I’m restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again. – Anaïs Nin
A few hours inland north of Phuket lies one of Thailand’s most secret gems. If you’re an adventure-junkie like me who gets your highs off your next adrenaline fix, you must make it a priority to jungle-trek in Khao Sok National Park before hitting up a Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan.
While this National Park may not be on everyone’s radar, it is by far one of my most favorite excursions I took in Thailand; hell, in the world.
We got off the bus at a local stop in the center of Khao Sok National Park and flagged down one of the awaiting minivans that took us to a nearby lodge a few miles down the road. We easily booked a jungle-trekking tour through the front desk and the next day awoke before dawn to meet our fellow passengers.
Carpooling through the National Park to a boat-launch on Cheow Lan Lake kick-started our three-day adventure. Twenty of us piled into a long-tail boat driven by our quite animated tour guide, a local named Pooh. The journey across the lake was something out of a sci-fi thriller. Cavernous gray mountains surrounded the prodigious man-made lake making it feel like if something went wrong with our boat, we’d surely die. Every so often we’d crane our necks to gaze at a gigantic limestone bluff while water from the choppy rapids dampened our laps.
When we finally made it to our living quarters an hour later, we pulled into a watery, heavenly grove with a long string of raft-houses awaiting us. I didn’t expect to actually be sleeping in a floating bungalow on the water, but one tends to live wildly when on the road. Taking full advantage of our lakefront lodge, we changed into bathing suits and literally jumped out our front door into the balmy waters of Cheow Lan Lake.
Pooh had advised us to dress in our bathing suits, hiking shoes, and bring a flashlight for the next day’s adventure – cave diving. After taking another long-tail boat to a secluded marshy landing, we jumped out and hiked for almost two hours through the dense jungle. We trudged past mountainside waterfalls and ducked underneath spider webs where creatures the size of my hand had already forfeited their fight. Uphill and onwards we continued with the sun playing hide and seek through the canopy of leaves.
We arrived at a two-story opening to a cave etched into the crest of a mountain with water spilling from the entrance wetting our feet. Pooh alerted us to strap our belongings on tight and secure our flashlights as the next hour of our lives was going to be a difficult and somewhat dangerous excursion. That tingly feeling of what the hell did I get myself into excited every nerve in my body as I mentally prepared for my first cave expedition.
Blindly, we set forth into the cave with no idea what was awaiting us.
As soon as we stepped into the cave we were almost immediately submerged in waist-high water. The deeper we went into the darkness the rougher the water swelled, sometimes forcing us to crane our necks far back with water rising right up to our chins. The only way out was to continue onwards; there was no turning back. But we forged on and fought against the heavy currents underneath the collective squeal of thousands of bats flying overhead.
Absolute darkness surrounded us except for the pinholes of light shining from our flashlights. Our feet continually slipped off slimy rocks almost rolling our ankles and every so often a member of our expedition would slip out of sight underwater thanks to an unforeseen crater on the rocky floor. At one point we were forced to climb down this shoddy, makeshift ladder that hung treacherously between two jagged walls leading into a dark pool of turbid water.
I felt like James Franco in 127 Hours and wasn’t mad about it.
About an hour later we finally saw daylight creeping through the cave’s mouth. We emerged back into the afternoon sun with some bumps and bruises as souvenirs from one of the riskiest hours of my life. Pooh so considerately regaled a story about how a group of tourists a few years back had died in that exact same cave due to a flash flood. Calm as a cucumber, he explained that we had nothing to worry about since the tours had since then stopped in those months when the risk of flash flooding was high.
The fun in Khao Sok didn’t end with the cave expedition even though it definitely was the resounding highlight. Every night Pooh navigated our long-tailed boat to the center of the lake in the pitch-black giving us the extraordinary chance to admire a blanket of stars untouched by the haze of electricity. We caught up-close views of monkeys swinging from tree branches and experienced firsthand the pleasures of bathing topless in the lake.
For three days we lived on the water like the cast of Gilligan’s Island; secluded from the world, barely-there electricity, and a newly banded family formed by the love of wanderlust and passion for adventure.
By far, cave-diving hike in Khao Sok was one of the most thrilling experiences of my adult life and completely worth the detour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle quit her job in New York City back in 2013 to get out of her comfort zone and travel the world. She visited four continents and seven countries in the span of a year and has been writing about it ever since.
For all inquiries you can contact her at michelle.luksh@gmail.com.
