Chiew lan lake

I thought I had seen the most beautiful place on earth yesterday and then I got to chiew larn lake (I have seen a mlion different spellings so I'm just goin with it). Crystal blue waters lapping at towering limestone cliffs. Thick jungle scales the jagged rocks and skeletal trees rise up from the waters near shore. The oldest living rainforest on earth and it did not disappoint. It truly has the feeling of being u touched by human hands. As our long tail careened across the placid turquoise waters I realize we were the only boat on the vast lake. As far as you could see just water and dense jungle. I stated the whole 45 minute ride in awe, a huge smile plastered across my face. Arriving at the floating raft houses I realized just the ride out was worth all the baht in my travel pack wallet.

The day was filled with swimming, kayaking and relaxing. Explorations of a few of the thousands of small islands saw monkeys crawling up bamboo shoots and coming down to the waters edge to drink and we casually paddled by.

We explored jungle trails and caves and even ate our dinner on a bamboo raft floating on the lake as the sun turned the clouds pink and the darkness brought the jungle to life in a symphony of screeching insects. The highlight of the trip was the swim at the monk rock where we climbed up the rock walls of the nearest islands and jumped off into the 30m deep fresh waters below. The warm water flowed into sparkling caves that we could swim into ad explore. It was perfection. Khao sok is the kind of place that makes you happy to be alive, it reassures you that there is still true, untouched beauty in the world