Day 34: From Paradise to Jungle

Day 34: From Paradise to the Jungle

Packing and travel day. We squeezed in a quick swim in the sea and pool before beginning our transfer to the next destination: Khao Sok, deep in the mainland jungle of Southern Thailand.

We have had two glorious sun-soaked, relaxing weeks in Koh Lanta, and it is always hard to leave paradise. This place feels like a second home to us now. We knew the local business people and the faces around our pool; it had all become comfortingly familiar. But we are travellers now! So we must not get too comfortable and familiar—it is time to move on and feel that sense of adventure again.

The journey took us five hours by taxi. Between dozing and gazing out of the window, we watched the landscape change dramatically. The turquoise sea and sandy beaches of Koh Lanta gave way to the towering karsts of Krabi, their rugged silhouettes striking against the cobalt skies. Soon, the landscape became dense with green jungle, the roads quieter, and the signs of civilisation fewer.

Our new home for the next few days is a treehouse nestled deep in the jungle, surrounded by tropical greenery. It’s basic, but beautiful—wooden construction bungalow, raised on stilts, with fans instead of air conditioning and dreamy white mosquito nets draped over two large beds. As we followed the staff member carrying our luggage, monkeys swung freely above us, wild and uninhibited, adding to the feeling of stepping into another world.

The humidity here is something else today. Dripping is the only word to describe us as we arrived at the treehouse. While it’s far from luxury (no fridge! Warm bottled water!), it does have a swimming pool—and after hauling ourselves through the jungle heat, we were incredibly grateful for that.

We dumped our bags and quickly headed straight back out to explore (and give into the whines of our hungry children demanding food pronto). As we’d had nothing more than the legendary 7-Eleven ham and cheese toastie hours ago at the start of the transfer, we all wanted a good feed.

Fed and happy, we wandered through the nearby stalls where I succumbed to the ultimate tourist purchase: elephant trousers. Practical, comfortable, and a rite of passage in Thailand. Next, we booked our tour for tomorrow—a day exploring Cheow Lan Lake, an hour away and one of the must-see sights in the region.

Back at the treehouse, the children treated me to an amusing (distinctly amateur, though relaxing) Thai massage using their newly purchased coconut body oil. Their technique could use some refining, but it was a sweet way to end the day.

The beds in our bungalow are rock hard, so sleep did not come easily, not helped by the incredible, unnerving and sometimes terrifying noises coming from the jungle just outside our hut (and underneath it, if the resonating clarity of bouncing sound was anything to go by). Hard to describe the main culprit's sound, but it did make us laugh, after our hearts returned to a normal pace. A kind of chirrup and warble begins, a hiccup and then a repetitive cry that - honestly - sounds exactly like a high-pitched "mon-key! mon-key! mon-key! mon-key!" Bizarre. Hilarious. On first hearing it during the evening, we accused Lorne, our family trickster, surely some kind of weird phone sound he'd sourced to prank and scare us. However, when it happened again while Lorne was dozing, and then again this morning 5 minutes before our early alarm went off, we knew it was some unidentified beastie living under our bungalow. Eeek! Sleep tight!