Hey, everyone! Whoa, what a wildlife-packed week it has been! I spent the last eight nights at Khao Sok National Park, a place I’ve been wanting to visit since I first started my Thailand research back in Queenstown. The park delivered in a number of ways, but there was one particular highlight for me that really stood out, which will be mentioned later.

A few housekeeping things:

1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.

Railay to Krabi Town

From Railay, I took a longtail boat for about 40min to reach Krabi Town. The town itself was rather small and nothing too special but was perfect for relaxation.

I had booked a private room but it was one of those situations where the walls were paper thin and may as well have been a hostel. Still – I had space to myself. Yahoo!

I didn’t do too much in Krabi Town. My time there was intended to be a four day reset, just to kind of chill out and relax. During that time, I got massages and ate food at the night markets. If I was doing any “adventure” during the day, it was visiting the mangrove area just outside of town, searching for pit vipers. No luck, but I did see a lot of cool crabs!

Re: crabs, Krabi has tons of fiddler crabs – they have one claw that is much larger than the other one. They wave it around in search of a mate. A really funny sight!

I received a message from Selma, a friend I made during the slow boat from Laos to Thailand. She was in Krabi as well, so we decided to meet up for dinner. We walked around the night market and randomly, she bopped into her friend Anna. They had spent some time together in Indonesia. The three of us hung out, chatting about our past/upcoming travels, and enjoying the local cuisine.

At one point, Selma mentioned the lava cakes at 7/11 and I instantly remembered she was the one who told me about them. No, I hadn’t tried them yet! I’d been looking, but hadn’t found them. And so we embarked on a quest. We had to visit three 7/11s before we found one. By 10pm, there was only one left.

And that one was reserved for me. The 7/11 staff heat up the lava cake (it’s basically just a brownie with chocolate inside) and… voila! It was very rich and well worth the wait. It was fitting that Selma helped me find it, since she was the one to tell me about it in the first place.

I also bumped into Amira one day as she was getting ready to leave Krabi town. It was nice to see her again but the interaction was rather fleeting as she had a cab to catch.

In Krabi, I also frequented one particular Halal restaurant for brunch. They served the most delicious roti with a fried egg and a side of curry sauce. YUM! On the last day, I was on the phone with my friend Michael and I tried to order not one, but two. They thought I wanted two roti, but actually I wanted two of everything. Alas. They ended up only charging me the regular price which I thought was very kind.

Krabi Town to Khao Sok

While in Krabi, I booked my minivan to Khao Sok. On the day of the departure, I was picked up right outside my accommodation. Perfect! Maybe thirty minutes later, the minivan dropped us off at the bus station. I didn’t realize this was one of those transfer situations. Sigh. After waiting only 30min or so, we hopped into another minivan. (What’s the point?)

While checking in, the lady asked if I wanted to pay an additional 50 baht to get dropped off at my accommodation. No, thanks. It was a small town and I figured I’d walk. Well, while loading into the van, the driver tried to ask me if I wanted to pay 100 baht to get dropped off at my accommodation. Oh, REALLY now? No, thank you. I was prepared to walk. I’ve done so many times.

In the end, another couple had paid to get dropped off at the same accommodation as me. The driver ended up just dropping me off for free lol. Thanks, other couple!

I had booked accommodation in a river-side bungalow for my first four nights. It was essentially a campsite, but I liked my little bungalow. I would occasionally visit the river to watch the macaques playing/humping/fighting. I kept my eyes out for snakes, too.

Quickly, I learned that if you pay for a park ticket at 4.30pm, you can use it that afternoon until 6pm and also the entire next day. While I was originally thinking I’d wait until the next day to go to the park, I decided to pay it a quick visit. After all, I wasn’t doing anything else!

Part of me was exceptionally eager to… well… see snakes. Khao Sok is supposed to be one of the best place to see snakes in Thailand, so I really had my hopes up for excellent sightings. What I didn’t realize is that these sightings are much more frequent in the wetter months – this would lead to some disappointment down the road.

Khao Sok National Park

My first visit to the park was brief, since I only had an hour and a half before I needed to be back at the entrance. From the start, I was greeted by a massive sculpture of the Rafflesia flower, an iconic staple of Khao Sok. It is the “corpse flower,” having a nasty, rotted smell, and only blooming for a day or two. Unfortunately, while I was there, the flowers were not in bloom. (Actually, I overheard a guide say the night before I was leaving that one of the flowers was intended to bloom the next day. LOL damn.) They are the largest flower in the world. Not quite as large as in the sculpture, though haha.

With limited time, I started speed-walking. I wanted to try to make it to the waterfall in 45min. Well, that didn’t end up happening haha.

On the way, I did see some dusky langurs, though! I admired them for a moment, thinking of the special time I had observing them in Railay. Then I continued on. I didn’t spot snakes or much other wildlife that first afternoon. About 45min in, I went back to the gate. I was pleased with the trail, though. It seemed there were a lot of little side-trails one could peruse in addition to the main trail.

