#i also began watching it when it dropped but then it got late and koh showed up so i stopped

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

okay i finally finished watching natla some hours ago and i didn't hate it

[iwillbeinmynest]

The Next Move - Bucky x Reader(f)

Authors Notes: So this takes place between episode three and four of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It deters from cannon a little but I tried to bring it back. Also this isn’t a romantic pairing... at least, not yet.

Word Count: 1.8 K

Notes/Warnings: Attitude and Sass. Mentions of nightmares and dream violence, drinking. I don't think there are any show spoilers in here but I’ll tag it with spoiler tags just in case.

Masterlist

Sharron pulled up to the country Italian home. She parked in the driveway and paused before looking to the three men in her car. “She’s not going to be happy we are here and she’s really not going to be happy when she sees it’s you guys so, maybe don’t talk.” Sharron unfastened her seatbelt and swiftly got out of the car.

They looked at each other before following her up to the quaint little house.

Bucky noticed how Sharron was smiling and looking way too casual.

As if she read his mind she looked back at him, Sam and Zemo and said, in an erie sing-song voice. “Look like you're happy to be here.”

Zemo smiled immediately and Bucky wished he hadn’t seen it. Smiling Zemo was creepy.

Still, he fixed his expression from cautious to pleasant and nodded to Sam who grinned back at him.

This was ridiculous.

Sharron rapped her knuckles five times on the wood frame of the screen door.

“Solo minuto!” A voice from inside the house called in Italian.

They could hear footsteps heading towards the door.

A girl appeared into the hallway holding a bowl and spoon, she hadn’t looked at her front porch yet but froze mid bite when she did.

She locked eyes with Sharron and let her spoon clank back into the bowl. Her jaw tightened as she shook her head and began to turn around.

Sharron knocked again, “Wait, Y/N, please! This is important. I’m calling in a favor.”

Y/N stopped and let her shoulders drop with an exhale. “You only have one left. You sure you wanna use it?”

“I’m sure.”

Y/N straightened her spine and made her way to the door. She unlocked it and held an arm out, gesturing for them to all come in. When she closed the screen door she also closed and locked the front door, making the hallway dark. She pushed past all of them and headed for the living room.

When she made it to the drink cart she turned on Sharron. “ I have two rules Sharron. Two!” She opened a decanter of amber liquid and poured herself a tall glass. “You broke them both and you brought him with you. Of all people, Sharron!”

None of the three men knew who she was referring to.

Sharron nodded. “I know. And you know that I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t important.”

“And why deliver them yourself, huh? You’re doing pretty well out in Madripoor, I hear so why leave?” She finally took a drink.

“Y/N, please if you’d just let me explain-”

 Y/N hissed at the sting of the liquor. “I have to move now! I finally have a good client base here and a house I’m actually comfortable in and now I have to leave. Why? Because you broke rule number two.”

Sam leaned into Bucky, “Wonder what the rules are.” He mumbled.

“The rules” She cut in, “Are that one: you call me first. I don’t really do drop in’s. And two: you don’t show up in the daytime.”

Sam nodded. Yeah, they’d broken those rules. “Look, I don’t know who you are but-”

“I know you don’t but the real question is do either of you?” Y/N crossed her arms and looked between Bucky and Zemo.

Suddenly, Bucky realized that she looked familiar but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t place her face.

Zemo took in a breath of subtle epiphany, “Y/N. Y/N Ross, right?”

Y/N’s face soured but she nodded.

Zemo turned to Bucky. “She’s the one who let the two of us meet for the first time.”

He still didn’t recognize her.

“I did my job. You tricked everyone in the building.” She argued.

“This is true.” He nodded with no signs of remorse.

Y/N looked to Bucky then to Sharron. “Why are you here?”

Sharron explained everything. Looking for the serum, finding the doctor before running for their lives, the Power Broker, the Flag-Smashers, all of it. “They need the next move and I don’t have it.” Sharron finished.

By now everyone had settled into a chair or onto one of the couches.

“The next move being?” She nudged the conversation forward.

“We need to get in contact with Karli.” Sam spoke up.

