I can't believe that I managed to live less than 2 hours from this place and in over a decade never went to it until recently.
the view from the top in the welcome center
Perhaps you are familiar with Khao Sok, the 2nd largest national park in all of Thailand. Well, Cheow Lan Lake is part of that and in my opinion the best part. I think i feel that way because most of the other features of the national park involve several hours of walking and hiking in tropical heat whereas this involves paying $60 or so for a boat that could easily have had 20 people on it (there were only 3 of us.)
This is a man made lake, and it is absolutely stunning.
The water is crystal-clear and of course it is fresh water, which i much prefer over ocean water. It is also very closely protected by the park police so there is no pollution or even litter anywhere to be seen - which trust me, is a very unfortunate aspect of most of the "unprotected" parts of Thailand.
The water is very cool and also a little bit eerie, and I'll tell you why: Since these are actually mountains or karsts, there is no gradual shoreline in most places. So if you tie your boat off on the side somewhere to go for a swim, it immediately shoots down hundreds of feet - you are not going to retrieve your sunglasses from the bottom.
oh look, a beach! not really
We went to a floating welcome center where there is a koi farm i think it was where they are hoping to eventually populate the lake with thousands of these fellas as some point . I don't really know what is going on there but since this lake has only existed since 1982, there are no natural fish species for the most part. Speaking of which, what is your favorite kind of seafood? Mine is Alaskan king crab legs - which is all but impossible to get in Thailand. :(
you can eat here if you want to, we didn't
One of the more popular things to do on this lake is to stay at one of the floating bungalows and you have the lake as your personal swimming pool right outside your front door.
these are absurdly expensive so we didn't stay there
this is more in my price range
One of the things to really keep your eyes open for is to spot the Oriental Hornbill. I had never seen a bird like this before and was quite stunned about how big they are. At first i thought it was a medium-size monkey or a pterodactyl. It calmly flew away before i could unlock my phone to take a photo.
i wasn't fast enough, this photo is from the Khao Sok official website, i don't think they would mind
Overall, I would say if you find yourself in Thailand and want to take a break from the beach this should be on your list. It is one of the most awesome things i have seen since moving here and wasn't even that expensive. It is probably even cheaper if you go on a group tour but that's not how I roll.
one last picture and then we'll call it a day:
get your own boat, it makes a load of difference because you can dictate the pace / direction
As always thanks for reading and I welcome your comments