Khao Sok National Park: A sweet, pastel dream

Early Dawn at Khao Sok National Park

With the soft splashes of my paddle hitting the water, I rhythmically continued kayaking on the warm freshwater lake. No matter where I could possibly turn to look, I would see either the dark green colors of a thick forest or the lake itself.

The moon was still showing in the dawn sky when I woke at 6 that morning. Walking out onto the floating wooden walkway I found myself looking into the rising mist of Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park. All the karsts and low-lying clouds made this place seem like something I could only dream of, a true dreamland. The clouds lying more than half way down the karsts, and the dim light, completed this classic dawn view.

The River crossed on the forest hike

Lush green forest at the park

Hidden in these lush green forests of this miraculous park were gibbons, hornbills and other wildlife. As the boat of our dawn safari drove on I heard gibbons calling to either attract a mate, or to mark their territory. The female is the more territorial one in the gibbon family. Between 8 and 10 in the morning she does her “great call”, which translated into English would mean something like “Back off! I got my mate; I got my territory, so stay away!” During this time the thermal boundaries allow the gibbons to defend their territories better, since the sound travels much farther when the warm and cold currents meet. If I were to put what I heard into words, then it would be something like a “whoop-whoop”.

Looking at the sun setting behind the carsts

The same day we hiked through the forest of this park to get to a cave. Once we were in the spot of the cave where we would have to turn around, we all turned our flashlights off for 1 minute. In total darkness this minute seemed much longer than it would if I were able to see something. But this darkness was like no other I have ever seen before. There was not a single light source, not even a very faint light. It was far darker than being stuck in a closet during “hide and seek” in the dark. When the tremendously long minute was over and I turned my flashlight back on there were spiders along the side of the path we walked on. They appeared much more dangerous and frightening after the 1 minute in pitch-black darkness.

Floating log on the fresh-water lake

Our way back to the boat was luckily not as dark as the cave or as wet as the way there. Even though at the entrance to the forest hike was a sign telling us to not go inside while it’s raining, we still went. The rain wasn’t bad at first but then it started pouring and I was drenched within seconds. But unfortunately on the way back 10 leaches bit me, which was not really pleasant. Luckily enough I noticed them on me early enough to get them off before any blood was drawn.

Just as beautiful and eye-popping as the dawn was the night. We were lucky to find a full moon glowing as bright as a light bulb in a sky black as ink and most stars overpowered by the moons brightness to make them invisible. It lit up the whole park and I didn’t even need a flashlight to find my way around. It is really nice             to just sit down, listen to the sound of cicadas and forget about my regular stressful school life.

Thailand's famous karsts

The 2 days that we spent at Khao Sok National Park were the most magnificent, not only due to the scenery, but also due to the wildlife that it supported. Even after we left for the Jakarta airport, that pastel colored dawn painting that I experienced live and not on paper was still so clear in my head as if I were there still. I was on my way home again, away from the dream castle like park.

Friday, 4th May 2012

Clouds

Today was our last day together on ESP. I had so much fun that I just didn't really want to go home. Today basically all we did was travel. We were allowed to wake up whenever we wanted and we also had a chance to go swimming, but I didn't feel like swimming. I'm not sure whether I really didn't want to swim or I just didn't want get my swimsuit on and wet. I would have to bring it home wet and I wasn't in the mood of that. And by the way, there wash;t much time left to swim anyway, because we were only allowed to swim from 9-10 o'clock. And we were only eating breakfast at 9. On our flight back we had TV entertainment, but I was more interested in taking pictures of the clouds. We got to JIS at around 7:15. Even though we were supposed to get back at 7. My dad came to pick me up. When we got home my dog was going all crazy again, because she was so happy that I was back. I felt so welcome. This was a really fun ESP. It just went by so fast. I wish it would last much longer.

