Art's Riverview Jungle Lodge Phangnga

Around 6:30am we arrived in Surat Thani and had Pad Thai for breakfast in good Thai fashion. Although the train swaying along the tracks was relaxing, unfortunately the top bunk was not a good choice, so I'm hoping I'll get a better sleep tonight. There's bed curtains on the train, but the top ones don't reach the ceiling and there's fully bright lights glaring down at you all night... lucky I had one of those eye masks! The aircon vent by the bunk was oh so cold as well and since we'd had to...

Apparently we were walking the wrong way to get off the platform at Surat Thani. It was probably a scam, but hey, at 6:15am you're not really keen to be leading the way. People holding signs were shouting and gesturing for us to go the other way - so we did - along with all the other backpackers. We went to a man holding a sign that said Khao Sok on it and were guided to a table with a breakfast menu duly plonked in front of us. Our bus wasn't due to depart until 7am so we settled on some toa...

Hey guys! We've just spent four amazing days hiking in the Jungle at the National Park. We did a 15km hike(I've got the blisters to prove it..owwy..haha) up to a waterfall and swimming hole. It was soo beautiful. I can't even describe it. I loved the jungle. Everything seemed to be magnified. The bugs were huge!!! At night we saw fireflies (it was the first time I had ever seen a real firefly, AMAZING!) We stayed at Art's Lodge. Cute little chalets and tree forts done up like you see in Tarza...

Wednesday 18th January 2006 Woke up around 6.30am and got ourselves ready for the bus to pick us up at 7am to Khao Sok National Park. It only turned out to be a minibus there and only had a few passengers on it, so was quite a comfortable ride for once. We didn't have anywhere booked to stay, but heard from a lady on the bus that Art's Riverview Lodge was good, so we decided to go there first. The minibus dropped us off at the entrance to the National Park, so we had to walk 1.5 km to get to ...

Soooo... Have not updated in awhile. It's hard to think back to everything I've been doing! Have basically been in Chiang Mai and the north a week and a half now... Hung out a bunch in Chiang Mai, walked around, went to the night markets, took a great cooking class at an organic farm. Learned how to make pad thai, papaya salad, spring rolls, chicken with basil, and green curry -- I'm excited to cook when I get home! What else... I got to kayak! Probably the highlight of my trip so far. I went...

So, after the kayaking trip came back to Chiang Mai for a night, then went up to Pai and Soppong with some Texas guys I met kayaking. Had an eventful ride up to Pai (our minibus broke down) and 10 of us had to hitch the rest of the way in the back of a pickup! Pai was pretty cool...kind of a hippyish town with lots of foreigners, but it could be a nice place to chill out for a few days. We had a really cool teak bungalow right on the river that had a great view. Basically spent the afternoon ...

Thursday, February 01, 2007



Rainforest
Current mood: happy

I just turned up at Arts Riverview Lodge, it is absolutely beautiful. I am so happy to be here. It is deep in rainforest- peaceful, cool and relaxing. The food is cheap and good, the rooms are modern and comfortable and they have flushing toilets and a real shower! There is a lake to swim in and stunning cliffs surrounding. Some of the cottages have a waterfall for a shower (not mine). Its an elaborate '...

We arrived in Khao Sok by minivan and after the usual drop-off-at-a-hotel-away-from-town scam, made our way to Art's Riverview Lodge. Their logo is "the best place for nature lovers" and this turned out to be quite true. The Lodge was at the very end of a narrow lane leading away from the main road to the Khao Sok National Park entrance. The main building of the lodge is set on the edge of a river and faces a huge tree-covered karst cliff. Spaced apart and set amidst jungle are a group of woo...