Thailand - Part Two - Jungle to Island

A Jungle experience. We travelled from Khao Lak to Khao Sok and stayed in a budget hotel in a very small village. There are some lovely luxury hotels in the area, but we chose something smaller due to everyone’s budget. It was quite basic, and I wouldn’t really recommend it to clients but for the 2 nights we loved our little escape. We were hardly in the room at all. The hotel was clean and tidy, and the staff were amazing really helpful.
If we had had a bigger budget, I would have gone more upmarket!
Ont the first day some of the group went to an ethical elephant sanctuary where they made food for the elephants, gave them a mud bath and watched them go into the water to wash the mud off.
The following day we all decided to book on to a private boat tour of Khao Sok lake. It was well worth it – we had our own long tail boat and guide. It was about £22 each for a 6-hour trip door to door from the hotel. For this we had three hours on the lake watching the scenery and swimming off the boat.
On return to the hotel three of us decided to do a tubing tour down the river – which was great fun and took about an hour. We had a guide, and it cost £10 per person.
This was such a fun filled couple of days, totally different, we saw monkeys, two snakes, fruit bats and several types of birds. The vegetation was lush, and I only got bitten twice by mosquitos!
If you want to do something very different then this is an example of what I can add into your holiday.

What a beautiful island.
We transferred from our jungle hotel to the Royal Beach Hotel Yao Yai by taxi and boat. We hired a taxi firm to take us from our jungle home to the ferry terminal and from here we hired a private boat. The private boat worked out at only £1 per person more than getting the ferry. It was fast and he literally dropped us on the beach right outside the hotel. It was like a scene from James Bond!
Yao Yai is a very quiet island, very different from ones I have visited before. It is a Muslim island, so alcohol is limited to hotels and bars, and none is allowed on the beach. To be honest this doesn’t matter. The people are amazing, and the food is sensational. We ate at a seafood restaurant and had street food from a stall near to our hotel. It was only £1 for a roti banana pancake. I’m going back!
The bars along the beach are very quirky and pretty and really great value. The beers and cocktails are plentiful, and the Pad Thai was delicious. I had chicken Pad Thai and 2 long Island ice teas for £8.56!
The sea is lovely and flat, no waves and it doesn’t shelve – so anyone who isn’t a confident swimmer will be happy here.

Day Trips on Yao Yai – we hired a driver for the day to take us round the island and spent a few hours on a couple of beaches. Yao Yai is very underdeveloped. Its very unspoilt and as such the roads are a little bumpy! It’s well worth a tour though. We paid £14 for 5 of us for the day in a nice 4 wheel drive car with air conditioning.

Our other day out – we hired a long tail boat with a captain and his one crew member. They picked us up off the beach and we headed to three different islands for snorkelling and beach time. We took some beers and wine with us which they stored in their ool box. The fish we saw were amazing. Lots of angel fish, sea urchins and pipe fish, amongst others. The beaches were beautiful.