Khao Sam Roi Yot
" Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is Gods handwriting"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Covering about 98 km², Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park is located on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. It was the first marine national park established in Thailand.
Khao Sam Roi Yot means "The mountain with three hundred peaks" and refers to a series of limestone hills along the Gulf of Thailand. The northwest corner, Thung Sam Roi Yot, is mainly freshwater marsh covering nearly 37% of the park which makes it the largest wetland in Thailand.
The main attractions of the national park are Phraya Nakhon Cave with its iconic royal pavilion and huge chamber, Kaeo Cave and Thung Sam Roi Yot Freshwater Marsh. Lined with sandy white beaches, the coast is dotted with limestone islands. It is rich in bird and animal life and a particularly good area for birding. Around 355 bird species have been recorded from the park, an incredible variety by anyones standards, and we are used to bird diversity in Zululand. Half of them are migratory birds. It is one of the best places in Thailand to see waterbirds on the flight path between Asia and Australia.
We were not in peak birding season, had come without long lenses or binoculars, but it still sounded good.
Thai Transport
Our minibus taxi from Khao Sok took us to Surat Thani, the nearest town on the rail route. It was a 2 hour drive in a shared taxi. This means you book the taxi with a company and it leaves from a set point. Monkey Jungelows happily dropped us at the taxi stop.
Our taxi started with 6 people but it filled up as we went along until it was bursting at the seams. Last to flag it down was a monk in his orange robes. The driver calmly kicked out a guy from inside the bus and squashed him into the, already occupied, front seat to accommodate the monk. No-one complained. According to what I have read you can never turn down a monk, he does not pay and usually he sits at the back of the bus. If there had been no room I wonder if the other passenger would have been left at the side of the road.
The whole community support the monks in so many ways, food, accommodation, clothing and transport, leaving them free to concentrate on their spiritual journeys.
I was a bit panicked initially when he clambered in as I know, as a woman, I must not approach or touch a monk, even to pass him something, and we were packed like sardines. Luckily Dudley was sitting between us.
I do think all this paranoia about women is a bit old. Celibacy in buddhism is a choice. I am not a temptation. End of story. Still there was a big scandal while we were there involving top monks, some very salacious videos, and the paying of millions in hush money out of temple funds, so maybe they do need protecting from themselves, just not from me.
Anyway, this interesting interlude aside, we arrived in Surat Thani, a bustling city. We tumbled out of the taxi. I had booked a little hotel close to the station for 1 night because the train left early in the morning and they were kind enough to come and fetch us. We had reduced our luggage to 2 big backpacks and one small travel backpack but it was still a lot to carry any distance. Especially as Dudley carried most of it!. So we needed transport.
A useful hospitality trait is that all the hotels you book message and communicate with you before you arrive and will arrange transport or give you directions or advice.
We spent a night at Neenwalat Riverside Hotel. It was a sort of Travelodge, rather anonymous generic bungalows around a pool and bar, but it was comfortable and clean.
We walked back towards the station to buy tea, milk and biscuits in a corner store before spending the afternoon by the pool and sharing supper at the bar. We always carried tea,coffee, milk. The Thai people use very little milk in their drinks and so, even if they provided tea and coffee at the hotels, we needed supplements.
Next day they deposited us bright and early at the train station, raring to go.
The air was cool as we entered the station, people were flowing onto the platform. The ticket collectors were very efficient, checking the tickets and directing you to the correct train and carriage. We were an hour early (eager!) but the train was already there and a hive of activity. While we watched they scrubbed the train inside and out with long brooms dipped in soapy water. Rubbish was cleared, water tanks were filled. A well oiled machine. 15 minutes before departure we were ushered onto the spotless train and seated.
There are several classes of travel and also all the seats are numbered. You must sit in the seat according to your ticket. With our late booking we were not together but you cannot move. More people will join at each station. We were in second class aircon and it was very comfortable. In fact we were cold and needed jackets on the train despite the heat and humidity outside. There were foot rests and the seat reclined slightly. There is a first class, mainly for sleepers, and a third class fan which may be difficult in the heat. Our seats cost us a mere R300.
Everyone was very considerate, luggage stowed neatly. During the 4 hour journey people came up and down the train regularly checking tickets, selling water and food and collecting rubbish. Hot pot noodles and even full meals appeared sometimes but as we had no idea how to order, they did not speak English, we could just watch. I had bought food and coffee anyway.
