A Daytrip to Cheow Lan Lake

October 28^th, 2024 

While planning on what activities to do when I first arrived in Khao Sok, one big question was whether to do a two day/one night excursion or just a daytrip to Cheow Lan Lake, one of the main attractions in the area.  It is an artificial lake created by a dam that was built in the 80s and it has many different little fingers so one would only be able to see a small portion of the lake on either tour.

 

With three full days here, but 3-4 other activities on my list like ATVing, canoeing and hiking, I decided that I didn’t have enough time for the overnighter.  Other factors were that you stay in fairly rudimentary, floating huts on the lake.  With sunset at 6pm, and travelling by myself, I figured that the evening would be boring, so I opted for the daytrip.  Bowie, my guide on my morning hike, made me second guess my decision as he stated that the night and early morning jungle treks could be amazing.  However, when leaving Khao Sok the following day, I spoke with a Dutch tourist who had stayed overnight and his recount didn’t seem like I missed much…so a daytrip it was.

 

After an hour drive in a mini-bus with some other tourists, we paid our entrance fees and hopped on a 30 foot long wooden boat with an inboard engine and were told that it was mandatory to put on our life jackets.  It was a fairly noisy ride across the lake, but the views made up for it.  As we approached the other shoreline, the pot-bellied captain slowed the boat down for a while.  Other boats were passing by us and I could sense something was not quite right.  Sure enough, about five minutes later, our guide named Baanchapat announced that there was a problem with the motor and we would have to wait about half an hour for a replacement vessel to arrive.  We pulled up to a dead tree sticking out of the water and tied up to it.

Our first view of the lake:

The pier:

Our boat:

It certainly is a stunning coastline with such sheer cliffs:

Our boat has broken down...

Snapped a few pics as we slowly motored over to a place to tie up the boat.

Had time to get a pic taken while waiting for our new boat:

Our new boat arrived, and I thought it was ironic that we were instructed to remove our lifejackets before stepping from boat to boat…probably when we needed them the most!  Baanchapat announced that this delay wouldn’t mean that we would miss any of the activities, they were just going to be in a different order so we’d be starting with lunch.

Our rescue boat arrives:

Back in action, entering a new section of the lake:

Enjoying the ride.

Entering a new section of the lake, near the shore we could see about 20 floating huts along with some other larger buildings in the centre including the dining area for lunch.  The meal wasn’t bad, and I got to practice my French a bit with a family from Grenoble, which is near St. Hillaire, where I visited the Coupe Icare flying festival back in 2010.  We had some free time to either swim (although it was also mandatory to wear a lifejacket…they must have had some issues in the past with non-swimming tourists…), kayak or just chill out.  All of the huts were empty as last night’s occupants had left and tonight’s lodgers hadn’t arrived yet so I was able to check them out.  The ones that had private bathrooms weren’t bad looking even though they were still pretty basic with no furniture to speak of, but they were not as primitive as the shared bathroom ones, which were simply thatched huts with a couple of mattresses inside.  Still a cool idea for tourists to try out.

On the floating dock:

The bathroom building for those huts.

Inside a "basic" hut:

Someone feeding the fish:

Took me a couple of tried with the timer to get the shot right.

After our leisure time (I just relaxed as I hadn’t brought my swim gear or a towel with me), we headed off in the boat to do a short hike through the jungle.  On shore, Baanchapat warned us of a few plants whose leaves were poisonous and would give your skin grief for a few days…duly noted.  One type of plant looked similar to stinging nettle.  Baanchapat explained some other plants, including bamboo, to us as we made our way around a short one-kilometer loop.

Baanchapat showing us some tiny mushrooms:

Looking up where a tree used to be...it was killed by this strangler ficus or fig that wraps around it and eventually kills the host tree.

Cool, windy ficus.

Getting back on the boat.

Our last stop of the day was to check out Pra Kai Petch Cave.  The guide passed out flashlights but I had brought my own headlight, which was far superior than those ones…it was almost too bright.  I occasionally turned it off to enjoy the “cave ambience” better.  We saw 3-4 tiny fruit bats, hanging from the ceiling in their slumber.  There were stalactites and stalagmites throughout the 100-meter-deep cave.  Do you know how to remember which is which?  Stalactites hold on “tight” to the ceiling, and stalagmites “might” eventually touch the ceiling.  I mentioned that to the group and I think some people appreciated it, and others probably thought I was a cave nerd.  I have to admit that it was a decent cave to check out.

On our way to the cave...the views were fabulous wherever you looked.

Passing another tourist boat:

Approaching the cave:

The cave entrance:

Looking back from the entrance:

Stalactites:

A tiny fruitbat:

We stopped at this spot with the "Three Rocks" and everyone took turns posing at the front of the boat.

Of course I had to do the "Titanic"!

Content on the boat ride back.

Back on the boat, we began the journey back and arrived back in the Khao Sok village close to 6pm.  That was a full, but fabulous day.

Canoeing at Khao Sok

October 27^th, 2024 

My afternoon activity was a 1½-2 hour canoe down the river that flows through the Khao Sok village.  I had heard that I wouldn’t be paddling but my guide would be.  We started right at the bridge in Khao Sok with my almost toothless guide (he had two on the top and maybe three on the bottom that I could see), and unfortunately, I didn’t quite catch his name as the lisp from missing teeth didn’t help.  He still had a contagious smile.

We hopped in the inflatable canoe and started down river on our four-kilometre journey.  Rain was falling from the sky as we passed by some tubers.  I had my long, cheap rain jacket on but decided to deploy my tiny umbrella to shelter myself from the precipitation.  Passing another set of tubers, I couldn’t help but mention that I felt like the Queen of England, sitting pretty in the front, fairly protected from the elements as I was propelled down the river by my paddler in the back.

The start of the paddle:

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Coming around a bend, I noticed a number of inflatable canoes on the bank of the river and a tarp shelter just on shore a number of people gathered around a fire burning.  We pulled in and ended up joining them…I guess this was part of the tour. 

Pretty cool setup:

I’ve seen many campfires before, but not one where bamboo was a large component of the burning material.  Bamboo doesn’t actually burn very well.  The cool thing was that a few of the bamboo pieces were capped at the bottom and they were boiling water inside it to make coffee.  To complete the experience, the concoction was served in bamboo cups.  I’m not a coffee drinker, and even if I was, I don’t think I’d be drinking one in the middle of the afternoon, but some tourists were enjoying it.

Water was boiling in the closest bamboo shoot:

Some canoers setting on their way:

Back on the river:

These leaves were massive, probably 4-5 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Me and my toothless guide:

There was a moment of hilarity as the woman on the left fell through her tube, but first.  Her friend was laughing the loudest.

After about 20 minutes, we set off on the river again, but it wasn’t too long until we reached our pullout.  It was a fun little excursion, but it definitely could have been longer.

I loved the stacking of the flotation devices on this truck. 

On the ride back to Khao Sok...my guide must love his canoe.