“I don’t have a way to contact her. I don’t deal with people like that.” Y/N said plainly.

“You have contact with people much worse than her.” Bucky guessed. “Which means someone you know has contact with her.”

Y/N studied Bucky for a moment while she decided how to respond.

Sharron cut in before Y/N had the chance to start another argument, “You know a lot of people, Y/N. Surely someone can get them to her.”

Y/N looked at Sharron for the millionth time. “You’re really willing to stick your neck out for these guys, huh?’

Sharron nodded.

Y/N finally relented and sighed.

The trio visibly relaxed. She was going to help.

“How long do you need to stay here?”

“As long as you can give us.” Sharron said.

“Three days. I’ll have to be gone after that.”

“Three days then.” Sam agreed for everyone.

           *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Y/n sat in her desk chair in front of half a dozen computer monitors and holographic screens. She sat and worked there for hours. Reaching out to whoever she could toget this task done for Sharron and she’d made it clear that she was only doing it for her.

Bucky and Sam sat in the dining room watching her from a distance.

“Do you remember her at all?” Sam asked.

Bucky shook his head. “She looks familiar but...not really.”

Sharron brought the two of them a cup of coffee, went back for her own and joined them at the table. “Y/N worked at the Joint Counter Terrorism Center in Berlin. Her uncle is Agent Ross, who took her in after her parents died during the battle of New York. She supervised Barnes when he was detained. It was her job to make sure he ate, had water...and she was also in charge of approving who made contact with him. Zemo slipped in and she only realized something was wrong when she looked through the small window and saw him reading the words from that book.”

Bucky looked back at Zemo who was reading on the couch.

“She didn’t know what to do so she ran to find me. In the chaos, she ended up near the cafes where you- or not you,” She looked to Bucky, “Came stalking towards her.”

Bucky got a sinking feeling in his gut. “I don’t remember her.”

“Because she wasn’t your target. You’d been given a different directive. She stood in your way, she told me that she hoped to possibly stall you a bit.” Sharron huffed a single chuckle. “She’s got guts if anything.”

“What did I do?” Bucky felt that familiar guilt creeping up.

“The Soldier,” Sharron specified, “Threw her through a wall.”

Bucky closed his eyes. He felt like he should remember that.

Sam wanted to console him, to remind Bucky that he and the soldier were two different people, but he knew it wouldn’t change how Bucky felt.

“She later helped me steal the shield and your wings.”

“And that’s why she’s on the run.” Sam realized, “Same as you.”

Sharron nodded.

“So why is she here in Italy? Why not Madripoor?” Sam asked.

“Because she hates big cities!” Y/N called from the other room.

Sharron chuckled and Sam looked around, shocked that she was listening.

     *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

Later that night Bucky jolted up from a nightmare, this one about Y/N. He was back in Berlin where Zemo had read the words to him and he came up on her in the cafe. Only this time he shot her. That’s what made him wake up.

He silent padded to the kitchen in hope of getting a glass of water. When his bare feet hit the cold tile he noticed the faint sound of the tapping of a keyboard. He turned the corner and from the doorway saw Y/N still at her computer.

“You’re up late.” She said without looking up.

“Have you been working this whole time?” Bucky asked, turning back to get his glass of water.

“No,” She called to him. “I watched two hours of t.v. around midnight.”

Bucky smirked at that. He returned and pulled up a chair near her desk. “Mind if I sit?”

“Not at all.” She yawned.

Bucky sat in silence as he studied everything she was doing. She was in several dark web chats -in multiple languages- with users he didn’t know. All while simultaneously running tracer programs and reviewing satellite images.

She worked for nearly a half hour before she finally spoke again. “So what woke you up?”

Bucky shook his head. “I was thirsty.”

“It’s none of my business, sorry.” She knew he was lying.

“Where will you move to?” He changed the subject.

 She shrugged and leaned back in her chair. “I’m looking at moving to Koh Chang.”

 Bucky nodded but felt like it was his fault that she had to uproot and leave.

 “But it’s time to move anyways. I was getting too comfortable. Besides I think I’m nearing the ‘escape to a tropical island’ stage of my life.” She said with a grin. 

