We are now on the bus to Krabi after a night in the Jungle. We stayed at the Bamboo House in Khao Sok National Park, which is the biggest jungle in the South of Thailand. The first thing we noticed in the jungle is that there are a lot more insects: flies, ants and other bugs …oooppss just jumped to change busses… Yeah there are definitely more bugs in the jungle, not that it should surprise us, we just didn’t think about it. We haven’t been plagued too much and the bites seemed to get fewer every day until now. Elínborg got some red spots the other day (100-200 of them) and we thought that she had been attacked by ants but the woman at the pharmacy convinced us that it was something from the sea. My theory is that she is allergic to coral sperm as I saw some of the corals release something into the sea. At least she got a crème that seems to be fixing the problem.
Pigs on the way to the islands
Elínborg faced another danger in our bungalow when we were preparing for bed time. She spotted something hairy dive behind our bed and I immediately thought we were either dealing with a rat or a tarantula spider. A rat seemed unlikely in the jungle but the other option was still open. I had read that tarantulas are actually not poisonous so I grabbed the flashlight while Elínborg stood still frozen by the door. When I moved closer to the bed I saw something shoot up the wall and down again so I couldn’t see it properly. When I pointed the flashlight behind the bed I saw the cutest little eyes of a tiny mouse that seemed as scared as Elínborg ;) As she saw me she moved frantically up the wall and out a hole close to the ceiling.
The bungalow with the frightening animal
We only stayed one night in the jungle so we weren’t able to see everything that was on offer but we went to a fantastic elephant trek where we went for a walk into the woods with Kaidam, a 17 year old elephant boy, and his keeper. Riding Kaidam was a fantastic experience, he was so careful and gentle going up the rocky slope. At first we were in the saddle but on the way back Elínborg got to sit on his neck like a proper elephant rider.
The elephant riders
During the trek we didn’t see too much wild life since an elephant has quite a presence. We did see two snakes though just before they managed to hide in the bushes. After the trek one of the guides guessed that the snakes were Black Cobra :-o
Kaidam getting his payment
In the middle of the trek we were able to wander around the jungle on our own. We walked along this stream and as Elínborg walked over a tree trunk a big Black Cobra started moving within a meter from where she stepped down. Elínborg’s instinctive move was to jump back into a karate position, which scared the cobra away! I was quite impressed that she didn’t even make a sound even though I heard her heartbeat pounding for the next minute. It seems like Elínborg has nine lives like the cat and needed three of her in just two days :)
Quick to regain her cool :)
ps. I’m trying out Windows Live Writer that allows me to blog while offline, setting up the photos and everything and then posting when I have access, so bear with me the posts look a bit funny for now.
Orn's Travel Blog 