatively untouched by man. Tigers are still seen periodically as well as other large mammals, birds, insects, and unique topography.

The construction of the dam seems to have a secondary agenda as well because the area flooded was also home of the communists hiding for the previous 8 years and fighting from the jungle. Most of the communists were students with 30% being female and mostly self-sufficient growing rice, raising chickens and pigs, various fruits and caught fish in the streams. Both sides struggled with Malaria and infection but there was a primitive medical facility with beds and medicine eventually found by the Thai army. The Thai Army had a seriously difficult time finding the communist camps by helicopter and later on foot due to the heavy foliage and jungle canopy over such a vast area. If the army were spotted the communists would either hide or escape through cave systems and reset elsewhere. The one thing both sides agreed on was the protection of the wildlife. For the communists it was more for security, a gun shot could give away their position followed by a helicopter attack and then foot soldiers so it was forbidden for them to hunt wild game except out of self defense and then the meat would be shared and on alert.

I entered a few of these communist caves and walked through some of their croplands that have now mostly returned to the jungle but they are still recognizable due to tree barren tracks.

I’ve seen many of the bullet holes in the limestone at some of the cave entrances along with some massive spiders and hundreds of bats on the ceiling that the communists had to live with. The floor of the caves is feet thick in bat guano, which turns out to be a very good source of nitrogen for fertilizer. The stench of ammonia can be stifling.

If you come to Thailand and miss Khao Sok, you haven’t seen Thailand.

When the reservoir began to fill the communists had to retreat and in many cases slowly return to their family homes and dissolve their cause or go underground.

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Taxis, Boats, and Buses

Taxis, Boats, and Buses

When it came time to leave Koh Tao I set myself up with the same travel agent I had used the previous two times. She smiled when I entered her office; Wandee Guesthouse and Travel. (ph#. 084-4518747). She had just returned from South Korea on a short tour. We talked about South Korea for about a half hour before settling on the fact that South Koreans are wonderful people with a rich culture.

I asked to go to Khao Sok National Park for a forth visit. The Park is nestled in the monolith limestone mountains on the Thai peninsula. These mountains continue on down and loosely join with the Malaysian peninsula mountains harboring such places as Cameron Highlands, a tea plantation area and on down to the Taman Negara National Park, a 150 million year old region in Malaysia that was not frozen over during the last ice age and so the animals in it are unique and a breed apart. I’ll get to that later.

I picked up a truck taxi in front of the travel agency just down the street from Asia Divers Resort. A group of us hopped in the back of the truck and headed for the pier where we boarded different ferries bound for various ports, some towards Bangkok, others for Krabi, and a small group of us for Surat Thani. Surat Thani is a medium size town on the east coast of the Thai peninsula and the gateway to cross over the mountains to Khao Sok and further on to the Andaman Sea and the town of Takupa on highway 401.

It’s the beginning of the rainy season but being out on the islands the rainy season seems like it happens somewhere else. On Koh Tao we had a few evening showers and a lot of lightening and thunder the joins with the sunset activity.

The high speed catamaran sped me on to Surat Thani where a bus waited on the pier for those going into town or to another bus station. Instantly I was on the next leg of my journey. The bus left after all travellers were aboard. Due to low season and political issues in Bangkok half the seats were empty. A few hours flew by when the bus pulled over somewhat randomly and the drivers’ assistant gave me the nod to get off. He pointed across the street to a bus stop and restaurant and told me to talk to the man in the restaurant and wait for another bus. I had a quick bite to eat and a tuk tuk pulled up and waived me to him. I got in back and he drove me to a different bus station where I boarded another bus headed for Khao Sok andTakupa.

I arrived around 6 pm at the turn off for Khao Sok as the sun hid behind a jungle green limestone monolith ridge but the sun wasn’t down. The turn off was the same but more building have been erected over the last few years as they do in Thailand. My first visit to Khao Sok was 1996 and back then there was just a bamboo shelter bus stop and trucks would come from the park entrance where there was a string of guesthouses between the river and road the park entrance. The sheltered bus stop was still there but so were a lot of small shops scratching out a living off the coming and going of tourists.

A kindly gentleman named Tawee approached me with an offer for a bungalow for 300 baht but not on the park road, ‘more in the jungle’. He offered free rides to the park or into the village whenever I wanted to go use internet or take a walk into the park or for a swim in one of the many waterfall pools along the trails.

Green Mountain View Guesthouse, Bungalows and Camping. (Ph # 0066-872632481). Call him and he’ll come get you. Green Mountain View Bungalows is on the east side of a green mountain ridge buried between in a rubber tree plantation and the jungle. The bungalows are spacious and vary from 300 baht to 500 baht depending on the number of beds but all bungalows come with an outside walled bathroom open to the sky and really great when it raining. Need I remind you that its warm rain?

There is a full restaurant run by Tawee’s wife and the rest of the family members that are old enough are guides, drivers, whatever you need can be arranged for a reasonable price. There is English is good. I sat with a Swedish woman who had been staying for three weeks. There was a particular glow about her and green Mountain View as an alternative to guesthouse row at the entrance of the park which is also more expensive.

I took a day off and just enjoyed the heat of the day and a light rain in the evening. I decided I would go to ‘Limestone’ Lake, otherwise known as Cheow Lan Reservoir, the next day for an overnight in the jungle and a floating bungalow but first I have to explain some of the history of the Lake.

www.davidcdagley.com