I wanted to go to Lake Cheo Lan for quite some time and I finally succeeded. The place is tourist, but worth it to at least once look at it with my own eyes. Looking ahead, I want to clarify that beauty is not entirely natural, but still man-made, but it does not spoil the impression of this attraction, especially if you do not know about it, then I myself can not guess. Even more I say, for me, so Cheo Lan – this one of the most unusual and interesting sights in Thailand, must see. And it is not necessary to go there overnight, enough one day tour. Okay, first things first.
The content of the article
- 1 Excursion to the lake Cheo Lan
- 1.1 Preface
- 1.2 Boat ride on the lake
- 1.3 Dinner at the rafthouse
- 1.4 Jungle and a cave with a river inside
- 2 Information to visit
- 3 On the map
Contents
Excursion to the lake Cheo Lan
Foreword
I had a trip quite by accident, but most of all I love these spontaneous trips. I needed to drive with Phuket to Bangkok by car, and it would be surprising if I missed such a chance to call on Khao Sok National Park and Lake Cheo Lan. Under the link you will find detailed information about what is ways to visit the park and the lake.
I am ashamed to confess, but before this trip, I could not remember what exactly is called nat park, kao sak or kao lac 
Now when I visited both there and there, then, of course, everything in my head fell into place. So, if you go to the lake, then think more about combining the trip with a visit to the jungle nat park and a pleasant quiet resort of Khao Lak with excellent beaches.
Initially, I was going to spend the night on the lake. Imagine you turns out to be abandoned somewhere in the middle of mountains and kilometers of water, above you shine a starry sky, no electricity, no internet, and only wild beasts walk along the shore and birds hoot in the dark. Romance! But, to fully savor the pleasure of voluntary solitude and disconnecting from the outside world, including the virtual one, is needed certain mood. I also wanted to move, work, but not relaxation and loneliness for the whole day, but I was driving alone. Therefore, it was decided to stay longer in Khao Lak, and only go to the lake day trip.
By boat on the lake
Having spent the night in a bungalow on a tree 5 meters from the ground, in the morning I poisoned in tour, bought in the same hotel. Since I was on my own car, then just followed the minibus with the rest of the tourists from the hotel to the lake (about 70 km). Parked the car on the dock, joining the group and paying an additional bribe for visiting the national Park (the lake is located on its territory), we boarded the boat (longtail) and floated to the scenery from the movie Avatar.
True! The mountains sticking out of the water, slightly endure the brain, you you forget that you are on earth. If it were not for the noise of the boat, then it would be possible to fantasize that you fly on a dragon over the surface water. Rocks, though not very high, to hold a full parallel with the film, but still similar. You know, after such beautiful and amazing places somehow you don’t want to go and watch some 10 meter under-waterfall in Phuket. Check it out Photo.
Jetty on the lake Cheo Lan, from which all boats start
At the very beginning the lake is quite ordinary.
But gradually we were approaching the gate to the lost world.
Only the tops of the mountains stick out of the water, because the dam is 100 meters
Lake Cheo Lan
The deeper, the more beautiful
I really like these rocks-mountains
These 3 rocks are the symbol of Khao Sok National Park
Sailing past them
Here is how the rocks look near
Here is how the rocks look near
Cheow Lan Lake
It’s amazing to me how trees have survived in 30 years.
Unfortunately, if you take a tour, then in the boat, besides you, there will be another 10 people who will certainly interfere normally take pictures. The fact is that on the move in the boat especially you will not get up and I was always hampered by someone’s head. Therefore, if you drive clean with photographic purposes, it makes sense to take an individual boat excursion. Then you can stop at any time and Capture here or another rock from all angles.
I almost forgot to tell you that the lake is artificial, then There is a Cheo Lan, in fact, not a lake, but a reservoir. In 1982 by order the king built a dam Ratchaprapha, but flooded a huge territory (165 sq km) in the break of karst mountains. What came of it You could already see in the photos above, but I recommend to do it. live
On the way back we came under the rain. Not very nice feeling you are going to meet the wind and rain rock the boat, you become wet and freeze, despite 30 degrees behind overboard. The most important thing is that at such a moment the screw does not break, we, too, happened just once, when sailed in that direction. But you can don’t worry about getting stuck, the boats are constantly scurrying around, someone will help, and Thais usually have spare parts in reserve.
