The thing I'd worried about most was the prospect of bugs such as spiders or cockroaches coming into the tent, but luckily that didn't happen, as when the tent was closed, there were no gaps big enough for anything really nasty to get through. Some mosquitoes did manage to come in, but we got rid of the worst of them by doing big sprays of Raid throughout the tent before leaving for dinner and the day's activities. Weirdly, the mosquitoes in Thailand are silent (in my experience, in Europe, they generally make a sound like a violin), so it was hard to avoid getting bitten, although we used repellent as much as possible. Claudio picked up his first bite in Bangkok, but it was down here in the jungle that they really started going for us, and unfortunately we spent the rest of the holiday with a lot of very itchy bites!
Thankfully, there were so many interesting and fun things to distract us during our trip that the itchiness couldn't bother us too much.
Our first morning in the jungle began with a very tasty buffet breakfast at the camp before the start of the day's activities at 9 am. But before we got into the truck, our guide pointed out something interesting by the camp's entrance...the most enormous spider we'd ever seen in our lives! I suppose it was a relief that it was there and not anywhere near our tent!
For our second day of activities, we went further into Khao Sok National Park, to visit Cheow Lan Lake.
After driving for about an hour, we arrived at a viewpoint of the lake, which is also a service station area. Here you can go to the toilet and buy snacks and drinks if you want, but there's also quite a lot to see. There are great views of the lake from all around, and there's even a little temple with a golden Buddha on a hill. It was a very beautiful and peaceful area to explore - definitely not your average service station!
We spent around 45 minutes enjoying the viewpoint before getting back in the truck and driving to the pier to begin the next part of the day's programme of activities: taking a traditional Thai long-tail boat across the lake to the Elephant Hills Lake Camp.
The hour-long boat trip was a really exciting way to see the beautiful scenery of the lake, which is filled with incredible towering rock formations. (In fact, we saw similar rock formations a few days later in Phang Nga Bay, a better-known destination, but we actually felt that Cheow Lan Lake was more impressive.)
Arriving at the lake camp was a memorable moment. The row of over-water tents was very reminiscent of those images you see of luxury resorts in the Maldives, and we were full of anticipation to be spending the rest of the day in such a remote paradise, in the middle of the beautiful turquoise lake surrounded by jungle.
In fact, Elephant Hills does offer packages that include overnight stays at the lake camp. Ours did not include that, which to be honest, we were glad about, because that would have meant staying in four different places for four consecutive nights (Bangkok, the jungle camp, the lake camp and then Khao Lak) and would have involved more hassle of packing and unpacking. Spending the night there must be a special and unique experience though.
We got off the boat at a communal area in the middle of the tents, where hot drinks and a buffet lunch were waiting for us. Understandably, the selection wasn't as big as it is in the jungle camp, and there were't a lot of vegetarian options, but the Pad Thai didn't have any shrimp in it, and I was more than happy to fill up on that. So it was a surprise when a few moments later, one of our guides bought over a whole array of vegetarian food for me: yellow curry with rice, egg tofu, deep-fried tofu, and a mushroom and green bean stir fry. There was so much to eat that I didn't even get started on the stir fry! Needless to say, it was all delicious, especially the yellow curry, which was nice and spicy.
Our guides said there might be the possibility of spotting animals, such as elephants, bears, and monkeys in the surrounding rainforest, but they were obviously hiding on the day we were there! However, we did see some big fish next to the camp.
We had a good few hours after lunch to spend at the camp, with choices of activities including swimming, kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding. Claudio and I jumped at the chance to try stand-up paddleboarding, as it's something we've wanted to have a go at for ages.
It was actually quite a lot easier than I thought it might be, and we had fun trying it out. Claudio also used the waterproof phone case he'd bought before our holiday to take some photos of me in action!
Although the activity itself was great, I somehow managed to bash my legs against the metal steps when getting off the board back onto the pier, which was very painful and left me with some massive bruises!
So we took the rest of the afternoon a bit slower, spending most of the time swimming and floating in the lake's warm waters. It is surprisingly how fast time can fly when you're in the middle of a lake with no internet or any of the other usual distractions of everyday life!
Then it was time to repeat the morning's travel in reverse, getting back to the jungle camp in the early evening. Claudio and I enjoyed an evening swim and 2 for 1 cocktails by the pool, before watching a Thai dance performance by a group of girls from a local school. The buffet dinner was great, as it had been the previous night, even though my first mouthful of tofu Tom Yum soup felt like it was setting my mouth on fire!
It had been another unforgettable day in Khao Sok National Park, and now our time there was almost coming to an end. Fortunately, we had another half day and another exciting activity still to come...