It really was a revelation. The trains are old but well cared for. 2 toilets per carriage, one a squatter and one a sitting toilet thank goodness. The journey went by quickly until we disembarked at Pratchup Khiri Khan, the closest station I could book to our destination. I was hooked on Thai trains.
Hat Phu Noi
Fishing boats bobbed off the shore or dotted the beach, waiting for the next tide.
We were headed for Phu Noi, a little village on the coast surrounded by the Sam Roi Yot National Park. It was another hour or more drive away. In Pratchup Khiri Khan we exited the station in the pouring rain and immediately climbed onto a nearby motorbike taxi. I asked him to take us to the bus station but he took us to a taxi rank across town. There they found us a taxi, expensive, about R 1000 equivalent, but who were we to complain. We were going to a small village, I doubt it was a transport hub, it was still pouring with rain. It sounds simple but the language barrier remained a problem. I just repeated my destination until someone understood, a ticket was issued, and we loitered around until someone shooed us towards a vehicle.
We drove past palm plantations and through an area of ponds and canals, probably fish farms, which were on a plain between craggy limestone mountains and the sea.
I will say he dropped us right outside our next destination, Namaste Bae. I had been inspired by Dudleys yoga journey when I picked this one!
Namaste Bae provided us with an en suite room with a little verandah on a side road 30 m from the beach. It was nestled in a colourful garden. We were next to the owners house and they had another property across the road with rooms.
We could stroll the promenade and a choice of cafes and restaurants.
Namaste Bae, 30m from the beachfront road and a choice of cafes and restaurants.
The owner, Michel, was a German with a Thai partner but he was absent on family business. A caretaker showed us in. She could not speak English so we communicated by phoning Michel and speaking through him. He was incredibly helpful, especially with the transport and bookings. We really were a bit off the beaten track here and the locals did not speak much English. Transport was also not all around us and we needed to know who to call, and someone who spoke the language. Cycling would have solved a lot of problems but I could not balance on the free bikes they offered us. Damn.
Counterintuitively there were a lot of expats here so we found people to chat to in the bars and coffee shops.
Our journey into the Thai language remained less than rudimentary. After 2 weeks we could say "thank you", "hello" and Dudley insisted he could say "two" but I never saw it work!
It is such a complex language. The same syllable can mean 4 different things depending on the tone which is indicated by a symbol above the vowel. Phonetic discrimination is therefore critical and our ears were very unused to the sounds.
We tried to learn a word a day but every morning our brains had been washed clean. We were little parrots repeating what was said to us and that was about all.
The start of the Park Run on Phu Noi beach
The town of Phu Noi is situated along a sandy beach which stretches about 5 km. Small limestone islands jut into the sea. Connecting roads run about 2 km out to the main road and small business areas. There are a lot of small hotels, restaurants and holiday homes along the beach and a promenade runs most of the distance. It was lovely to stroll the promenade, watching the fishermen and their boats. Hammocks and small shelters had been placed under casuarina trees on the edge of the beach. We dined and drank our coffee overlooking the sea.
At the end of the beach was an area for the Park Run, the first we saw in Thailand. Sadly we were not scheduled to be there on a Saturday.
We met the owner of a nearby massage shop walking her dog and she persuaded us to visit her next day. Always good to have the knots removed!
We chatted over supper to some of the local expats. One guy had lived in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and moved to Phu Noi for the peace and quiet. He clearly got lots of that but we pointed out that it was out of season. He said it's always quiet here. I am not sure what they do all day but he did put us on to the local What's App group so I can see all the activities they are up to even now, mostly coffee pop ups, the park run and rehoming stray dogs. All the somewhat elderly European men had Thai companions though. I am not sure if that is depressing or uplifting.
They told us of free yoga at the Muay Thai gym 3 km away. Dudley was off like a shot next day. He found a Muay Thai boot camp with multinationals all learning the traditional moves. The physical training was brutal. The yoga was separate, thank goodness, and he was the only man there!
Working out the kinks!
Free yoga at the Muay Thai gym. What a bargain.
Kui Buri
Our first excursion was to Kui Buri, a national park 1 hour away, the best place in Thailand to see elephants in the wild. It is a dry and moist evergreen forest occupying 969 sq km with an estimated 320 elephants (2016), and the best time to visit is the late afternoon.