There are two main walks people do in Khao Sok. There is the one I embarked on, which leads about 2.5km to a small waterfall. Along the way, there are a lot of side trails that branch out and lead closer to the river. Once you reach the river, you can buy snacks, chill at the river, etc. BUT you need a guide if you want to go further – and the walk goes much further. There is also another walk that is near the campground, which I would do on a later day.

The next morning, I properly explored the main trail, leading to the “waterfall.” Again, I spotted langurs, various skinks and lizards, and macaques. These guys seemed to be pretty much a given while walking along the main trail.

When I got the waterfall, I was disappointed to find that… it really was not much of a waterfall at all haha. Keep in mind, I am spoiled after my Kiwi and Icelandic waterfalls. (Actually, I didn’t even find the waterfall until my final day but even then, I was so unimpressed, I didn’t take a photo lol.)

At the snack kiosk, I saw someone taking photos of something. It was a praying mantis! And a large one at that. I don’t see praying mantis very often, so it was a pretty cool sighting. I snapped a few photos with my phone. Someone started waggling their finger in front of the mantis and it started to kind of snap out its arms at their fingers, as if trying to box the person. Funny.

I watched it for a few minutes and then realized it was following my movements. I moved my head to the right, it moved its head to mirror mine. To the left, same thing. I pulled out my phone and started to film the mantis copying my movements, when… PHEW – it flew right at me. It landed on my phone. “JESUS CHRIST!” I called out, and then set my phone down, laughing. I almost got my head ripped off.

While walking back towards the entrance, I saw a guide showing his guests something far off in the distance. As they walked by, curiosity got the best of me and I asked one of the guests what she saw. “A baird,” she said. “A… what?” I asked. “A baird, some kind of baird but I couldn’t see it’ she repeated. “Oh… okay,” I said, confused. As she walked away, it hit me. She was saying a bird, but I was having a hard time understanding her accent.

Moments later, I saw a hornbill flying above me. That was the “baird” she was meant to have seen.

I’d had a late start to my day due to a necessary sleep-in. It was already afternoon, so I stopped back into town, walked around a bit, grabbed food, etc.

I decided that the next day, I would wake up early morning to try and get a better chance at wildlife sightings. The main trail can be pretty crowded – there is a pretty constant flow of tourists walking with their guides, tourists without guides, etc. I’m sure that scares a lot of the animals away – so a morning adventure may be necessary.

I woke up at 5.50am and entered the park just after 6am. Funnily enough, no one was at the gate or check-in area. I walked along the main trail and immediately noticed there were a lot more birds present. A lot of them were on the ground, pecking at the dirt, pulling out worms. I briefly saw a squirrel, too.

As the sun started to quietly spill over the horizon, I noticed the macaques and langurs stirring in the trees. Maybe 30min into my walk, I spotted what I am 95% sure were two gibbons, passing through the trees high up in the canopy. They were very far away and quite masked by the dense jungle – nowhere near the close sightings I’d had at Khao Yai. Still, by the time I reached the end of the self-guided trail, I could hear faraway gibbons singing their morning songs. So wonderful.

I explored a view of the side trails. I mentally decided I would need to spend more time there – good snake habitat and much quieter/denser than the main trail.

In regards to snakes, I have to admit, I was feeling discouraged. I’d been in the park for two days, wandered around the farm roads at night in search of them (I’ll talk about night walks soon), but NOTHING! This was supposed to be one of the best spots in Thailand for snakes! Where the hell were they?! I ended up asking the internet about it, which is when I found out snakes tend to be a lot more immobile in the drier seasons. Damn it. BUT, even still, Khao Sok has such great biodiversity in regards to snakes. While you might not see them very often, the roulette of species can vary greatly. You probably won’t just be seeing vine snake after vine snake, for instance.

Back on the main trail, I was forced to be grateful that others had entered the park becaaauuusse… a guide was pointing out a female Wagler pit viper, tucked away up in the bamboo. FINALLY, I thought to myself. But of course, I wish I’d spotted one on my own. I’d seen plenty of female Waglers before, but never in the wild. If you remember, I visited the Snake Temple in Penang, Malaysia, which housed probably a dozen if not more. I overheard the guide explain that this particular viper has been in the same spot for about two weeks. It will come down when it’s hungry.

Not two minutes later, another group was staring at a snake resting on a big leaf. WHAT?! This one was a red-tailed green racer, or as the guide called it, “green snake” which is pretty vague haha. I’d once mistaken a bronzeback in Vietnam for a red-tailed green racer, but this was the real deal. It rested on the leaf, motionless and well-camouflaged. As others passed by, they tried to spot it but had a hard time. I tried to help them out. After a few minutes, the green racer started to make slow movements. It reminded me of the vine snake moves – jerking ever so slightly forward as it moves, perhaps trying to mimic a vine gently blowing in the wind.

