Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

On the 19th of January, Henk and I had a late start to the day. First we headed to the internet café across the street to check e-mail and relax for a little while. Lunch was at Wilai’s again (this place was close and cheap, two things we liked a lot!) We had previously seen a flyer about another hostel in the area and thought about switching, so we went over there to speak with them only to find out that they overbooked our reservation! How rude… Around 4:30 pm, we went to the Phuket Bus Terminal to figure out how to get to our destination for the 20th: Khao Sok National Park. After quite a bit of walking we saw a little shopping center and milled around for a while until we headed to the nearby mall, outside of which we saw some very obvious brothel advertisements... just before 6:00 PM we headed for dinner at The Pizza Company where I munched on an extra cheese mini pizza and Henk opted for the healthier seafood pasta. We then went home to rest up for our long day tomorrow.







The 20th was an extremely special day: it was the day we planned to see the elusive flower Rafflesia! To see it, we had to take a LONG bus ride (we’re talking 4 hours there and 4 hours back!) out to Khao Sok covers an area of over 738 sq km. From the brochure: “… Khao Sok forms part of the largest continuous nature preserve in the Thai peninsula and also the major watershed for the region.” While there are many different nature and waterfall trails in the park, we specifically headed towards a special trail: the Rafflesia trail; an hour long, almost completely uphill, very steep pathway.





Ever since Borneo I’d been extremely excited at the prospect of seeing a glimpse of the largest flower in the world. Named after Sir Stanford Raffles, this flower comes in various sub-species but is usually between 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The flower does not have roots or leaves; rather, it grows on a vine, making it a parasitic flower. Rafflesias are known as the corpse flowers, because while they are still in bloom they begin to rot, attracting flies with the stretch of rotting meat that their rot creates, in the hopes the flies will transport their pollen for them. They first grow from a small bud to a large bud over the course of 9 months.

When it comes time for the flower to bloom (which can happen any time of the year) the petals open in one day. In the following 2 days, it blooms fully, after which the pedals begin to turn black and mushy while starting to rot. The lifespan of the bloomed flower lasts just 5 to 7 days in total. Add this to the fact that the flowers are themselves very rare and it makes it extremely difficult to spot one blooming in ‘real life.’ But we had this opportunity!

The flower we had the chance to see was on day 3 of its blooming, still fully bloomed to its 3 feet diameter and just starting to rot. Henk and I followed our guide up the path, stopping to take in the full view. Once we reached the flower, we were surprised to discover our guide encouraged us to touch it! I guess it makes sense, since the whole thing will be dead in a few days anyways. I ran my hand along the “petals” of the flower – they were soft yet bumpy and the flower itself felt interestingly “fleshy.” Next I touched the inside… there were this little soft and flexible “needles” in the center of the flower that would squish down a little, and again had a slightly fleshy feeling.















After inspecting the flower, Henk and I posed for a 20 minute long “photoshoot” with the Rafflesia – hey, after all that work to get up to it, we wanted to insure we would have some fantastic pictures! Finally, we followed our guide back down the trail. Other than the flower, we didn’t see a ton of notable wildlife on the path we followed. However, towards the end of the trail, we spotted… something! To me, it looked like a small black bear or a cat up in the tree. Henk thought it resembled a large squirrel more. We just knew it was black and fluffy-looking, with a large, long tail. When we arrived back in the park headquarters, we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the information area to try and figure it out. There were tons of posters on the walls listed names and photos of the animals in the park area. We saw a picture of this medium-sized cat looking creature that also kinda resembled a squirrel – this is probably it! It is called the binturong or “bearcat” and it lives in the forest canopy areas of South-East Asia; it averages a length of 20 inches and a weight of 25 lbs. One strange fact: The binturong’s anal glands let out a scent that is akin to warm buttered popcorn or cornbread. Weird!













After our park visit, we had a 4 hour bus ride back to Phuket Town. When we finally got a lift out to the bus stop (everyone was trying to overcharge us to take us there!) we began our wait for the “mysterious” bus. No one knew if it had already come, when it was coming, or pretty much anything! On the bus ride back, Henk and I chatted with another couple who were going to Phuket Town after spending time in the park staying in an interesting-sounding little house on stilts in the water. You could walk right outside and jump straight into the water! We’ll have to remember that for next time.