We hired a taxi to take us. At the park you pay entry and also rental for an open bakkie with benches bolted across the bin and they take you on a game drive around the park. We shared our game viewer with a small Spanish family from Namaste Bae so that cut the cost a bit. I was able to hire a pair of binos which was a bonus.
The park was forested and the bush was thick but it was a different type of forest from the rain forests of Khao Sok. We had glimpses of antelope, a bit like a reedbuck and also a small duiker. The guide, and I use the term loosely, said it was called a "deer" which did not bode well for the amount of information we could expect to get from her. When she told us the water birds were called "duck" we stopped asking. Eventually we decided we had probably seen a sambar deer and a muntjac. It was only glimpses and the bush was very thick.
We did see some good sightings of an asian buffalo called a guar. This is the park with one of the largest herds of guar. Very handsome with pale yellow legs and a hump and large boss on the male. We saw a few herds. It did not help that rain was threatening and the bakkie driver was not very skilled. Most things ran away. We only saw 1 elephant and he was far away but we were happy we had seen him. I think we were just a bit unlucky. People before us had a whole herd of eles cross the road. They say there is a 95% chance of viewing elephants here.
The handsome Guar
We saw intriguing birds and at least we could see better with the binos we hired. We were not equipped to shoot them however.
After 2-3 hours we returned to the gate and climbed back into our taxi for the return journey.
Kui Buri is the only place in Thailand where sandalwood can be harvested for royal burials. 100 trees were chosen for the burial of the last king, Rama IX. According to royal criteria, the trees must be more than 100 years old and already dead. Sounds tricky.
Fun on the back of the game viewing bakkie!
Phraya Nakhon Cave
All the unique spots in Sam Roi Yot are quite spread out and there is no public transport so you have to either have your own transport or hire taxis. The major expense we experienced in Sam Roi Yot was for transport.
We had booked a taxi next day to take us to the next great attraction of the park, Phraya Nakhon cave which houses the glorious Kuha Karuhas Pavilion.
The cave is in limestone cliffs above the beautiful Laem Sala beach. It is named after Phraya Nakhon, a Thai nobleman who is reputed to have found the cave while escaping rough seas, but there are several accounts which put the historical events into different centuries, one has him being executed in the cave. Other versions say it was Rama I who found the cave while escaping high seas. One of them built a well at the base of the cliffs.
The famous well.
In the late seventeenth century a pavilion was built in the cave to commemorate a visit by king Rama V, also known as King Chulalongkorn. Several kings have visited the cave, including Rama IV, Rama V, Rama VII and Rama IX and left inscriptions on the walls.
The Kuha Karuhas pavilion is considered a masterpiece of Thai craftsmanship, and one of Thailands most photographed landmarks. Sunlight hits the pavilion at certain times of the day through the collapsed roof of the cave, giving it a spotlit incandescence.
View from the headland, all the little longboats ferrying tourists from Ban Bang Pu
There are 2 routes to the cave. Our taxi took us to a small fishing village, Ban Bang Pu, on the coast and from there you can either take a boat around the headland to the Laem Sala beach where the path to the cave begins, or you can walk 1-2 km over the headland to the beach.
We were still fresh so we decided to walk over the headland. Reputedly there were beautiful views to be had from the top of the headland. As it happened the viewpoint was under inspiring but we found the spectacled langurs in the trees on the path and that made the walk worth while.
The spectacled langur has white fur around its eyes which looks like a pair of glasses. He is also known as the dusky leaf monkey and found in Thailand, Malay and Singapore. He is considered endangered because he is an agricultural pest, he is hunted for bush meat and for the pet trade.
Anyway he is a really cute little chap, especially when seen up close. They move in quite big troops and eat leaves. We had looked hard for him in Khao Sok but had only glimpses high in the canopy so this was a treat.
Steps down into the cave
Petrified waterfall
Collapsed roof
The royal Kuha Karuhas Pavilion, illuminated by natural sunlight through a large natural skylight.
We arrived a bit hot and sweaty on the beach and walked through a small forest to the base of the cave path past the old well. The path is steep and stony and although it is only 800m they warn you to allow 1 1/2 hours each way. It was overcast but still hot and humid and we were soon bathed in sweat. We went in the rhythm of the monks, 4 steps up and rest, and slowly ascended. Many passed us but they were young and fit. Anyway I think our slow pace saved us from pain and stiffness later on. There are multiple health warnings on the route and plenty of fluids is essential.
