Adrenaline at Khao Sok

We drove up further inland to Khao sok, a surprisingly big town at the border of the Khao Sok national park. The drive was scenic and reminded us of North Vietnam. Sometimes you can get a bit used to the breathtaking nature when travelling, so in comparison to Ha Giang and North Vietnam Khao Sok was just “ nice”. We had a pretty central hostel and had a nice stroll through the streets, basically all hotels and restaurants and weed dispensaries. Looking for some peace and quiet nature we snuck into the beginning of the national park 🤫 But returned soon after.

After another cozy night on a way too hard bed we had an action packed day ahead.

Tubing:
First experience was tubing, which is exactly what it sounds like. You get a industrial grade tube with which you float down a river. We were lucky with the weather as it wasn’t raining but also not super sunny - a happy medium. We think this was the best and most fun way to see some of the national park as you float through it. The jungle sounds, green lush nature around us and we even spotted a few monkeys in a bamboo tree. Going over rapid and shallow sections you have to lift your bum to avoid scraping over anything - we got a couple of bruises but overall the woman and her son who guided us took great care to “ navigate”. It was over far too soon, probably even more fun than the bamboo rafting.

Off Road quad:
That wasn’t the end of the fun though as we had booked an off road quad tour. We shared a quad with Jeroen most excited to drive. Boy, did they not lie about the off road driving. We went through deep mud and over rocks and thick tree branches and down and up slopes. Squealing with that sweet spot between fear and joy. A super exhilarating and fun drive. One thick tree root got the best of our Tyre and snapped of the valve, but we quickly got a replacement. Due to rain making the ground we walked to the top. The quad tour is operated on private land and they farm coffee, palm oil, durian and bananas. Unfortunately you see giant palm tree plantations ( for palm oil) everywhere in the area cutting down the lush jungle, and the other plantations you see everywhere is rubber trees. Seasonal crops so of course the farmers would take advantage of that.

In the evening we were pretty tired and had a delicious Thai curry around the corner.Read more