As we continued our conversation with them, they began to tell us about an offer they got from a local and a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok to take them around to some sights. They had been told there were special government gas coupons given to drivers if they stop at various shops – such as gem stores and suit shops. Ding ding ding! The alarm bells immediately starting going off in my head… they had walked right into one of the famous Bangkok scams detailed in the Lonely Planet! I breathed a sigh of relief when they said they didn’t purchase anything... they were satisfied with getting a cheap tuk-tuk for the day in exchange for a little extra hassle. But still! They believed the government coupon lie, so I hope they are wearier next time!

Once we directed them to a good hostel, we walked back to ours with another new friend who wanted to see if our place had anything available for him. They didn’t, so we pointed out a hostel up the road which might. My, how we have become the Phuket Town experts! Henk ran out to get us some dinner from The Pizza Company after that since I was exhausted from… well, everything that day. We decided to sleep in for sure the next day and just have some relaxation time to do nothing and catch up on our sleep. Especially since our next plan was for the famous Phi Phi Island and we wanted to be well-rested for that adventure!

As promised, we rested the day of the 21st. The only thing we had scheduled was that we had to pick up my contacts from a store we visited earlier in the week. For dinner, I had a hot dog and Henk a fish dish that wasn’t the tastiest. After that we went to a little café called Bo(ok)hemia across the street that had yummy cakes and other snacks, but I was too tired to stay there long – plus the next day was set to be another long one.



On the 22nd we were picked up early to grab the boat out to Phi Phi Island. While we considered staying on Phi Phi, there was no real budget accommodation there, and we didn’t really feel like staying too long in Phuket anyways. Thus a day trip there was the answer. We got a really great deal through our hostel for 40% off one of the tours. But let’s just say, it would have been nice to have been able to afford splurging a bit more. The boat was jam-packed with people. Luckily, Henk and I scored some private and spacious seats to ourselves so it wasn’t too bad. The views on the other hand were amazing. Huge nature-covered “boulders” and rock-lumps scattered throughout the clear waters. We could see the reefs just beneath the surface of the water.





At 20 minutes after 10 AM, we arrived at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Don – the famous area from the film “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. We the abundance of boats and people there, it was a bit difficult to imagine the area as a serene little cove. But we tried to picture it as we walked around on the beach. 40 minutes later we were in our boat around the other side of the bay, ready to jump in the water for some quick snorkeling. I have to admit compared to Bali the snorkeling is just not as good in Phuket. There wasn’t much to see except for a bunch of fish that gathered around the boat to eat breadcrumbs being thrown down at them. Henk did manage to spot a few fish that he said were different from the ones we’d seen before, but I still wasn’t convinced the snorkeling was worth it.











Next the boat moved on to viewing Viking Cave. There are paintings in the cave which resemble Viking boats, which gives the cave its name. This cave is right at sea level and has the nest of swallows (swallow eggs are rare and valuable) in it, therefore it is protected and we weren’t allowed to stop or go in. After the cave, it was time for our guides to start cutting up fruit. A stop on Phi Phi Don’s Monkey Beach was next! This little beach is covered with macaques, but they were so overfed that they had little interest in the food we brought them. Henk started eating some of the monkey’s watermelon – we were both looking forward to lunch.





Lunch was a rather unimpressive buffet which we ate quickly, using the extra time we had to try and explore the island. However, since it is mostly resorts there wasn’t much to see besides the scenery and abundance of people. Our last stop was on the company’s home island for some real snorkeling time. Here the snorkeling was a bit better – still no Bali, but there were quite a lot of colorful fish. We even snorkeled into a secluded cove and found a cool cave, but the tide looked a bit harsh for us to venture inside. On our way back however, we turned and both spotted a medium-sized, pointed snouted reptile sitting on a rock, which quickly slid into the water swimming away as we looked towards it. Was it a lace monitor? We’re not sure what it could have been…





Anyways, we were quite done with the day after that. We lounged in our beach chairs until the boat took us back to Phuket, and the car took us back home to the hostel. Another day in the sun gone!

Francesca