“I-” Maybe it was the exhaustion or maybe he was actually making some progress but either way he needed to say something, “I’m sorry for what I did to you... in Berlin.”

“I know.” She stopped and looked at him. “I’m sorry for being so cold. I’ve been told I have a bad attitude.” She mocked herself.

Bucky chuckled but sombered pretty quickly when he noticed a scar on her shoulder. “Did I do that?”

Y/N followed his gaze, “Yeah,”

As hard as it was to hear, he appreciated that she was honest and didn’t seem to pity him.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated.

“You don’t have to be.”

He looked up at her, finally tearing his eyes away from the mark he’d unknowingly left on her.

Y/N shrugged. “I let him in. If anything I should be apologizing to you.”

“Lets just call it even, then.” He offered a weak smile.

She took it and returned one. She took a breath to say something when her computer made a soft chime. She whipped her head over and exhaled. “Gotcha. She’s in Riga, Latvia.”

Bucky sat up. They were getting closer.

Y/N stood from her sat and with a swipe of her hand through the air, all of her computers went black. “It’s time for me to get some sleep. I hope finding her helps you find some peace.”

He nodded and looked down at his empty glass. “Thank you.”

She smiled and patted his shoulder as she passed. “I know I was a bit bitter when you first showed up but...most of that was towards Zemo.” She let her hand fall and softened her voice. “I forgave you a long time ago.”

Bucky sat there as she walked away. No one had ever said that to him before.

He went back to his room and pulled out his little notebook. He wrote her name down on the list of people he needed to make amends with and then immediately ran a line through it.

Then, for the first time in a long time, he slept peacefully.

 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Forever Tags:

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[domhovasse]

Single and ready to mingle.

After Alyssa and I said our goodbyes in Ho Chi Minh city, I head out to get some food and walk around a little before catching my bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I hadn’t gotten sick at all on the trip yet, and knew that it had to come sooner or later. I think it was a combo of the heat/lack of sleep/alcohol the night before but I felt nauseous the entire 6-hour bus ride and ended up throwing up on the side of the road during our washroom/meal breaks. I got to my hostel pretty late in the evening, and went straight to bed after checking in. Not sure what had gotten into me, but I knew the best thing to do was to try and sleep it off.

The next morning I woke up at a decent hour, had a nice big smoothie for breakfast, and headed out to explore some of the city. I began at the National Museum, which was quite mediocre in my opinion, and then after checking out one of the cities’ many temples, I got lunch along the river, before heading to the Grand Palace. My buddy Thomas, who we had met on our Ha Long Bay cruise, and then again in Hanoi, happened to be at the same hostel in Phnom Penh at the same time as me. He hadn’t visited the palace yet, so he decided to join me. Turns out I wasn’t fully over my sickness yet, because I ended up almost fainting and throwing up on the grounds of the Grand Palace. Thank God I was able to keep it in, because wow, what a place to get sick. After the temple, I knew I had to get back to the hostel, so we shared a tuk-tuk back, and I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. I woke up just in time for my dinner plans with Alyson, a friend who had been living in Phnom Penh for a few years. After catching up over dinner, she dropped me back off at my hostel, and since I was feeling much better, decided to partake in the hostel’s bar crawl, although I didn’t partake in the drinking aspect of it.

The following morning, Rohini, one of my roommates during my exchange in Paris, flew from Singapore to meet me and we caught a bus to Siem Reap together. We arrived in the afternoon, checked into our hostel and then spent most of the day walking around town, getting food, and browsing the market. After dark, we eventually made our way back to our hostel, and went to sleep at a decent hour, after participating in a few hostel games.

The following day began at 4am, to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat (classic tourist move), and then exploring a few of the incredible temples around. I honestly didn’t know too much about this temple complex going into is, but I very quickly learned the significance and importance of it, and how it was once the largest civilisation in the world. I was continuously blown away by its intricacy - how immense and how impressive it was especially for its time, and how much of it remains intact today. It was quite an incredible experience and at the end of the day, it actually left me feeling quite insignifiant and miniscule. We stayed longer than the tour and rented a tuktuk to check out some more temples that were a little more off the beaten path, before heading back to the hostel in the afternoon. There was a pool party going on, but we were quite exhausted, so we took a nap and hungout for a bit before heading out to grab dinner, walk around town, and get pedicures.