Others lost interest, but because I’d never seen this snake before and it was a close sighting, I spent more time with it. It continued to move forward on the leaf, taking another minute or two. There was a pole of bamboo hanging down next to the leaf. I watched the snake as it slowly stretched out and climbed up the bamboo. How special! A lot of snakes are very quick to escape so whenever I have the opportunity to observe one for a while, I will.

Two days with no snakes and now two snakes within two minutes of one another. KHAO SOK! These sightings were very close to the exit of the trail. Before long, I was back at the entrance eager for food and a lie-down. It had been an early morning with little sleep. Lots of walking. Lots and lots of walking. While the main track is technically quite short, I walk very slowly as I’m scanning for wildlife. I think I ended up walking for five hours that morning. Eek!

Khao Sok Village by Night

I’d recently found out about an app called NomadTable (Selma told me about it), where fellow travelers can meet up for drinks/sightseeing/ride shares/etc. I posted about night walks to try and see snakes around town. I like going by myself but I figured others might be interested as well, given the wildlife-focus of Khao Sok.

Frenchman Nico ended up sending me a message. He and a German couple he’d met while traveling to Khao Sok were interested in joining me on a night walk that evening.

I’d gone on night walks by myself the first two nights in Khao Sok – not in the national park (you need to take a guided tour for that), but in the quiet roads at the edge of town. Farmland, etc. I didn’t have much luck. However, I’d stumbled upon a “nature trail” that seemed promising.

Nico, the German couple, and I met for dinner and then for a night walk. I guided us to the nature trail and the adventure began. Nico and the German guy (the girl stayed back, afraid of spiders/snakes) hadn’t been on night walks before, so it was new to them. While walking the nature trail, we were able to spot a scorpion, a sleeping bird, a centipede, tons of really small millipedes, moths, a mouse, and some large spiders.

After finishing the nature trail, we walked down another road for another 20min or so. I noticed there was another nature trail there and decided I would visit that one another night. Nico asked me to shine my light high up into the canopy and he managed to secure us a sighting of a slow loris! It was really high up. I’ve seen them before in Sumatra and Malaysia but they’re always really far away. Still, cool to see! They are cute little guys.

When I returned back to my accommodation, I met Sam and Tim, both from the UK. I ended up talking with them for a few minutes. In the morning, I chatted with Sam at breakfast. He is one of those British lads that just truly had me cracking up. It reminded me of the British guy I met while waiting for van in Da Nang – a pleasure to converse with. And someone who can genuinely make me belly laugh, which is somewhat rare. I could have kept talking to him for hours.

Unwittingly Securing a Travel Buddy

Nico was in Khao Sok for a couple nights and didn’t exactly have concrete plans, so we decided to explore the park together the next day. We met up around 9am and entered the park. I told him I was interested in checking out one of the other trails – up at the edge of the campground. Luckily, he was down.

The trail started with stairs and ended up being stairs for quite a while. They were used to gain elevation and at the very end of the trek, to head back down.

We came to a suspension bridge, but noticed there was a sign for a trail leading to a waterfall. Should we go check it out? Yeah! Little did we know, we had actually entered a guided only trail. Whoops! (We didn’t find out until chatting with someone later, who pointed it out.)

The trail to the “waterfall” was not difficult but was technical at times. We had to duck under large branches, climb over fallen trees, occasional small sections of climbing, etc. There was nobody else on the trail whatsoever. We saw butterflies and dragonflies. Nico spotted a flying lizard, something I haven’t seen since Malaysia.

Occasionally, the trail would give us glimpses of the river, but for the most part it was up and down, surrounded by thickets of bamboo. We saw the butt of a deer as it ran away, startled by us.

After maybe an hour, we arrived at what was supposed to be the waterfall. I have no idea where it was, but we’d reached the end of the trail haha. I imagine the river looks a bit different in wet season, with the river flowing more heavily. Even small rocks (which there were a lot of) could help drive a cascade.

We took a break and sat by the river. Nico rolled himself a joint and I scanned the area for snakes. None!

I happened to look down at my shoes and…

Oh.

A leech.

Had secured itself to my ankle.

“OH MY GOD, NICO, can you get this LEECH OFF OF ME?! and-can-you-also-take-a-picture-please?”

I probably could have done it myself but the moment had arrived at last and I could not fathom dealing with it by myself. Patient and unbothered, Nico came and plucked the guy off of me. It hadn’t yet started to suck my blood. (P.S. that is a 100% candid photo of me below. I think I’d just moaned, “Oh, GAWWWWWWWD.”)

Well, maybe two minutes later, I realized another one had locked onto the back of my other ankle. THAT guy got me. Again, Nico removed it. There was a spot of blood, but not bad at all. The leech attacks signaled our time to return. (As a funny aside, I had a nightmare that night where I saw I had leeches on me. I then lifted my shirt to look down at my stomach and had dozens sucking my blood. Yikes lol.)

