We left our hotel this morning at 8am to catch a ferry from Nathon to our next destination, Khao Sok, and the Anurak Community Lodge. It was a 30 minute drive to the ferry, then a 1.5 hour ferry ride, and then a 3 hour van ride. The ferry was a the three-decker with air conditioning and comfy seats. The third floor was open, but with a cover. You could see the mainland and other smaller islands, that we assumed were formed by volcanos. And it wasn’t nearly as humid as I expected. When we arrived at the port of Donsak, you could see a white Buddha on a hill that unfortunately I only caught the back. Not a bad way to take a ferry. Next we drove in the van for at least 3 hours. The drive was quite different than any of our drives so far, we were not in the city anymore. It was lush green, tropical and reminded me of Kauai. It rained and poured multiple times during our drive, but for no more than a few minutes. We stopped at a rest stop for bathroom and lunch. The women’s toilets were only squat toilets, but we were excited to see the handicapped restroom was western style. Bowman was very proud of herself for successfully using the squat. Lunch wasn’t very exciting. I found ramen noodles at the 7-11, as well as chips, water and iced tea packets. After lunch we drove another 1.4 hours to our lodge.

Bowman and I were assigned the Pineapple room, otherwise known as Sapocarot in Thai. We had a 2 hour break until our 5pm walk in the jungle and dinner. Our hut, which appears to be one of the farthest away from civilization, is minimal, rustic, but thank god it has air conditioning. The beds have mosquito nets over them, the bathroom is actually outside, at least it’s private and has a roof. It rained soon after we arrived and listening to the sound of the rain hitting our roof was quite peaceful. We talked, laughed and chilled in the room for a bit, knowing at 5pm we’d be getting wet, hot and sweaty again.

At 4:15 it started raining and it didn’t let up. We all met at the lobby in rain attire, ponchos, umbrellas ready for whatever this trek would bring. Bowman made good use of her IKEA purchases and some called her stylish, others thought she was a little mathchy, matchy. The guide was a few minutes late, and because of the rain, the path we were going to take was too dangerous, our trek through the jungle was canceled. So instead, we all stayed at the bar to have a drink. The view from the bar was spectacular. The mountain peaks had waves of clouds passing over them making it look almost magical. We had to kill an hour before dinner.

For dinner our guide took us to a small hut on the premises, with a wood fire already hot and strong. He was planning to teach us some traditional cooking methods using bamboo. There were 5 large bamboo pieces in the fire, standing upright. Inside the bamboo he cooked rice, green curry with chicken, Tom Sum with shrimp, and vegetable soup. He had a long stick with a small piece of bamboo on the end that he used as a spoon to taste his cooking. Some of us sat on the floor for dinner, while others had a table. Everything was delicious. There were a few bugs flying around, and Andrew thought a bat might have flown into his back.

This is Bowman now reporting from under the mosquito net that Jacqui has a new found fear of Gibbons (monkeys) watching her sleep. You never know what you’ll learn about someone when you’re in the jungle. It shortly after 9 pm and we are already anticipating an eventful sound filled night. you can already hear drips of rain, crickets and other jungle bug noises. But so far, no gibbon.