River canoe in Khao Sok.... too classic activity you think? It is still amazing and worth to visit when you are in Khao Lak!

​It was thick gray cloud covered and wet in Khao Lak and Phuket area in the morning of the day we plan to visit Khao Sok on second week in May. We know it is green season here but we can not help to imagine fairy nice blue sky background behind stunning limestone cliffs and mountains in our mind...

We knew from our experiences, weather here in Khao Lak and Khao Sok are not always the same  because of geographic location creates the climate difference. So we checked how it is like with locals in Khao Sok before heading there and their reply was DRY! We love Khao Sok this time of year because of this! 

About an hour ride from Khao Lak towards to Surat Thani Province where Khao Sok National Park is located, actually Khao Sok is right cross the border of Phang Nag Province to Surat Thani Province. You do not expect any traffic jam on the way there but lovely rush green scenery of palm palm and rubber planation, tropical vegetation on the way there is so beautiful and guarantee you will never get board.

Khao Sok is one of the oldest rain forests in the world today, believe it or not Khao Sok is older than Amazon in South America because of Khao Sok rain forest is situated in between Gulf of Siam and Andaman Sea. Warm sea breeze saved Khao Sok rain forest rom frozen during ice age!  What an amazing history!

As soon as we got there we jumped into our canoe and bamboo rafting on Sok river. Wooow! Nobody around but us and a couple of snake sleeping on the tree or sounds of noisy cicadas. We saw lizard and long leg bird and fed red tail fishes stay in front of cave temple, thousands of them! They seem to be always hungry :)
The water level on Sok river was shallow and not strong, just perfect floating beneath of the amazing looking limestone cliffs mountains and feeling the sun and cool breeze. 

Our friendly canoe guide took us to a small river bank for coffee break. What a nice surprise! 
Bamboo made benches were set  under the limestone cliff like cave. This little nature cafe setting was amazing and we loved the idea. They use thick bamboo as a kettle to boiling water and our coffee cups were bamboo too! Nice fresh green smell of bamboo brought coffee and tea taste ever more delicious! You can keep the bamboo cup with you for memory of your trip. This kind of small touch is always appreciating. This coffee break stop can be enjoyed when river water is shallow only. 

It took 1.5 hr for our river canoe / bamboo rafting and followed by lunch on the river side. 
Honestly I did not expect much for set lunch on the trip like this but I was wrong!!!!! Another wow, very very pretty lunch set was served at our table. This was another nice surprise! Spring rolls and Stir fried chicken with cashew nuts were in bamboo plates and Massaman curry and Clear soup were in the bamboo cups with little pink flower on the side to make all the look extra pretty!. Steam rice was wrapped with local leave and teamed / grilled in bamboo again! They are so good at using bamboo! All the dishes were tasty and good enough portion, very satisfactory.

We stopped by at Cliff and River Jungle Resort (top banner image) for another coffee break before heading back to Khao Lak. This place is one of my personal favorite places in Khao Sok. Their landscape is so amazing and I can not skip this place when I am in Khao Sok. We totally relaxed our mind put ourselves in the natural and was very happy with tour. BUT we spontaneously made our mind to one last thing to spoil ourselves with........YES a nice little Thai massage! That was definitely a right move and perfect wrap up our day out in Khao Sok. 

If you fed up with rainy days in Khao Lak, why do not you go out to Khao Sok! You will have such a wonderful experiences in the nature and nature is always kind to us. They give our back energy and a happy moment! 

Other point of interests in Khao Sok:
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• Khao Sok View Point
• Monkey Temple
• Elephant Trekking 
• Elephant Sanctuary
• National Park Trekking
• Cave Trekking (for advance and experienced people)
• Chieow Lan Lake
• Hot Spring (on the way)