The path led up into the mountain and then all the way down into the cave.
The cave had 2 sections, both open to the sky through collapsed roofs.
In the first were trees and shrubs, boulders and a petrified waterfall.
The second cave was filled with stalagmites and stalactites and crumbling limestone rock with natural crevices and caverns in the walls. In the centre was a beautiful pavilion built on a sandy hill and lit by sunlight streaming in through the open roof. Behind the shrine was a buddha statue and in the back of the cave an area for the monks. Although it is called the "temple in the cave" it is not a temple but a commemorative pavilion. It is a sacred site and popular for meditation and prayers.
Here is the money shot, facing the light the pavilion positively glows on top of its sandy hill and silhouetted against the black of the cave.
Royal graffiti
Pilgrims build little stone cairns in the cave. These are a type of stylised stupa which symbolise faith and the path to enlightenment. Unfortunately they cause a safety issue in the caves, especially for people like me who can fall over her own feet, and so they get dismantled at night.
We dragged ourselves down hot, sweaty and tired, and fell into the little restaurant at the beach for some of the best smoothies to ever touch our lips. Our appreciation was a little coloured by exhaustion and dehydration but it was sweet.
A short boat ride brought us back to Ban Bang Pa and our patient taxi driver.
Waiting for our boat at Laem Sala Beach and crossing the canals of Ban Bang Pu on the way home.
Buang Bua
Navigating channels between clumps of bull rushes and reeds.
Lotus rafts covered the surface of the water but few were open in the grey drizzle.
Our next foray was out to the wetlands for a spot of birding.
We had contracted our friendly taxi driver to take us there in the mid afternoon hoping for the golden light over the ponds as the sun set. Sadly the weather was not playing ball and we arrived in a grey drizzle. We were not deterred.
Thung Sam Roi Yot ís a large area of wetlands between the mountains and the sea where the lilies, or lotus blossoms, bullrushes and small grassy islands cover the water surface and huge populations of birds live and breed. In Oct /Nov huge numbers of migratory birds come in to breed.
Despite the grey day the clouds were still spectacular and the light, while more subtle, was still beautiful. I was only sad the lotus flowers were mostly closed. The reflections were, however, beautiful.
We arrived at a small park entrance and boat station and set off in a flat bottomed boat which meandered through channels in the reeds. The water was very shallow and the fish were jumping.
We saw grey headed swamp hens and bronze winged jacanas as well as indochinese roller, asian green bee eater, white eyed river martin, red wattled lapwing. Purple herons galore, they breed here, and asian open billed storks. We could recognise them because they were all close relatives of familiar African birds. Just differences in plumage and colour.
At the far end of the waterways is another park office which leads to a series of wooden walkways which stretch out over the water for over 1 km. This is called Buang Bua meaning Sacred Lotus. We disembarked and explored with delight.
The sacred lotus is an important flower in Thai culture representing purity and faithfulness and representing mans journey towards enlightenment by emerging from the murky waters to bloom clean and pure in the light. It is a common motif in buddhist art, often as a seat for the Buddha, representing his divinity. Here's a little tidbit for you, it's all edible, stem, leaves, flowers and seeds. Used as herbal medicine, some species are reputed to have psychoactive effects, hence the term "Lotus Eater." We saw it a lot on our travels and it never failed to delight, a natural magnet for insects and every colour of the rainbow.
As the light faded we got back in the boat and were ferried back to our faithful taxi. It is a beautiful and quite unique place and well worth more than one visit. I am sure there are big seasonal changes in light and bird populations. This is when I missed our long lenses most.
This is the lotus seed pod. You can eat the seeds which are wrapped in the green cup.
Red Wattled Lapwing
Sun setting over Buang Bua
Onwards and Upwards
Our last day we spent walking the beach and enjoying coffee. We persuaded our friend from the massage parlour to do our laundry for a fee. We were ready to move on although we could have spent more time in this amazing place.
We had decided to move on to the town of Phetchaburi. Our friend Otapo, who spent time in SE Asia teaching English, told us of a cave temple in Phetchaburi which was the highlight of her trip. That was all the encouragement we needed and I booked a share taxi for the next morning and another hostel with an optimistic name, APlus Hometel, on the edge of the old town.