Thursday, 3rd May 2012

Lake Maninjau

Today we packed our things early in the morning again and loaded onto the bus. Firstly we went to see the Japanese Tunnels. They were built by the Japanese during the 2nd world war. After seeing the actually tunnels we went to a museum, where all of the weapons that were found in the tunnels were kept.

Once we were done looking around the small museum, we headed the road again. This time we wanted to go see some big bats. So we did a rice paid walk and saw the big fruits back from a big distance though. We had to use binoculars to get a better view. After our very short walk through the rice paddies, we went to some silver shops. One of them showed us how to make the silver, and the other one sold very pretty things, like for example some traditional houses made out of silver.

After we were all loaded on the bus, we went to see Lake Maninjau. There we also had a picnic lunch. Then we headed further on our way back to Padang. The drive took around 3.5 hours. I was completely exhausted, and when we finally got there, I was so relieved. We went into our rooms and then had to come bak down again to go for dinner. We ate some traditional Padang food. I thought that it was really delicious. Slightly spicy for my taste, but otherwise really good.

Wednesday, 2nd May 2012

Rafflesia

Today we packed up and gathered our bags. Then we prepared to leave after breakfast. We made some echoes in the valley and then left. Today was the day that we would go on our hike to see the Rafflesia Arnoldii. It was an around 2 hour hike through the rain forest. We went through rivers, and some mud, climbed up rocks and personally I had lots of fun. The Rafflesia was very beautiful and I took as many pictures as I could until my camera went out of batteries again, for the millionth time. I found this a very beautiful hike.

When we got back to the bus we went to our new hotel in Bukittinggi. We then got some free time. During this free time we all went swimming and I lost my bracelet in the water. We also made a whirlpool. After our wonderful swim, we went for dinner. Just for some variety we went to Pizza Hut this time. After our dinner we went to see a traditional music and dance performance by the Sakato group. I made a bunch of videos, but the pictures ended up horrible. It was around 11 o'clock when we went to bed, because the performance took so long.

Tuesday, 1st May 2012

Waterfall

After we ate our breakfast we went to do our Community Service Project, which was going and spending some time with children from a school for the disabled. We divided into 4 groups. There was Sports, Mural Painting, Games and Arts and Crafts. I was in the Arts and Crafts group. We were making things out of Origami paper, making 3-D animals, drawing, making things out of play-doh and iClay, and also bracelets. To me this was very fun, because the children were so eager to learn and focused on their task for 2 hours, or more. Those children were really sweet.

After we have spent some time with the children and gave the school some balls, badminton rackets and birdies, pencils, and other things, we left for a waterfall. We ate our lunch there, which this time was chicken and rice. Then some of us went swimming in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. I was one of the people who made their way into the freezing cold water. To me that water was even colder than the water at our lodge. A couple of other people came in too, but no more girls only the boys. The ones that were in the water went under the waterfall which was trickling down at the side of the pool. On our way back we stopped at another waterfall nearby. Some of us walked to it through the forest and the others walked through the street, where there were shops that you could buy things from. I wanted to buy something in the shops, but I couldn't find anything interesting.

Back at the Lodge we got some free time. After our free time we had to meet up again to come up with interview questions, for our Social Studies project. Once all the questions were made and written down, we went to play some games. My personal favorite was the deer and wolf game. One person was the deer and the rest were the wolves. The deer had blindfolds on so that he couldn't see anything. The wolves had to try and sneak up on the deer. Whenever the deer heard someone approaching it had to point in their direction and that person would then be out. The first person to touch the deer was going to be the next deer.

Once our game session was done we went to eat dinner. After dinner we all went back to our lodge for a quick shower. This time I tried to use the other foist and I realized that there was warm water at this lodge after all. The exact same thing happened to Julia. When we wanted to go back to the dining room to meet up for the actual interview, it was raining. Luckily we had three umbrellas. Adriana and Alisha took the first one which seemed to work well. Jae Yun and I wanted to take the second one, but it was broken. So we tried the other one, but that one didn't have the stick to hold it on. So I just held it in a weird way above my head.