On our last day, Rohini and I were wanting to do different things, so we ended up going our separate ways, me to a floating village on a lake (w/ Thomas who I had originally met Vietnam), and her on some mountain/waterfall excursion. That night, we met back up at the hostel to grab food together and then met up for a beer with a guy Rohini had met on her excursion. He was living in Shanghai at the time, so it was interesting to talk to him and compare experiences.

Later that night, we caught our overnight bus back to Phnom Penh, and we spent half of the day diving into some of the dark, awful history of the genocide that affected Cambodia not so long ago. After visiting the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, Rohini had to catch her uber to the airport, so I checked into my hostel and freshened up a little bit. Later on that afternoon, after wandering the Central market for a while, I walked over to Wat Phnom Temple. From there I went to the night market, where my friend Alison picked me up on her scooter, and we had the BEST nachos for dinner. (I know it’s not very ‘Cambodian’, but at this point I was so grateful to eat good western food.) After eating, she dropped me off at the hostel and I hung out in my room for a bit before going to bed.

The next morning, I took a shuttle bus to Kampot, a quiet river-side town with a beautiful backdrop of the Elephant mountains. After checking in at my hostel, I recognized a girl from my previous hostel, who also took the same shuttle bus as me, so we got to talking and ended up joining forces since she was also travelling alone. We spent the rest of that afternoon & evening on a booze cruise along the river, blasting music, drinking a couple beers, and getting to know everyone. We also stopped at a little secluded beach to play some volleyball and go swimming before watching the sunset over the river. That night when we got back to the hostel, we ate dinner, and went out with some of our new friends.

The following day we went on an excursion through our hostel, driving scooters around the countryside, first stopping at the salt fields, then a pepper farm, a few temple caves (one of which we swam in), and lastly, at a ‘secret lake’ that apparently was built by slave labour during the Khmer Rouge time. It was so nice to scooter around the beautiful countryside, learning a thing or two about the region and also how pepper is made! That night our hostel was having a pool party, so we hung out at the pool for a bit, ate dinner, and then went out to a bar with our little crew. Long story short, halfway through our night, I ended up burning my leg on the exhuast pipe of our tuktuk. Because I was at the beach and in the water for the next few days after the injury, I wasn’t really able to let it heal properly, so now I have a nice scar that will probably be stuck with me for a loooong time.

On our last day, we slept in and then decided to spend the day at Arcadia, a famous hostel with a riverside waterpark. We took a tuktuk there and spent a few hours hanging out in hammocks, floating around in innertubes, rope swinging and ziplining. There was a huge slide and a blob, but I opted out because I didnt want to risk rubbing my ankle burn and making it worse. When we got back to the hostel it started pouring rain, as in torrential downpour, so we hungout in our room for a while. That evening, we decided to walk into town and get dinner at the market, since we hadn’t really seen much of the actual town yet. Since we had sort of become friends with both our tuktuk driver and the owner of the bar we had been going to everynight, we decided to have one last hurrah (& say our goodbyes.)

The next 6 days were spent on the beach, first on Koh Rong Island, and then the smaller, more remote Koh Rong Samloem. Both were so beautiful, and quiet. I originally wasn’t planning on making it to the islands, but I had met so many people were very adamant about the Cambodian islands being even better than the Thai ones.

Because of the lack of internet, it’s quite difficult to book accomodation online, so we ended up walking around with our bags for most of the afternoon before finding an available guesthouse. Funny story, we actually walked all the way to the furthest beach from the pier (25 minute walk), and ended up paying for a water taxi back to the main beach since there were no vacancies and we didn’t want to walk all the way back. It was a really windy day and the waves were pretty rough, plus we were in a small rowboat, so with every paddle, water came pouring in over the edge and all our clothes and bags got completely drenched. When we finally found a guesthouse, we gathered our clothes to be cleaned and walked around a bit before getting dinner.

