Showing posts with label hot springs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot springs. Show all posts

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Khuan Kaeng Hot springs in Trang

On this sunday I decided to explore the hot water spring of Trang in Khuan Keang. To get there you drive to the Pak Meng beach and continue along the beach southwards towards Kantang. The road is narrow but beautifully lined by tropical pines. A few resorts line the road and after 10k's or so you will reach the Chao Mai beach nature reserve. After another 24km you will reach the hot water spring. The area is like any other Thai tourist attraction and first you come to a large parking lot.

The entry is free and voluntary guides will show you around. The developed premise is quite small, 3 big open air ponds with different degrees of hot water and the surrounding forests are also designated as nature reserve. The hottest is 70deg and I suppose it is hot enough to boil eggs although the guide told me it is not allowed to try out (I did not have any eggs with me either). The bottom of the 70deg pond looked like a moon scape with sharp and soft lime pillars formed in it with color ranging from white to dark green. The water was so hot that one could only dip the fingers and hand in there. I suppose if you'd be crazy enough one could manage a quick dip.

The 70deg C pond

Further on the water ran the cooler it got and after the 70 deg pond there was a 40 deg pond and there one could sit and dip arthritic legs in te hot water. It took some getting used tot the temperature before I got myself into the water up to my knees. The cooler end of the pond had kids aged 6-7 yrs bathing fully while the edges were lined by people dipping their feet and calves.


Nong Fon dipping her feet

Further there was an elevated walkway that went into the jungle, mostly one could see the volcanic soil with hot water and gnarled trees and plants. At some places the walkway rails had deteriorated badly and it was not such a big rush walking through it.

The elevated jungle walkway

As the last attraction was that there were bathhouses which could be rented by a voluntary sum of money, I rented one for 100THB. Some of the houses had the roof caved in and daylight came so there was no need for extra lighting. The bath was a small round concrete thing lined with mosaic tiles where one could sit on a ledge on the side and put the legs in the middle, it could be filled by 30 or 40 deg water. On the side there was a shower. It was nice to sit and enjoy the water and just sweat out the impurities, just like in a sauna.

After softening up in the hot water I went and took a foot massage and the old ladies there really knew how to knead ones feet.

Foot massage

All in all a nice visit but the place is in dire need of a facelift before somebody has an injury with a falling roof tile or collapsing railing.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hot springs and Sa Morakot pools

This weekend I took Saini and Kalpana to Trang province and we visited the Klong Thom Hot Springs where one could sit in naturally formed cauldrons of ca 40°C hot water running down from a stream out of the jungle. According to a posted water analysis it did not contain much of any minerals at all and in fact the sulphurous smell that one usually gets was virtually not existing.

While sitting in the water I actually overheard a Bangkokian tourist asking another guy “Where do they boil all this hot water?”…

Enjoying all the boiled water...

A sign proclaimed “30minutes for good health”, there was also traditional massage stalls where one could further enhance the relaxation of a hot bath but we would have none of it as we continued onward to the ”Emerald pool” or Sa Morakot in Thai.

Up the stream

The “Emerald pool” or at some places it was written “Crystal Pool” brought up a vision of a pool full of crystals or something like that but when we arrived I saw I had my visions all wrong. It was a round pool filled with clear water that by the reflection of the greenery close by turned the water emerald color to the eye. A very picturesque scenery and there was quite a few tourists splashing around in the water.

On the way to the blue pool

The water ran from the jungle into the pool continuously, hence the water was not murky. Soon enough we wanted to go and find out where the water was coming from and we started walking along the stream that was filling the pool. We arrived to an arid area that was just like a wasteland bordering the jungle and water was running in small streams all over. The bare grey matter was just lime. Above the lime hill there was a small pool that was named “Ascetics pool” and a small “sala” had been erected beside the pool with 2 ascetic statues inside, if one wanted to do some meditation.

We continued forward on a wooden board walk deeper into the jungle and soon we were passing huge rainforest trees with enormous trunks. We took some nice snapshots of each other between the large roots and after awhile we came onto a trodden path and some signs pointing to the “Blue pool”. We ventured further until we arrived to the “Blue pool”.

The "Blue pool"

It was in the middle of the jungle, no sound around except of us and the birds. The pool was absolutely blue. Me and Saini plunged in and swam around the pool and found out it was almost 5 meters deep in the centre although it did not look like that. The water was so clear that the sense of depth could not be ascertained. The bottom was of powdery white sand so fine that if one took a handful it was washed out when you reached the surface. Small bubbles was constantly rising up to the surface and I suspect it was either methane from rotting jungle or sulphuric gases from volcanic activity. The smell was there alright. The blue color to the pool came from the depth of the water. I only missed any Elves that would come dancing out from the jungle riding unicorns, otherwise the whole scenery was very much from the imagination fo Tolkien. We were lucky we got the whole pool for ourselves the time we stayed there as on the way back we met scores of teenagers heading the way we were coming from.

Once back at the Emerald Pool it was time to walk back the 2 km to the car and head back to our lodgings. Not a bad way to spend a day, entrance cost for foreigners 200 THB/ head. The park had imposed a ban on bringing in foods too, hence all surroundings were quite clear of rubbish (same as at the Klong Thom Hot Springs).

Sunday morning Saini wanted to see the La Khaokob cave as Richard and Jyothi had bragged about it so said and done I took him and Kalpu there and they emerged exhilirated abt 40minutes later from the bowels of the Dragon. Then it was tme to head back for Phuket and to visit Kargo to see the F1 rally at Silverstone. Unfortunately Force India did not score any points on this rally either but it was the best performance from Fisichella during this season.