Leapin Lizards!

Sawatdee! (Greetings in Thai),

We've just spent two days in the deepest, darkest jungles of Thailand. (Ok, maybe not the deepest and darkest--but they are pretty cool). We went to Khao Sok National Park where we became acquainted with Dam, our fearless tour guide.

We took a two day tour to a huge Lake (Chiaw Lan) that lies between the park and another wildlife refuge. Remarkably, the scenery was similar to that of the Krabi area--huge limestone cliffs jutting straight out of the water--Isaac had to continually wipe the drool from his chin. We took a boat out to our accommodations--floating bamboo bungalows--had lunch and departed for a nearby cave tour.

The cave was fabulous--we had to swim/wade through chest deep water, saw crazy spiders, tons of bats, and awesome formations. I'm not really sure our tour would have passed any American caving association standards, but we all got out ok, so I guess there's no problem.

We were then treated to a few evening/night safaris during which we saw gibbons, langurs, great horned bills, black horned bills, eagles, and owls. Sadly we missed out on the tigers, elephants, and clouded leopards--but our guide, Dam, swears that if we took the 5-day 15,000 baht ($375) tour he would guarantee all of the above. Our group (the two of us and a recently married couple--man from Austria woman from Thailand) was then stuffed full of fresh fish, seafood, fruits, and the local libation, Sang Som (a kind of local rum).

This morning we hiked to a viewpoint 300m above the lake and listened to the ethereal cries of the gibbons--wow those guys can sing! Finally, after a whole day of waiting, Isaac was granted his wish of experiencing some deep water soloing on some of the cliffs. And his advice? If you are planning on staying in Railay to climb for more than a month, a side trip to Khao Sok is well worth the trip.

We just risked life and limb riding a bus from the dam to Phunpin (nearest train station). Bus drivers are even nuttier than the taxi drivers! We are about to hop on the night train to Bangkok. By six o' clock tomorrow morning, we should be roasting in the big city.

Ok, enough words--separate post with pictures is coming.

Miss you!