The next day we slept in and spent the majority of the day at SokSan Long Beach. I have never seen such white sand, or clear water in my life, plus we surprisingly had almost the entire beach to ourselves. The only downside was that I got attacked by sand flies and for the next few days my legs were covered in flea bites. It literally looked like I had chicken pox all over again. After making our way back to the village to freshen up and eat dinner, we met up with Thom, Liam and Sam at a bar, and then we all went to a beach party together. On our last morning, Maren woke up feeling sick, so she decided to stay in while I spent the day on a boat excursion snorkeling, visiting a few tiny islands hanging out on some beaches, sitting by a campfire during sundown, and diving underwater to see bio-luminescent plankton after dark. I hit it off with a Swedish girl on the excursion, who invited me to meet up with her and some friends for some drinks after dinner. The next morning we caught our ferry boat to Koh Rong Samloem, where we spent 3 of the greatest days of my existence.

There was no wifi at all on the island, and we were staying in little cabins in the woods/along the beach, so it honestly felt kind of like summer camp for adults, and I loved every second of it - mosquito nets and all. We were reunited with our buddies Thom, Sam and Liam, met some new wonderful people, and had the most wonderful technology-free couple of days. During the day, we spent our time hanging out at the beach sun tanning, swimming, and relaxing before playing games and having themed parties at night. One day we went on a boating excursion where we got to snorkel, visit some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, and even go fishing for our own lunch (& then grill it on the boat). The only minor downsides were that there were no food options besides the hostel restaurant, so obviously the food and drinks were a little expensive. They also used a tab system for payment, where you pay up at the end of your stay, which caused some problems for a few people who didn’t have enough cash on then to settle their tab.  

We took a ferry back to Sihanoukville, ran into Thomas at the pier (who was leaving later that afternoon) and spent an afternoon at the beach there together with our buddies Sam and Liam. There isn’t much to do at all in this city - we were actually told to avoid it by several people, but both their buses and my flight wasn’t until the following morning, so we ended up staying the night. After the beach, we said our goodbyes to Thom, then got khmer massages and ate dinner at our hostel with our the British boys before going to bed.

From Sihanoukville, I caught a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where I spent the next 2 and a half days. After settling in and then getting dinner at the nearby market in Chinatown, I returned to my hostel, where much to my surprise, I discovered that Killian, a french guy I had met during the pub crawl in Phnom Penh, was not only staying in the same hostel as me in KL, but he was put in the same room as me. That first night we had gone to a rooftop club, and had quite a late night, so the following morning I had to force him out of bed, and after getting lunch at an indoor market, we spent most of the afternoon at the Islamic Arts Museum and the National Mosque. That evening we got dinner, and I spent the rest of my night hanging out, napping, and catching up on tv shows.

We woke up pretty early the following morning to make the trek out to Batu Caves (a series of caves and Hindu cave temples). We got back to our hostel in the afternoon to change/freshen up and then spent some time walking around the financial district and taking pictures with the Petronas Towers. From there we went for sunset rooftop drinks at the Heli Lounge bar, before heading to Bukit Bintag neighbourhood to wander and get dinner at the Jalan Alor street market.

My third morning, I checked out of my hostel, visited one last temple and got on a bus to Georgetown, Penang. Once again, in hindsight I totally should have booked an overnight bus and squeezed in another city, instead of wasting a whole day travelling, but now I have something to look forward to for next time. It is such a lovely and quaint little city, with picturesque buildings and world-famous food. It was such a lovely mix of so many cultures and religions living in peace, and harmony. When I arrived at my hostel, they had made a mistake and I wasn’t in the system, even though I had made a booking online, so I spent the rest of the evening walking around, trying to find an available hostel. It took me a while, but I eventually found one, got some dinner, and had a pretty early night.

The following morning I got up quite early, checked out of my hostel, and spent the entire day walking around, visiting various sights, including temples and old Peranakan mansions, (desendants of Chinese immigrants who settled between the 15-17th centuries.) It was quite an exhuasting day, so in the early evening I headed back to the hostel, where I met my American roommate, Trey. The rest of the night I just hung out, got dinner, and then participated in the beer pong tournament and pub crawl put on by my hostel.

