There are no net cafes in Koh Sok National Park so i have included my last two journal entries as one. The photos will appear when i e-mail them to sam.

DAY 1

After a terrible jopurnay on a very cramped night boat to Surat Thani I finally got a bus to Koh Sok national park. No building is allowed inside thepark and so a number of huts have set themselves up on the fringe some 100m from the park entrance. I checked myself into a place known as the Jungle Huts, hastily thrown together shelters made entirely of bamboo right at the edge of the jungle. "A mosquito net and a hole in the floor come at no extra charge" i was told. Thanks. Tired from the journey but eager to explore i walked to the entrance and bought my three day pass.

Koh Sok park is vast, in incompasses lakes, mountains and huge areas of wild jungle. A sketch map from the visitor center points out some of the sights worth seeing within close proximity of the entrance, theoretically all within a days walk. With plenty of water in my day sack and map in hand I set off on the train marked #5,an 8km round trip to a waterfall which i predicted would take me2-3 hours. 2km into the walk with not a soul in sight the man made dirt track stopped and was replaced by what i can only describe as dense jungle. Using the compass on my watch, the map and the river as a guide I kept going.

What followed was some of the toughest walking and climbing i have ever encountered in my years of walking, enjoyable but excruitiatingle hard work, this was not Grisedale forest, nor was it 'Jungle for Tourists', it was the real thing, thick jungle, no footpaths. The river my only physical guide. It had taken me one and a half hours to cover 3km and i personally thought i was doing pretty well. Aware from the outset the last 1km would entail walking directly down a river, waste deep, i kept walking until reaching the riverbank.

Upon reaching the river it was immediately clear that it was not what i had expected, the water was moving fast and looked a lot deeper than waste level, this is the way the trail was sending you. It would have been to dangerous to continue with professional supervision, so i decided to cut my losses and give up, id also not seen a single person since setting off. This was very disappointing considering I had spent half the day getting there and was probably only some 700m from the falls, but the dangers were obvious. I took a short break and begrudgingly began the 2-3 hour walk back to my hut. Once back i nursed my blisters and flipper burns, none of which had begun to heal, and went to bed. An enjoyable but frustrating day.

DAY 2

Annoyed from yesterday, i through on my sandals (first mistake) and set off back to the park (second mistake) to try a different trail (third mistake). I chose #8, a 6km round trip. Shorter than yesterday but with half a dozen shallow river crossings. This time the terrain was immediately difficult, very difficult. Despite years of mountain walking nothing you for the jungle, physically or mentally. The humidity is unbearable and the lack of knowledge with reagards to plant and aimal life very intimidating, this is not to say that it is not enjoyably, there is a facinaitingly rich array of insects, plants and birds.

After one hour i came to my first river crossing. Now this is where it starts to get a bit nasty. The river was not deep, 30cm or so and very calm, so i happily strolled through. Reaching down to remove stones from my feet i noticed that 3 leeches had attached themselves to the top of my left foot.

Leeches are strange creatures. They start off being about 2-3mm wide and 1-2cm long. They move like a slinky spring hoping down a set of stairs and are slug like in appearance. As they suck blood they slowly expand there body size over 10 times untill they naturally drop off. Believe me, psychologically this is not an option. I tried to pull them off over the course of several minutes with no success. There slimey body and rapid wiggling maker them virtually impossible to get a grip of.

Not to worried but slightly discusted i racked my head for a solution as they slowly increased in size. I suddenly remembered i scene from a bond film where he had removed them using a lighter. I fetched mine from my bag and held the flame away from my skin and next to the leech. After a couple of seconds it momentarily released its grip and i was able to flick it off. I removed the others in the same way.

Now the problem with leeches is the way they bite. They cause no pain atall. This is a bad thing as you could have any umber on your body and never know. The second problem is that when they do they release a chemical that prevents the blood from clotting, this results in heavy bleeding for anything up to 30mins.

I took a break, took a photo, and kept going.

Similar problems at the second and third crossings, a coulple round my feet and ankles. Again i removed them and kept going. The fourth crossing was slighly different, the river was a little deeper and much wider. I began to sprint as fast as i could, soaking myself but in the hope of recieving less leeches, this was not the case on quite a serious level.

I looked down to find some 20-30 or so had attached themselfes to my feet, toes and ankles, others where climbing my sandles and legs. Frightened and very distressed i whipped of sandles and rumeged for my lighter. Leeches were attached to my unhealed cuts and blisters, some where climbing inside the cuts and under the skin. I sat there for some 15 mins removing them before they started to draw too much blood. If you catch them early the bleeding is not so bad, more than a minute or two and they will bleed heavily. Ten or so came off very quickly, others wernt so easy. I obviously prioritized removing the ones inside wounds, these were painful and upset me greatly. Later turning to the others.

Job done i found somewhere dry to sit. Obviously I was not going to continue. My feet already bad when i set off now looked like something from a horror film. Luckily i had a plastic bag in my daysack. I tied it round my worst foot and ran back across a fifferent part of the river. I was probablly again only some 800m from my destination but physically could not have continued.

Several things went through my head. Firstly how could so many attach in such a short stretch of water, i was only in the river little over a minute. Secondly, why was there absolutely no warning, not on the map, not when i bough my ticket, nowhere. Focussing on getting back to my hut i slowly began to limp back. Always having to remove leeches at each river, but never as bad as the fourth crossing.

Tired, upset and about 1km form the entrance i saw several monkeys with huge white eyes only feet away, the sound of which i had heard for most of the walk. They were probably gibbons. This for me nearly made the trip worth while. I finally got back to my hut and treated my feet. I used my entire first aid kit one and an english couple kindly helped with the other. I wont be using the last day of my national park ticket and feel quite angry at the lack of warnings, for both the difficulty of terrain and the leeches. The next few days i will rest. All my feet are nicely bandaged up and should be ok pretty soon. Then, i'll head back to Bangkok and sort out my VISA's. Despite the horror stories i did have a good time, but im just not cut out for this jungle shit.

That was all a couple of days ago and im now back in Bangkok, my feet are getting better and i feel a lot more relaxed. Today is gonna be pretty dull while i do paperwork etc. Anyway here are those photos.

The Good (Chilling on Ko Tao)

The Bad ( Night train to Surat Thani)

The Ugly ( Removing leeches at the first crossing)