Our boatman
It starts to rain, the wind rises
Dinner at the rafthouse
It’s great that the tour includes lunch at a rafthouse, these are houses on the water near the main floating structure, in which there is a cafe. And housing can be seen, it looks interesting for the future, and a snack will not be superfluous, especially since they are fed freshly caught fish from the same lake.
Rafthouse on Lake Cheo Lan
Lake Cheo Bungalow
Here is the interior
But the staff lives on the lake
In the cafe viewing window in the floor
If you feed the fish, they turn into it
Our lunch at the rafthouse
Jungle and cave with river inside
After lunch we went for a walk in the jungle, in that part of them, where is the cave of Nam TaLu Cave. You could call this trekking event, but still it’s more of a walk. Track trodden along, meet the same groups, but in general, if you never been to the jungle, it will be interesting. And most importantly – not the jungle, but the cave itself, I have a little bit of impressions left of it Do not more than from Cheow Lan Lake. Not every day have to walk through the cave with a flashlight and knee-deep (and sometimes neck) in water, but surrounded by bats. The conductor kept joking that we get lost and stuff like that. Funny was the moment when we all stopped, turned off the flashlights and, peering into the darkness, just listened to the silence around. How often does a modern person have such an opportunity?
Photos from there did not work, you can say, my flashlight was too weak, the group went quickly, I did not have time to find a place for camera, where it could be put on the type of tripod, and Normally set the settings.
Warning at the entrance to the jungle, the caves are filled with water, dangerously
Footpath in the jungle, around the bamboo
Stone corridor
Twisted creepers
Representative of the local fauna
And as always, here are the trees
We got to the cave in 1.5 hours
Near the entrance more or less something is visible
And then only in the light of lanterns and looking down
There is a spider on the wall.
And on the ceiling bats
Here they are hanging in clusters
The only normal photo of the cave
On a belt you enter 40 cm wide
There are many caves on the shores of Lake Cheo Lan, and it depends on the excursion, which one will bring you. I really liked ours. Read more there is a cave where you can navigate inside on rafts.
Information to visit
First of all, you need to know that if you go with a group excursion from Phuket, then for the money will come as well as on their own, or even cheaper. Because, for example, do not have to to rent a car and in general everything will be organized. I myself personally most often I drive on my own to cut my day like please, for example, call in different places along the road, spend the night somewhere, etc. (ready for this format to overpay). But if you need to quickly and without problems to see the lake Cheo Lan, then However, it is easier to take a tour.
I was asked more than once, so I am writing here. I recommend good and trusted agency Alfa-Travel, which I myself used in Phuket. You can buy a tour, and in Khao Sok, and on the lake. Write them, see the program on the site, come and pick up straight from the hotel.
+66622100091 (Whatsapp, Viber, Line, Telegram)
Excursion to Khao Sok →
The cost of a day trip on the lake Cheo Lan, which you can buy at a hotel near Khao Sok (as I bought) – 1500 baht. In price pokatushki on the boat round-trip, lunch at the rafthouse, and 3 hour walk on the lake. Other tour options, including directly from the pier, see in the information post about Kao The juice. Excursions directly from Phuket are very similar.
Entrance to Khao Sok National Park is 300 baht. If you buy a ticket when you visit the land part of the park (from where The tour usually starts), then you can go through it during the day and to the lake. But IMHO combine in one day is very difficult, and not need to.
If you go from the hotel to the national park of Khao Sok, then the mini-bus leaves it is somewhere around 8 am, and returns back to 5-6 evenings
Hotels are best to look through RoomGuru (here’s a direct link on hotels Khao Sok), and book where it will be cheaper. Because Nat Park is not a seaside resort, then there are not so many hotels there many, and that the aggregator is good, at once all the bases will pass. I lived here in this hotel.
On the map
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Choosing insurance is now unrealistically difficult, therefore, to help everyone travelers, I make a rating. To do this, constantly monitor forums, I study insurance contracts and use insurance by myself.
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