Jungle Camp Day 2: Cheow Lan Lake

It was a new experience to spend a night in the middle of the jungle - you might think that it would be very quiet and peaceful, but in fact, the night was full of the sounds of bugs and frogs, as well as snores and snatches of conversation from neighbouring tents! Fortunately, I am one of those people who find it easier to sleep with a slightly noisier environment, so I didn't mind too much.

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...

Jungle Camp Day 1: Meeting the Elephants and Canoe Safari

On our fourth morning in Thailand, we left our hotel in Bangkok at around 5 am and took a transfer over to the airport, where we caught a plane heading south to Phuket. We flew with Bangkok Airways, and the 90-minute flight was the first flight I've actually enjoyed in a long time, with surprisingly roomy seats and even a full meal. Flying into Phuket, we had great views of the beaches, and even passed right over one as we came in to land!

After picking up our suitcases, we got into a minibus for the two or three hour journey to Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp in Khao Sok National Park. On the journey, we passed by the picturesque beaches of Phuket, before crossing over the bridge to mainland Thailand and entering deeper into the jungle. Unfortunately for Claudio, he slept for most of the journey, but I was lucky to see some Thai cows (which look so different to the cows we're familiar with in the UK) and even a couple of elephants!

We arrived at Elephant Hills at around one or two o'clock, and I have to say that our arrival was pretty chaotic (though things only got better from that point on). A lot of people were arriving at the same time, and we were all told to leave our luggage in a big pile at the entrance, before being given forms to fill out. Afterwards we had 20 minutes to grab a bit of lunch from the buffet, search through our suitcases for a change of clothes, and get changed in the toilets, before going off for our first activity. To be fair, the lunch I had of stir-fried noodles and sweet & sour vegetables was really good, but I would have liked to have been able to have more of it!

We then got into a truck and drove the 5 or 10 minutes to the elephant sanctuary. 

The moment we arrived, it was as if the day thus far, with the early wake up, all the hours of travel, and time spent in airports, just melted away. The elephants were just so majestic and the surrounding scenery was amazing.

After a few photos, we went into a wooden hut, where we watched a short documentary about elephants. We learned about the differences between African and Asian elephants (Asian elephants are generally smaller, with smaller ears and more toenails) and also about the history of how Asian elephants previously were used in conflict and in the logging industry. Nowadays, there are much fewer elephants in Thailand than there were in the past, but generally they have happier lives, living in places like Elephant Hills.

Then we got to meet the elephants up close and even touch them! All of them were female and ranged in age from 19 to 81, if I remember correctly. They were so noble and beautiful, and it was such a special experience to be so close to them. Their trunks feel like leather and are surprisingly hairy!

We also got to prepare a snack for them, which consisted of pineapples, bananas, sugar canes and protein balls wrapped in banana leaves. It was so fun to put the food in their trunks and then watch them putting it into their mouths!

We also loved watching them bathing in their pond - they looked so cute and it was clear they were having a great time!

Back in the hut, we were given some unusual bookmarks...that were made out of elephant dung! It turns out that they're processed in a way which makes them completely hygienic. We had fun decorating ours, and were happy to leave with a nice little souvenir from this wonderful experience (though unfortunately, the one I made for Claudio did not survive the journey home very well!).

We then moved on to the second activity of the day, which was the canoe safari. This was a very relaxing, hour-long ride down the Sok river with a local guide. Here we saw some incredible mountains, as well as amazing wildlife, including snakes and monkeys!

Back at the camp, there was a programme of optional evening activities before dinner, starting with a short documentary, followed by a Thai dance performance and a cooking demonstration. It had been a very long day, so we decided to give these a miss and get settled into our tent.

The tent was actually like a small hotel room with a proper bathroom and shower. It was really cool to have the experience of camping in the middle of the jungle but in relative luxury!

We also took some time to explore the rest of the camp, which is such a beautiful and enchanting place. All of the décor is so well thought out.

One fun thing to do was to put a pin on the camp's map. I couldn't add one, as there wasn't any space left to put one on the UK (the vast majority of guests at the camp were British), but Claudio had more luck, and got to put the first ever pin on Chile!

We finished off our evening with a quick dip in the pool, before enjoying a delicious buffet dinner and drinks from the bar.

It was quite surreal to have started our day travelling through the city streets of Bangkok at 5 am and to end the day drinking a piña colada in the middle of the rainforest in southern Thailand. This was one of the busiest days of our honeymoon, but also one of the most memorable. It felt magical to be in the jungle camp, and meeting the incredible elephants was an experience we'll remember forever.

We still had another day and a half left in this beautiful place, and our second day would see us exploring more of Khao Sok National Park, spending the day at Cheow Lan Lake. A blog post all about it will be here shortly!