Khao Sok national park is in the south west of Thailand. We were uncertain about going there as the cyclone that hit Burma was also impacting weather in this area. However we decided to chance it because some friends we met in Vietnam had mentioned that this was one of the best places they had been on their travels. We were not disappointed.
The park is covered by the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world (even older than the Amazon), huge limestone mountains or Karsts shooting straight up in the air, and a large breathtaking lake.
We stayed in a jungle lodge where the mosquitoes outnumber the people by several billion to one, each one of which took a sample of blood from Caroline but declined to nibble on Gary. Hence we normally settled down to dinner in full head to toe body armour, enveloped in a concoction of deet and natural insect repellents (that Channel will not be advertising any time soon). Despite the bugs, the setting was very atmospheric and quite the experience. After a heavy rain one day, the frogs were out in joyous chorus throughout the evening and night - its quite difficult to describe just how loud they were, but we imagined that there must have been a full plague on our doorstep.
The national park itself is stunning. The drive to the park itself through many limestone karsts (cliffs) is worth the visit, but the real gem is the Cheow Larn Lake. The lake is over 100m deep with clear blue water and sheer cliff faces reminiscent of Halong Bay - in fact we would say that this far more beautiful than Halong bay as it does not have many tourist boats, the water is very clean, there are lots of animals (monkeys, gibbons etc), caves to explore and there are floating villages and chilled out accommodation that also provided a fantastic lunch. Best of all Lonely Planet barely gives the park a mention so it will hopefully continue be unspoilt and remain good value.