After another hour (30min? Idk.), we made it back to the suspension bridge. We crossed it and were faced with our next task: stairs, stairs, and more stairs. They were never-ending! Finally, we made it to the top. No viewpoint, of course. There were really no viewpoints at any of the spots in Khao Sok that I went to – the jungle is too dense. We finally saw two other hikers and chatted with them for a bit while taking a break. The girl mentioned she’d seen a snake earlier and I almost had a conniption. “What did it look like? What color was it, was it big?” Etc.

“Idk, I saw it and then it slithered away. It was kind of grey/black.” I tried to figure out what it could have been but was at a loss. I later commented to Nico that so many snake sightings are wasted on people who don’t care about/like snakes lol. Send them my way.

Nico and I grabbed lunch at a restaurant near the park entrance. I noticed blood on Nico’s bicep. It had gotten on his shirt, too. He had been fully unaware, but a leech had sucked his blood until it was satisfied and then had dropped off. EEK! Better him than me.

We still had a big day ahead of us. Because Nico didn’t have much time in Khao Sok, he was still keen on walking down the main trail, so that’s what we did. We walked down to the “waterfall” (not a waterfall) and then turned back. We had pretty shit luck with wildlife sightings that day – but there are always at least a few little critters.

Before leaving the gate, we purchased tickets to go on a night safari within the park. I hadn’t yet gone, because I wanted to see what sightings would be like on my own, outside of the park. Now was the time to join a tour. And at only 500 baht a person (around USD$19), it was a steal.

After our big adventure, we made it back into town to shower and relax on our own for a couple hours. We grabbed dinner near the river and at 8pm, we returned to the national park.

Night Safari 1.0

Our guide was called Green. We were on a tour with one other person, whose name I can’t remember. There were tons of people going on a night safari, which I was slightly worried about in terms of wildlife. However, most of them had started their tours earlier in the evening (6pm, 7pm, etc.) and we were the last to enter the park. That meant the second half of the tour we would be alone.

Green showed us some stick insects that were truly on a massive scale. I’d seen stick bugs before, but never this size. One of them was probably as long as my arm! I didn’t manage a photo that night but I did take one of a stick bug during the day that was quite large. It was probably double the size of the one in these photos, although I understand it’s hard to gauge the scale.

Early on, we were able to spot the pit viper hanging out in the same thicket of bamboos, only in a slightly altered position.

I’ve seen scorpions before and recently, too, so when Green showed them to us, I wasn’t particularly blown away. Always cool to see, though. There were quite a few tucked into burrows. One of them was exceptionally large.

Green also showed us flying fox bats high up in the canopy, but they were hard to see. While others looked, I kept my eyes peeled for – surprise – snakes.

Well, another group had spotted one and it was a delightful sighting. Perched on a small plant just at the edge of the trail was a Jasper cat snake, a species I’d never seen before. And what an absolute beauty it was. I was enamored with its eyes – such a unique pattern! Some kind of marbled design.

It was tricky to get a decent photograph – so many people were shining lights or… not shining lights. Night photography is hard enough and then when trying to account for variable lighting, exposure-wise, it was turning into a losing battle. Still, I managed a couple shots I was pleased with.

YAY!

An absolutely gorgeous snake. I kept apologizing to others, saying that I know my camera is loud but it is old and makes audible noises. I apologized to my group, too, knowing I was taking a while looking at the snake. “I just LOVE SNAKES,” I said.

We continued on with our night safari but when we returned later in the evening, the Jasper cat snake was still there, only with an interesting development. “It must have just eaten something,” someone said, noting that the snake’s throat was stretched out in a weird way. It also started to raise its head up, up, up, up, stretching. Maybe it was trying to swallow a recent catch?

After observing the strange behavior for a few minutes, I was undecided on if it was trying to swallow something or if this was some kind of defense. Unclear.

Still, it was a captivating display to watch. What a magnificent creature! So delighted to have seen this guy. I really like the cat snakes with the huge eyes. So cute.

Well, my snake sightings weren’t over that night. Later, we spotted a male (or juvenile) Wagler pit viper high up in a tree. Juveniles start off green with small white polka dots. Males stay the same but females morph into the the black/white/yellow colors.

I love pit vipers’ curly tails.

We briefly saw a civet cat high up in the trees but it was hard to get a decent photo. BUT we managed to see tons of tarantulas, and those guys, I got photos of.

I’ve seen tarantulas before, briefly, but have never been able to photograph them well. This time, there were plenty of opportunities and I’m pleased with how it came out!

Three hours and lots of wildlife later, we wrapped up our tour. What a fantastic time! Three snakes in one night (even though I’d seen the female Wagler before) – can’t complain!

It had been a long, long day. We’d pretty much been walking since we met up at 9am, with the exception of lunch, dinner, and a brief shower reprieve. Lord!

