So our first pit stop on this Thailand road trip is Khao Sok, we’re staying at a riverside bungalow in the heart of the jungle.

A perfectly designed wooden home on stilts, reached by a wooden walkway raised above the leafy jungle floor and with a veranda overlooking the passing stream. 

There are all sorts of bugs, spiders, snakes, and monkeys! The sounds during the day are incredible…but at night it’s a whole different affair, with croaking and far of gibbons! We’re definitely embracing a bit of nature!

Today we have been off on a lake tour of Cheow Larn Lake, one of the most striking lakes I’ve ever seen.

We started off the day with a trip to a local market, where the girls picked out some cute elephant print play suits, we wandered through the stalls and tried some yummy fried bananas!

We then set off on our cruise of the lake in a traditional Thai longtail boat. The stunning limestone cliffs towered skyward over the flat emerald green waters and we wizzed around in the boat taking in the many bays and little islands.

After about an hours cruising we stopped at some floating raft houses where we were set to have lunch, but had a free hour to swim in the cool waters. Den and Daisy braved the high jumps into the lake and we also grabbed some of the canoes and took a paddle around the nearby islands! It was just so lovely, I think we could have stayed all day!

After a delicious lunch we jumped back aboard our boat and motored over to the far side of the lake, where we pulled on our trainers for a hike through the forest! Our guide Pom was keen to point out all the tarantula nests on route!!! 😳

After a hot and steamy hike through the jungle hills we eventually reached a smaller lake where there was a small group of raft houses with some make shift bamboo boats with engines on the back! We were all impressed with the inventiveness of it…but then realised our guide was motioning us aboard one to our next destination! Yikes!

We scrambled aboard grabbing a couple of huge life jackets as we went! Safety is clearly not something they worry to much about here! But we needn’t have worried we slowly motored across to the other side and climbed off to see a wonderful cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. The girls loved wearing the head torches that Pom brought along, and although I’m not totally convinced he knew what he was talking about, he loved the cave and enjoyed pointing out the many cave Buddha shapes!

Afterwards we trekked back through the jungle to our longboat, on the way we saw a family of Dusty Langur monkeys up in the trees! They have such cute faces with a lighter white fur around their eyes, making them look a little like they’re wearing spectacles! Cute!

We then jumped aboard our longboat and set back for the port, stopping briefly for another swim in the gorgeous emerald waters as we went along!

A long and gorgeous day! We wish we could do it all over again tomorrow!