From a recent guest…
Many concerned locals in Phuket thought we were completely mad driving a Honda Click 250km in the middle of the night from Phuket to Khao Sok…. we shall call the midnight journey to Khao Sok a “bonding experience” and both really enjoyed the entire trip, sore backsides and all. Insects feel like golfballs on your cheeks at 80km/hr. Two full tanks and a 5 litre Vixol bottle filled with gasoline will see you through…
Three kilometres from Our Jungle House, next to the highway that connects Takua Pa with Surathani is where the Khao Sok school is located. Compared to the surrounding resorts, the school has a rather unattractive environment but nevertheless is close enough for parents that cannot afford to send their kids to better schools out of town. 160 pupils age six and older study at the school every day. The teachers and parents would now very much like to build a nursery within the school for the 4-6 year olds.
Never have I been surrounded by such lush, green beauty as I am here at Our Jungle House in Khao Sok National Park.
The jungle is even more beautiful than I expected, and I got the ultimate experience touring it by kayak. My sister lives here in Thailand, and I am very fortunate to be able to visit her for a couple of weeks. We went on an amazing kayak trip just the other day down the river and saw nature at its finest. Around every corner was some exotic wildlife: a king fisher, a black and yellow snake, huge frogs, butterflies, bright pink and purple fish with shining yellow eyes. We got to feed the fish, which was a fun experience for us and them as they splashed and thrashed for the yummy treats.
Do you know where you are?
…down by the riverside…
Leaving after dinner from Kuraburi in the direction of Khao Sok National Park, I arrived late evening in Our Jungle House. A charming man, equipped with flashlights, led me to my sleeping location at the river. I arrived just in time for the evening concert. Wonderful traditional Khao Sok music, whose musicians had endless energy to play until late night. However, there seemed to be technical problems with the lighting, and I directed the stream of light into the river. “Do you know where you are?.. my companion remarked. “You’re in the jungle!” The lights might attract snakes. Be sure you close your tent, he said before he left, snakes don’t have hands.
My own idyllic cottage atop the cliff
With KhunAnat, who later became Thai Minsiter of Agriculture, our heads rotated in circles as we stared at the swirls of rust and yellow pigment on a 600 foot vertical cliff in front of us. In 1985 there was nothing at all on RaileiBeach, Krabi. A few weeks later I went with some friends and slept on the deserted beach, catching crabs and fish to cook over a fire.(Pramoen cooking pic) Even back then, we didn’t think it would last, but reveled in having a natural wonder all to yourselves. Today hotel rooms go for up to US$2,000 a night.
Khao Sok National Park is one of the best preserved natural habitats in Thailand, and it’s all thanks to the Communists. During the 1970s and early 80s, this area of thick jungle and caves was the perfect hide-out for the small band of Communist insurgents tickling the government at that time.
A Peace Corps volunteer named Dwaila, a farm girl from Iowa, was the first to move there. She lived in a basic bamboo hut at the edge of one of the massive limestone cliffs and tried various schemes like raising deer, pigs, and fruit trees. Gibbons and macaque monkeys would swing through her hut, terrifying city friends who came visiting.
Our cook at the River Kwai Farm was a genius who had worked for various embassies in Bangkok. Using the fresh vegetables and the ducks and chickens we kept live on the farm, she invented some wonderful dishes. Stewed duck with red cabbage, shredded papaya fried in coconut batter, and our signature “chicken in the straw.” Jars of Col. Sandler’s hibiscus jam sold by the thousands.
Chicken in the straw. This is a traditional Thai recipe making use of the rice straw that piles up after the rice harvest.
Ingredients:
Broiler chicken, better on the skinny side
Maggi sauce, pepper, and garlic marinade
As a young farmer
If you want to be a gentleman farmer in the humid tropics, be prepared to lose 3,000 Thai baht a month for every acre of vegetables you grow. That was 1972, so in today’s money be prepared to lose about $500 per acre. Why do you think only gentleman go into farming? Unless the government’s paying, who else can afford it?