I had booked an overnight tour to Cheow Lan Lake starting the next day, a popular “to do” in Khao Sok. Nico ended up booking the same tour and joining me. This was probably the first time since traveling that I’ve ever kinda linked up with another traveler for multiple days, just for the hell of it.

Overnight at Cheow Lan Lake

In the morning, I checked out of my beloved bungalow and made my way to a hostel – the pick-up point and the spot I’d be staying at when I returned to Khao Sok. I dropped off my bags and 20min later, Nico and I hopped into the minivan along with some others: Maurice and Patricia. Maurice was from Germany, Patricia from Poland. We picked up a number of others along the way to the pier. As we drove to the lake, we all were cracking up as we saw two macaques on the back of a pick up truck. One of them was, I kid you not, sucking its own dick.

Before noon, we were on our longtail boat riding along Cheow Lan Lake. And quite a massive lake it was! As we got further from the roads and deeper into the lake, the scenery morphed into something truly imperessive. If Milford Sound and Lan Ha Bay had a baby, this would be it. Beautiful karst formations fought for superiority. Everywhere I looked, I wanted to take a photo.

“Oh my god,” I gasped. “This is amazing.” After so many beautiful views around the world, and I can still find landscapes breathtaking. I’d say that’s a pretty good thing.

One of the novelties of staying overnight on Cheow Lan Lake is that you get to sleep in their “floating bungalows.” We pulled up and stepped onto the pier. The bungalows, restaurant, and bathrooms were all floating – fixed together and held afloat with what I guess are buoys of some sort.

Our guide tried to assign rooms appropriately, asking that married couples and partners to claim the solo bungalows, versus “team dorm rooms.” Well, Nico was keen on getting a room to ourselves so we pretended to be a couple. The staff didn’t make any protests haha. The bungalow was quite similar to the one I had in Khao Sok, though it had two side-by-side mats.

After getting situated, we all had a group lunch. We were fed family style at a long table. When we would finish a dish, more were brought out. Needless to say, I ate too much.

We were given two hours to chill, swim (with mandatory life jackets lol), and sun tan. I did all of the above, reading a book for some time in the sun. Glorious. Once our time was up, we loaded into the longtail boat again and drove towards the “crown jewel” of the lake – Khao Sam Kler or “three friends mountain.” To be honest, I thought the rest of the scenery was far superior to three little karst things.

We then took the boat to Pra Kie Phet Cave. Y’all know how I feel about caves. I love ’em. I hate ’em. I don’t really care about them but then I do and I’m impressed by the formations lol. I guess I’m just ambivalent. This one was fine but I wouldn’t have paid money to see it. What made it special though was that it was home to cool critters. Among them was one of the strangest bats I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing. So EVIL looking!!! I’m not sure what species this was, but I’ve only ever been able to successfully photograph flying foxes, which this is definitely not. I wish I’d gotten a crisper image but due to the dark and not wanting to blind them for longer than necessary (although many other tourists hardly cared), I tried not to indulge too much.

There were also three snake sheds in the cave. One of them, I overheard a guide say, was from a king cobra. No way! I started shining my headtorch through all sorts of crevices, trying to see a snake.

Usually, I don’t see much wildlife in caves – it was neat to spot varieties of huntsman and even a spider I don’t know the name of. The cave was home to a few crickets as well.

After our cave adventure, we got back in the boat and went for a nearby hike. The hike was fine but there was no wildlife to be seen. Good walk, though. It was only maybe 30min or so.

Probably my favorite photo from the lake shown above.

The last adventure of the day was us cruising around searching for wildlife as the sun set. Lucky tourists are able to see elephants coming to the water for a drink. We were told that with the season, there is still water in the streams etc., and so the elephants don’t really need to come down – but they still do occasionally. Alas, no elephants were seen. We did spot a group of dusky langurs in the trees, though! They were very far away and the other tourists were quite excited. Because of the intimate sightings I’ve had recently, I was more happy that everyone else got to see them.

We also saw a few pied hornbills flying about. Again, I’d had better sightings recently.

In the evening, we were served dinner family-style again. Afterwards, Nico and I hung outside the bungalow. He recently got a new camera and I was trying to show him how to do night photography because the stars were gorgeous. He’s not super familiar with ISO, f-stops, shutter speed, etc. I tried to help him navigate. At one point a girl from India came by and we ended up talking for a while.

A little after 10pm, hanging out in the dark, we heard a huge SPLASH. Our next door neighbor had crashed into the water. “OH MY GOD!” I cried out and we all immediately rushed over to help her. She had lifted herself up already – she’d caught herself on the wooden planks. But the wooden planks are janky things – all done up with nails, etc. Sepsis waiting to happen. “I’m okay,” Barbara told us. “I was actually just coming to ask you guys if you could keep it down, we’re trying to go to sleep.” I was humiliated. We weren’t being that loud but occasionally were laughing – and here she was, politely asking us to shut the fuck up, AND SHE FALLS INTO THE WATER. Poor thing. I actually had a conversation with Barbara over dinner and really enjoyed talking to her, so I couldn’t believe her bad misfortune.

