Khao Sok National Park

We took a day off cycling and went for a hike in the national park instead. Khao Sok is home to the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world. There are elephants there but we only saw the trampled trail where they had obviously passed through. We saw loads of chameleons (once they were pointed out) , a snake sleeping in a tree above our heads and lots of monkeys. I pointed out what I thought was a monkey and the guide said it was a civet. These are the cat-like creatures I saw caged in Vietnam. They love to eat coffee beans and their resulting poo is used to make a very expensive elitist coffee. They looked so pathetic in the cages in Vietnam it was great to see them in their natural environment.

The highlight of the hike was swimming in the river. We were told that there was nothing in there that would kill us although I did get a nip in the fleshy part of my ankle probably from a crab.

There is a rare plant that grows in the park called Rafflesia. It has the largest flowers in the world. I didn’t see one and had to resort to taking a photo of a park picture.