I discovered I really hate leeches...

Ok, haven't updated in a few days because I've been crazy busy on my tour and haven't had time to stop to use the internet.

We got an overnight train down to Surat Thani and then a transfer to our hotel in Koh Sok. The train was only a little bit late, which was great! and I even managed a little bit of sleep. Our hotel was pretty much inside the national park. The scenery on the way was stunning. It's like the mountains have just popped out of the ground. They were huge, and covered with trees and jungle. The weather there was much nicer than Bangkok, it wasn't as humid and the heat was actually quite pleasant. In the evening I even wore trousers! The hostel was basically a large open reception and restaurant and bungalows on stills! They were basic, but quite nice. They had double beds and mosquito nets which made the beds look a little like princess beds :)

On the first day we were there we went 'tubing', which is essentially floating down the river in a rubber ring. It was really really prelaxing, even though it was throwing it down with rain. We stopped at one point to use a rope swing to throw ourselves into the river. Brilliant. After we had finished we went to see a waterfall, which wasn't particuarly big, but was quite pretty.

The evening consisted of a big meal together, (I discovered Massuman curry, which is a really nice coconut based curry which is quite spicy, I had it with chicken and various vegetables) lots of chatting and also our own dubbing of a Thai soap the staff were watching. Our storylines were quite odd and consisted of people asking where the tomatoes were and other people getting crushed by barrels of chardonnay. Quite funny.

On the second day in Koh Sok two German guys in the tour and I decided to do a half days trekking in the national park. Another guy, also German actually but not in our group, also came with us. I was expecting a bit of a hike throughout the national park, generally on paths, some of them over grown. Nothing particularly horrendous or tasking. How wrong I was.

After about 5 minutes on a normal, our guide (a little Thai man whose name was apparently sexyman) cut off the path and started to climb through the jungle. It was very steep! At some points it felt a little bit like we were climbing at a 90 degree angle! We saw a few gibbons (monkeys) jumping around the trees and a turtle/tortoise/whatever they are. We picked it up! And there was also leeches. I hate leeches. I had several very girl moments where I flapped my hands and 'ewwwd' a lot. They are disgusting. Just writing about them makes me feel a bit weird. Anyway. They were everyway. Actually everywhere. All over the floor, waving and jumping around and getting attached to your shoes. It was gross. And then they attach themselves to you. And drink your blood. I got a bit eating by them. I had one on my shoulder and then I had several on my ankles at various points and then a live one and two dead ones in my shoes. I was wearing my Dunlops which are white (dark brown by the time I had been in the jungle) but they were dyed red with my blood. Leech bites bleed loads because there is something in their saliva that makes you bleed more so they can drink more. Lovely. So I hated them. So anyway. We weren't walking on any path, we were just following this little Thai man who had quite a large machete to chop his way through the jungle. Going up and across was fine. Going down was a different story. The ground was very damp and you couldn't just walk down. You needed to use trees and vines to essentially absail down the hill. At one point I completely lost my footing and fell/slid down the mountain. I was covered in mud and my legs were cut to pieces! My legs are an absolute mess right now. Covered in scratches and huge lines of scratches from thorns! Oh and some pretty big bruises from the fall! Despite this, I had a great time. We swam in a pool by a waterfall before we walked, i limped, back to the hotel. I really enjoyed the day, but I couldn't do longer, just because of the leeches. I loved the walking and the climbing. But the leeches totally freak me out.

After a quick lunch me and the Germans went elephant trekking. It was nice a realxing. We sat on these huge elephants and they walked along a large muddy path and up and around a river and a bit of jungle, responding to voice commands from their handler. It was pretty amazing. There tusks are awesome. Once that was done we stopped off at a temple where you can feed monkey's on the way home. The monkey's were so cute, there were a couple of babies still clinging on to their mother's.

Everyone was in bed early that night, the rest of the group had been for a day trip to the big lake in the park it sounded amazing. So after a massage, although I wouldn't let the woman near my legs as they hurt too much, and a large grilled red snapper, head and all, in a curry sauce (it tasted fantastic) everyone was off to bed.

I'm running out of time so I'll have to document the rest of the last couple of days tomorrow. We arrived at Koh Tao today. I've been here about 3 hours and I think I want to move here!