A little while later, we went to check in on her. She had a small cut below her knee that she was tending to. I gave her the rest of my hand sanitizer, thinking it would be good for her to keep the wound clean.

Our group went somewhere quieter to chat for a while longer. Nico went to bed and maybe ten minutes later, I followed suit. I thought maybe sleep would be awful, with the noise of the creaking floorboards and the bungalow rocking with the waves but it ended up being fine. More than anything, the mat and pillow were very rough (a common trend in Thailand apparently), making for a sore neck in the morning.

A little after 6am, I went outside to see the sunrise. Most of the others got up around then, too. The view was stunning, especially with the clouds hugging the tops of the mountains. By 7am, we went on our last adventure – another wildlife safari.

No elephants, no NOTHIN’! Just kidding, we saw a great hornbill fly by at one point. That was it, though. Can’t expect to see too much too often with such a large area. Although, we all remarked how crazy it is that elephants live in this terrain – most areas are extremely steep.

We had banana pancakes for breakfast. I explained to Nico about the “Banana Pancake Trail,” a popular route throughout Southeast Asia in the 60s and 70s, where foreigners were often given banana pancakes for breakfast. (I’ve actually done a fair bit of the Banana Pancake Trail myself, by the looks of it!)

After breakfast, we were given two more hours to enjoy. Some people went kayaking, others swam and laid in the sun. I did the latter. Patricia came back from a kayak adventure and I asked, “how was it?” “Worst kayak ever,” she said. “Oh,” I replied, not caring to find out why. At dinner the night before, I had been chatting with Barbara about all sorts of stuff. At one point it turned a little political. We also had talked about my time living in Australia. We invited Patricia into the conversation at one point and, knowing I am from America, she had said, “Between America and Australia? Australia, OBVIOUSLY.” I can’t remember what she was saying that in response to but we were never comparing the two countries. I asked her if she has ever been to America and she said no. I get that America is a mess right now but it’s also a beautiful country. Her comment, or at least the delivery of it, came off as very mean-spirited – especially since she’s never even been there. Anyway, this is just some backstory so that when I tell you she dropped her phone into the water during the kayak session and I didn’t give a shit, you can understand why. Later, back at the hostel, she was crying to someone back home. I did feel bad about that.

We packed up our things and began the journey back to Khao Sok. I continued to admire the views. The closer we got the pier, the less dramatic the scenery became. It’s like the edges softened and the mountains got less drastic. We were in rolling hills once again, not the drama of the interior lake.

Once back at the hostel, I checked into my room and had a desperately needed shower. When I finished, I went downstairs to say goodbye to Nico. He was catching the bus to his next stop. We’d spent three days together and while I enjoyed the company, I was also ready to have some alone time.

Night Safari 2.0

The rest of my days in Khao Sok were a bit of rinse and repeat. In the morning, I would wake up, go to the park, walk around for a few hours. I’d come back for lunch, maybe walk some more, get a foot massage, maybe walk SOME MORE, take a shower and break, and then go on a night safari.

I decided to do the guided night safaris every night until leaving. They were inexpensive and offered the ability to be in the park after hours. I hoped to spot some good wildlife during that time. Green was my guide for each walk, which was nice. He quickly learned that snakes were my target.

On my second night safari, we saw the female Wagler once again. Actually, we proceeded to see her in the same spot every night. Old Faithful, that one.

Maybe three minutes later, Green asked me if I wanted to see a snake. YES! Another group had spotted it, slithering along the edge of the trail. It was black and white and I instantly recognized it as a bridle snake, a species I’d seen once before in Cat Tien National Park.

How amazing! The bridle snake ducked into leaf litter after a few photos. One of the guides brushed through the litter and it was all curled up. Too cute! I snapped some more photos and then we let it be.

A little while later, as the groups thinned out, we were delighted to find a slow loris up in the trees. This one was closer than I’d seen before, although still high up in the canopy. I was able to get a few photos, something I never was able to before. Crappy photos, but alas.

Green took our group down a side trail, which I didn’t know was “allowed” during the night safaris. It was cool to walk along the river edge. I think he did it for my benefit. I know that is great habitat for mangrove cat snakes and pythons. We didn’t see any of those guys but what we DID see was a civet cat!

I’ve seen civet cats before, even on the previous night safari I’d done, but they’re always far away, tucked into the foliage. This was the first time I was ever able to really SEE these guys. And I managed really decent photos, too! What a treat! Green told us that in his three years as a ranger and guide, he’d never been able to see one for such a long time. He asked me to send him photos, which I’ve since done.

Of course, we saw spiders and scorpions and tarantulas – but for me, that was par for the course at this time. While the others in the group enjoyed them, I continued looking around for snakes and other unusual wildlife. Green managed to spot the largest caterpillar I’ve ever seen which was a definite win. So cool!