The next day was quite brutal. One of the worst hangovers of my life, plus the 35 degree heat, but I knew I would feel at least a little better if I got up and did something. With Trey, the guy from my hostel room, we visited the Upside Down museum, took some funny pictures, and then spent a few hours walking around, mostly by the water, checking out some of the Clan Jetties, (floating villages occupied by Chinese clans) and street art. We were both still very exhausted from the night before, plus walking around all day, so we went back to the hostel and hung around most of the evening before getting dinner, and having an early bedtime.

On my last day, I woke up early to go on a free walking tour before taking the tram up to Penang Hill, where I walked around for a bit and enjoyed a nice view of the Island. From there walked over to Kek Lok Si Temple. It’s a massive Temple on a hill, and honestly one of the most beautiful, impressive temples I have ever seen. There was some sort of ceremony going on which added to the experience. I eventually made my way back to my hostel, stopping for athentic Penang Laksa on the way, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out at my hostel, before catching an uber to the bus station.

That night, I caught an overnight bus to Singapore. I arrived just before noon, dropped my things off at Rohini’s apartment, and took a public bus into downtown to meet her at work. We went on a little bike ride, and then walked around downtown and Chinatown. At one point we were walking along Robertson Quay, when I thought I recognized 2 people walking in our direction. We realized we knew each other at the exact same time and ran into each other’s arms. What are the odds of me randomly running into Kelowna friends in Singapore! Rohini also introduced me to a few of her coworkers, whom we met up with for a snack and some afternoon beers. After walking around  a bit more and passing through the National Museum, we went home to hangout before having dinner at a Hawker Center near Roh’s apartment, and had made plans to meet up with Meghan and Nick for rooftop drinks at Marina Bay Sands.

We went to Universal Studios one day, which obviously was a good time. Rohini doesn’t like roller coasters so I did those alone, but thanks to her free fastpast from work, we were able to essentially do all of the rides once! In the evening, we met up with Rohini’s roommate, got dinner together at an outdoor food court/market, and met up with an old friend Patricia (whom we had both met back during exchange in 2015 when we were visiting Poland.) First we went for drinks at a cute wine bar, and then we did some dancing at a salsa bar in Clarke Quay.

On my last day, we went for brunch together in a cute area called Tiong Bahru, and then I spent the rest of the day alone, walking around and exploring different areas including Little India, Kampong Glam (the Malay-Muslim neighbourhood), and a bit of the downtown core, before meeting back up with Rohini and her roommate at Gardens by the Bay to watch the sunset and  grab dinner at an outdoor foodcourt.

That night, I caught an overnight bus back to Kuala Lumpur, because flights back to China were much cheaper from there. I had a bit of a layover in Kuala Lumpur, enough to transfer from the bus station to the airport and still have to wait a couple of hours, and eventually caught my flight to Kunming, where I had a 6-hour layover before finally boarding my flight to Wuhan. It was one of the longest travel days of my life, and when I finally got home just after 1am, I couldn’t have been happier to be back in my very uncomfortable chinese bed.

[envirotravel]

Floating on a Feeling: One Night at Rainforest Camp

After our amazing first day and night at the aptly-named Elephant Camp, we woke up raring to go for the second and third days of our adventure with Elephant Hills in Khao Sok National Park.

Elephant Camp, with its luxury tents set in the jungle, was already quite the departure from reality. Rainforest Camp, the sister property nestled even deeper into the wilderness, took an even greater leap into getting away from it all — no internet, no phone signal, not even solid ground beneath your feet — the twenty tents that make up the camp all float peacefully atop Cheow Larn Lake.

But first, we had to get there. Waving goodbye to Elephant Hills, we piled into decommissioned Thai military vehicles and made our way to a local market in Takhun. I’ve seen more than my fair share of markets in Thailand, but I still enjoyed having a brief wander and stocking up on snacks before the next leg of our journey.

Next up, a quick stop at the Ratchaprapha Dam, where we got our first glance of Cheow Lan Lake and started to learn the insanely fascinating history of the region.

And then it was onto the lake, where we hopped into a traditional long tail boat to sightsee.

