Thailand forum

hi

All the guesthouses offer tours including the rafthouse overnight stay - most probably all the same crew. I would wait until I got to Khao Sok before booking anything.

Regards

Marian

I drove there in a 4WD which proved quite useful as it was pretty wet. (It IS rain forest!).
Unfortunately I haven't got the address of where we stayed to hand. But I would recommend a night walk if they do one at your chosen guesthouse

hey rocket,

the christmas and new years holiday is a very busy time in thailand. things can get booked out, so you'd do well to book your accommodation and transportation ahead of time if you know where you plan to be.

i can't say if art's riverview has good mossie nets or not, but if spiders are a big issue for you, you might want to purchase your own mossie net and carry it with you. that way you'll be properly protected at art's and anywhere else you happen to stay on your holiday. take care.

Rocket Girl, i've never been in Thailand (will be there in 10 days) but while surfing the net i've found this places in Khao Sok, maybe it's the sort of places you wanted?
http://www.paddleasia.com/khao-sok-bungalows.htm
http://www.paddleasia.com/khao-sok-river-bungalows.htm

i'd love to go on the treehouse one
also its says in Khao Sok they don't have mosquitos!! wonderful news

have a fabulous trip
Raffaela : )

oh yes in every forum there's somebody who's too lazy to make the effort of finding useful informations for others (..."unfortunately I haven't got the address of where we stayed to hand..."),but is very quick to criticize others contributions... you won the prize, this time, khunwilko.
i was just quoting from this site http://www.paddleasia.com/khao-sok-bungalows.htm " Mosquito netting is supplied, though mosquitoes are rare in Khao Sok for some strange reason" I have admitted in the first place i haven' been there so - instead of talking about "porkies"- why don't you give us your experience? Did you find lots of mosquitos in the park? what season ? where exactly? this way you could be useful, not just plain negative....

Furthermore I have work to do and if you think I'm running around because some idiot like you is incapable of telling the difference between competent research and an advert.....etc etc.....

now rearrange these words into a well known phrase or saying......blow arse go it of out your

You are right Somtan, i'll definitely end it here, there's not much to add, i think.
thanks : )

Raffaela

Rocketgirl, this is the one Karyn was talking about (Art's place), without the tour.
http://krabidir.com/artsriverviewlodge/index.htm
i'll tell you about mosquitos when back ; )

Rocketgirl,

If staying at Arts request Treehouse A B or C - they are the best ones in the nicest area... our first night we were in D and it was shocking... we were then moved to I think it was A or B and it was a totally different ballgame!!

We booked all ours through Kris at www.limestonelaketours.com and found the price really competitive to what we could do ourselves... however if you book into Arts you can arrange the floating rafthouses yourself through there...

I would look at Kris' prices first though... you can see our blog on Khao Sok at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/reet - I think the blog is on Page 2

Reet x

If you want to get to Khao Sok’s floating rafts on the lake by yourself without booking a tour, here’s how we did it.
First, you can catch a Phuket-bound bus if coming from Surattani, or a Surattani-bound bus if coming from Phuket/Khao Lak. You can take the public bus, which shouldn’t cost more than 140 baht per person. You either buy a ticket at the bus station or pay onboard. Tell the ticket person on the bus that you want to go to Ratchaprapha Dam. They will stop right at the entrance to the road that leads to the dam/pier. Now the trick is to find someone who will take you right to the pier; ideally, that would be a taxi of some sort. However, since you will be dropped off in a village/little town, we didn’t see any taxis other than motorbike taxis. If you have a large backpack with you, that might not be convenient. We asked around and found someone who took us there on his pickup and charged 500 for 4 people.
Once you arrive at the pier, you will need to purchase a ticket to enter the National Park (for 200 baht). Then most likely you will be approached by representatives of various raft houses on the lake and offer you to stay with them. There are about a dozen different places, some of the names are: Putawan, Ha Roi Rat, Chiaw Lan, Nang Prai, Tone Toey, Krai Sorn. As far as we understand, they all charge the same – 2,000 baht for boat transfer both ways, and 600 baht per person per night including 3 meals a day. We stayed at Putawan raft house, they have newer huts that cost 1,000 baht per person. We stayed in one of the older huts and paid 600 per person. The meals were great, they always served a lot of food and bottled water with each meal. Additional drinks (such as pop and beer)/meals are extra. Putawan is the very first raft house, closest to the dam at about 30 minutes travel by boat. Service was great and we enjoyed our stay very much. Their site is http://www.putawanrafthouse.com. You can call them right from the pier and they will send a boat for you. Included in the boat transfer were night and morning safaris. They also helped us arrange minivan transfer back to Surattani.
I hope this helps to anyone looking to just stay on the beautiful lake and not do the tour offered by tour companies. Please ask me questions if you have any. Enjoy!

Another query regarding transport:

From Khao Sok:
Has anyone travelled from Khao Sok National Park to Bangkok? what is the easiest and safest tour? Are there overnight trains/coaches and are they clean and safe?

To Khao Sok:
Has anyone travelled directly from Phuket Chalong Pier to Khao Sok National Park?
Can I ask you Bananushka is any of your group spoke Thai? How did you manage to get a ride from the dam area to the pier?

Khao Sok National Park

Ok....are we crazy attempting to go the KSNP in August 2013? Leeches Snakes Mud.....any comments from those who have been in the month of August? We will be down South and if we don't go there where else would be good to go at this time. We also have 8 days at East Railay.

Khao Sok park is very big in size. It is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand. In this park you can get guesthouse facility for living. Just go on to Khao Sok park's official website and book you room.