After the safari, because I still had energy left, I decided to walk down one of the nature trails. I was able to see and photograph an owl for the first time properly – where it shows the color of its eyes and everything. Usually, they’re too far away and the light from my headtorch makes them appear red. Nope. This was perfect! Couldn’t have asked for better. It sat perched on a branch several feet away, looking at me curiously for maybe one minute before flying off. I even got to take a video of it to share with my mom, who loves owls.

Night Safari 3.0

My third night safari was probably the lamest. We saw practically nothing out of the ordinary.

There were some fireflies hanging out near a stream, which was nice. Green caught one and held it in his hands for us to inspect. It reminded me of my youth, spending time at my Gramzie’s apartment in Chicago. I would play with the neighborhood kids and during summer nights, we would catch fireflies. Sometimes, we would poke holes in the jar of a lid and put them in there. Other times, we cruelly would crush their bodies onto the cement steps, gasping at how the slimy goo would illuminate the affected area. Childhood.

We briefly saw another civet cat and an interesting caterpillar but other than that, nothing too special. My phone started buzzing while I was on the tour and I saw that a few people had responded to one of my NomadTable posts, curious to join one of my little “night walks” in town. While I was tired from a long day of hiking, I decided to meet them after having a late dinner. Sarah was from France and her partner, Robert, from Romania. I took them down to one of the nature trails I hadn’t explored yet, showing them big spiders and other critters of the night. I recounted my owl experience the night before and sure enough, not five minutes later, Sarah pointed to one maybe twenty feet away. How crazy!

However, the highlight of the night and probably my time herping in Khao Sok was when we were walking back to town. Part of me had wanted to wander down another nature trail, but my feet were telling me, “nah. Time to go back.” We were about one minute away from the main street when I turned my headtorch on in time to see a snake slithering away next to a bamboo thicket. And a big snake, it was. Damn it, I thought to myself, I wasn’t able to see its head in time to photograph or identify what it was.

It was big, though. Big.

We saw it moving through the brush and then, curiously, it popped its head out. “Wait… is this a king cobra?” I couldn’t believe it. No fucking way. Whatever the hell it was, it was only three feet away from me and could have struck at any second, I suppose. But part of me knew it didn’t intend to hurt me. I snapped a few photos, my heart beating out of my chest, and then it ducked further into some bush and out towards the farmland away from the road.

I pulled Sarah and Robert into an embrace. “Thank you guys for being here with me. That was CRAZY!” I told them I would confirm with my snake group to see what exactly it was. Well, turns out it wasn’t a king cobra, but rather a monocled cobra. Monocled cobras, as with most cobras, are dangerously venomous and if envenomated, can absolutely be fatal. I wouldn’t really say this was a “close call,” because the cobra clearly had a means of escape. It didn’t feel cornered, no one stepped on it, etc. Cobras also exhibit a clear display when threatened, which is that classic “hooded” look.

I was shaking for probably twenty minutes after the counter. It was so unreal. I have seen plenty of snakes since being in Asia but most off them are small. Even the largest I’ve seen, the pit vipers I suppose, are far smaller than a cobra. This one was LARGE, assuming, and clearly powerful. A cobra’s diet includes other snakes (along with rodents, birds, etc.), so it would have to be quite large.

I could not believe my luck. At times, I have felt discouraged while herping in Khao Sok. The first two days, I didn’t see any snakes at all. Then I was able to see the two pit vipers, the red-tailed green snake, the Jasper cat eye snake, and the bridle snake, but at the same time… guides had spotted those. There is something unique about spotting a snake on your own – for me anyway. There is a specialness to it, to have your eyes be the first to spot such fascinating creatures. For my one solo sighting in Khao Sok to be a cobra was… an absolute dream come true. Not only seeing it, but for the snake to pop out its head, giving me JUST enough time to get a clear, in-focus shot of it? Unreal. The cobra was the #1 highlight of my sightings in Khao Sok. I’ve never seen a cobra before, so this was… something else.

Final Day in Khao Sok

Because it was my last full day in Khao Sok, I knew I wanted to be out exploring all day long, looking for wildlife. I woke up at sunrise and ventured into the park. I walked to the river, scanning for wildlife along the way. I spotted a number of birds fluttering about – one on the trail and one at the river that were both quite stunning.

I was tired. I hadn’t gotten much sleep and now I was up early, ready for another long day.

I laid down on a comfortable boulder at the river, closing my eyes now and again while occasionally searching for birds. At one point, I saw a great hornbill flying far overhead. Somehow, I dozed off and woke up maybe an hour later.

I continued my adventure, making my way through all kinds of side trails. I spotted plenty of skinks and small lizards, startled and retreating from their basking spots as I walked past. At another point along the river, a monitor lizard hopped off a tree branch into the water and swam away. I also saw a huge group of tadpoles in the water. Far off, there was a monitor lizard swimming through the water. At first, I thought it was an otter.

