Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 799

Morning Mist Resort On the north-south access
road, just south of the river T 089 971 8794, W khaosok
morningmistresort.com. Built within a profuse riverside
garden, this well-run place offers large, immaculate rooms
in variously styled wooden and concrete bungalows, all
with hot water. Small swimming pool and excellent
restaurant. Double B550
Nung House T 077 395147, W nunghouse.com. Friendly
place known for good trekking, with very good huts set
around an attractive grassy garden full of rambutan trees.
Choose either simple but sturdy bamboo and wood
constructions with en-suite facilities, or brick and concrete
bungalows; some have hot showers. Attached are a good
Thai an d Wes tern restaurant and the chilled Nirvana Bar .
Double B300

★

GUIDED TREKS AND TOURS OF
KHAO SOK
Most visitors join one of their guesthouse's
guided treks at some point during their
stay, as they're fun, informative and
inexpensive. The usual day trek
(B700-900) goes to Ton Kloi waterfall, and
from about December to March there's a
special route that takes in the blooming of
the world's second-biggest flower, the
ra esia kerrii meier ; it's also known as
“stinking corpse lily” because of its smell.
Night safaris along the main park trails
(B600-800 for 2-4hr) are also popular. You
get to stay out in the jungle on the
overnight camping trips (about B2500),
usually around Tan Sawan falls. Khao Sok
guesthouses charge around B1500 for a
day-trip to Cheow Lan Lake and B2500 for
two-day, one-night trips.

10

KHAO LAK
Just an hour north of Phuket
International Airport, KHAO LAK has
established itself as a mid-market beach
resort, with opportunities for diving and
snorkelling at the supreme national park
reefs of Ko Similan , and a style that is
determinedly unseedy. It is mostly a bit
pricey for backpackers, but is extremely
popular with northern European tourists.
he area usually referred to as Khao Lak
is in fact a string of beaches west off
Highway 4. Khao Lak proper is the
southernmost and least developed, 5km
from the most commercial part of the
resort, Nang Thong (aka Bang La On),
which throngs with restaurants, dive
centres, banks, ATMs, clinics, a post o ce
(at its north end) and countless places to
stay, both on the beachfront and inland
from Highway 4. North again about 3km
is lower-key, slightly more youthful Bang
Niang , a lovely long stretch of golden sand
that's backed by a developing tourist
village with a network of sois.
here is little obvious evidence these days
of the December 2004 tsunami , when the
undersea earthquake off Sumatra sent a
series of waves on to Khao Lak's shores,
vaporizing almost every shorefront home
and hotel here and killing thousands.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus All buses running from Phuket to Takua Pa and
Ranong (and vice versa) pass through Khao Lak and can
drop you anywhere along Highway 4; coming from Krabi
or Phang Nga you'll generally need to change buses in

Krabi (2hr) and Surat Thani via the train station at
Phunphin (1hr 45min).
By bus All buses between the west-coast junction town of
Takua Pa and Surat Thani pass the main park entrance,
including some Surat Thani services to and from Khao Lak
and Phuket. If you're coming by bus from Bangkok or
Chumphon, take a Surat Thani-bound bus, but ask to be
dropped off at the junction with the Takua Pa road, about
20km before Surat Thani, and then change onto a Takua Pa
bus. At the start of the access road to the tourist village and
headquarters, guest-house staff meet bus passengers and
offer free lifts to their accommodation.
Destinations Bangkok (1 daily; 11hr); Khao Lak (3 daily;

1hr 30min); Surat Thani (every 90min; 2hr); Takua Pa
(every 90min; 50min).

ACCOMMODATION
As well as guided treks and trips to Cheow Lan Lake,
guesthouses can arrange elephant rides and fix you up
with equipment and transfers for tubing and canoeing
trips along the Sok River. Just north of the river, a side road
leads east off the north-south access road to many
guesthouses, including Bamboo House and Nung House .
Bamboo House T 081 787 7484, W krabidir.com
/bamboohouse. Welcoming place, known for its treks, set in
a grassy orchard. The simple, stilted, en-suite, wooden huts
with mosquito nets here are the cheapest in this par t of th e
park and there's a good riverside restaurant. Double B200
Khao Sok Green View Resort On the north-south access
road, 150m south of the river T 086 271 0526, E lekkhao
[e-mail]. Attractive bamboo bungalows
with hot showers set in a lovely garden, full of orch ids,
flowering shrubs and quaint timber bridges. Double B500