I walked and walked and walked. Then I had lunch. And then I walked and walked some more.

In the early afternoon, I had a shower and a rest at my hostel. And then I walked again. I actually ended up bumping into Kadyn, my friend from Railay! We caught up for a second – I also saw him this morning before I was leaving Khao Sok.

As night fell, I grabbed dinner and then went on my final night safari in Khao Sok. When I was buying my tickets, the ranger told me “this night it will just be you and the guide.” Okay, awesome! When I got there, though, there were other people waiting. I guess I wouldn’t be alone. But then Green showed up and yes, it was just going to be him and me. I think Green had realized that my main priority was snakes and since I kept returning, he wanted to take me off the beaten path. And that, he did.

Near one of the streams not too far from the entrance, Green walked off the trail and up along the edge of the stream. At first, I thought he was just scanning the area, but then he told me to come over by him, too. We started walking along the water. “Snakes like to live by water source,” he explained to me. Our communication was pretty misaligned. He hardly spoke any English at all – basically any question I or any guests had, he didn’t understand. GoogleTranslate was a godsend in that regard, because I don’t speak Thai. During the other night hikes, I acted as a guide apprentice for the other guests, sharing what little information I knew about the wildlife we were seeing.

Green took me on a big adventure. It felt like a great way to wrap up my time in Khao Sok. He had pulled out a butcher knife and was hacking through plants as we navigated our way along the stream. Balancing on rocks, climbing up some steep terrain… it was a good time.

Along the way, we saw the occasional centipede, spider, etc. Early on, we spotted a different type of civet, too.

Maybe 30min into our stream walk, Green said, “come here, come here!” Sure enough, another female Wagler up in the trees. She was very high up. Still, it was a snake!

We walked some more and then decided to turn back. It started to rain – the first time since being in Khao Sok. Perfect for amphibians and reptiles (AKA FROGS AND THE SNAKES THAT EAT THEM). Unfortunately, we didn’t see much else that last night. Of course, we saw the resident lady pit viper again. I said goodbye as we were leaving.

Green and I chatted a bit via GoogleTranslate. By the time we returned to the park entrance, I told him I was leaving the following morning. I thanked him for taking me through the park the last few nights and gave him a nice tip.

Afterwards, exhausted but determined, I walked to a few more nature trails by myself. My very last sighting in Khao Sok was an unexpected one, but something that turned out to be pretty phenomenal. At first glance, I thought, oh, that’s a big moth. But I was only seeing it from the side. As I repositioned myself, I became aware of JUST how large its wings were. I stepped closer to it and couldn’t believe my eyes. It was MASSIVE! And while I didn’t see any more snakes that night, in a way I did, because this moth is called an Atlas moth, and is colloquially called a “snake-headed moth.” In some measurements, they are the largest moths in the world, at least by wing surface area.

How beautiful. And unexpected! I had shown the photo to my friend and moth afficionado Jen, who also confirmed (without GoogleLens, like me) that it was an Atlas moth. Apparently, they are pretty rare to see. And I just stumbled upon it! What luck.

Reflections

While leaving Khao Sok, I was given a complimentary HUGE breakfast. While doing laundry, the staff accidentally lost one of my beloved socks. It wasn’t a big deal but they scrambled to come up with a solution, offering to give me back some money. No way, I said. It’s not a big deal. The compromise was a free breakfast which was nice!

In the end, Khao Sok ended up being pretty spectacular. In a way, it is kind of like a “greatest hits” including much of the wildlife I’ve seen around Southeast Asia. Hornbills, dusky langurs, gibbons, snakes, scorpions, macaques, flying lizards, etc. Thailand is definitely providing in terms of wildlife and photography. Plus, seven snakes in eight nights ain’t too bad! (2x female wagler, 1x male, 1x jasper, 1x bridle, 1x red-tailed green, 1x COBRA)

I recently got an email with an update about one of those random settlement-data-breach-blah-blah-blah compensation things and am due another $50 come February 2nd, which, funnily enough, is the day I leave Asia. It felt like a nice boost. “Hey, you only have a couple weeks left – enjoy some extra money!” Much appreciated.

As of this morning, I have arrived in Khao Lak. I’m here only one night. Tomorrow afternoon, I go to the dive center and embark on my 7D7N diving liveaboard. I will be getting my advanced certification and doing 22 dives in 7 days along the Similan and Surin islands. I am really looking forward to it!

Because I have a full day free tomorrow, I MAY go on a “bamboo raft” experience through the river. I wanted to do it in Khao Sok but couldn’t find anyone to join me. The reason being… the river is supposed to have a lot of, you guessed it, snakes in the trees. Normally, I would be like “meh” but I read reviews and pretty much everyone says you see snakes and I REALLY want to see a reticulated python.

Anyway. That’s all for now. And it’s been a lot, hasn’t it? Can’t believe I only have probably two(?) more blog posts before I’m back in America.

Until next time, sending you all my love.