After a gorgeous ride admiring the jungle and the towering limestone karsts that define the lake, we caught sight of our final destination — Rainforest Camp!

so distracted by our welcome drinks, we could only manage a silly iPhone selfie

Opened in 2011, Rainforest Camp is still one of the only floating tented camps in the world. Powered by solar and wind energy and using a unique waste management system, the camp is a model of low-impact accommodation.

And we had the wild neighbors to prove it. We might have left the elephants behind at Elephant Camp, but we still had monkeys prancing in the jungle behind our camp and fish darting around and below our tents. And there was way more going on than what we were lucky to see — just lookwhat gets caught on Elephant Hill’s hidden cameras!

Inside the tents, however, was a human-only zone. Somehow, thought I didn’t think it would be possible, I loved these tents even more than the ones we’d spent the previous evening in.

And we got right down to the business of enjoying them.

After a few hours of chill time, those who wanted to join for the afternoon’s jungle trek were rounded up and set off in boats bound for the shore.

As we touched down on land again, our guide began to elaborate on the fraught history of the land beneath our feet.

The story began in 1944, when a deadly epidemic wiped out almost the entire population of the Khao Sok region. The village became known as Ban Sop, or Village of the Dead, lying in the shadow of a nearby mountain known as Khao Sop, or Corpse Mountain. The morbid name was later rebranded to Khao Sok.

In 1961, the region was forever changed by construction of the 401, the first and only highway connecting Phang Nga and Surat Thani Provinces. Needless to say, the untouched wilderness of Khao Sok suffered.

In the 1970’s, tragedy struck Khao Sok again. In Thailand, October 6th, 1976 will always be remembered with sadness — it was the day of the military government’s fatal attack on student protesters at Thammasat University in Bangkok. The forty one recorded deaths are suspected, in fact, to be a low estimate. In response to the massacre, hundreds of students fled to Khao Sok, fearing for their lives. The deep, untouched forest provided cover for the newly-formed insurgency groups who buried explosives and patrolled the area with gunfire. The very caves we were hiking through provided shelter from air raids by the Thai military.

The rebels formed an unexpected sanctuary for the environment — they may have been aiming to keep the army away, but they also scared off loggers, hunters and miners for the seven years they controlled the area. In 1982, the government changed hands, and the students slowly returned to their lives. Allegedly, the last of the rebels left Khao Sok in 1989.

Thanks to the unintended protection of this unlikely ally, Khao Sok staved off development and exploitation long enough for the National Parks Division to take notice. With many rare species of flora and fauna (including the spiders I was very unwillingly sharing the previously mentioned caves with), Khao Sok was announced Thailand’s 22nd National Park in 1980.

But the area wasn’t done changing. Around the same time Khao Sok was applying for National Park status, EGAT (the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) discovered that Khao Sok was the largest watershed in southern Thailand. And so, before objections could be raised by the area’s newfound status, a massive portion of the National Park was intentionally flooded to create a 165km2 reservoir for generating hydro-electricity. Today, this reservoir is known as Cheow Larn Lake.

The flooding was a tragedy for wildlife. Many animals, including elephants, were forced into islands created by the rising water levels, and EGAT attempted the largest rescue in Thailand’s history… which was, unfortunately, largely unsuccessful. Of 1,364 “rescued” animals, the majority died of stress and the rest were relocated into areas overpopulated by other refugees.

It was a rocky, controversy and scandal-paved road that led Khao Sok to where it is today — 739 square kilometers of protected land that is a popular eco-tourism destination, and a sustainable source of hydro-electric power for much of Southern Thailand.

Back at camp, we marveled at an absolute stunner of a sunset and the fact that we could leap off our porch into its reflection in the water, if we wanted to. It had been the perfect day.

At Elephant Camp, the lush surroundings hid the fact that there was indeed a highway not quite too far away and at night,  you could hear the occasional truck passing by the main road. But here a Rainforest Camp, this, this was pure peace.

In the morning, we sprung out of our tents for one final breakfast. I have to give kudos to Elephant Hills for being super accommodating to various diets — I had marked on our intake form that I eat no seafood and there was always plenty of variety for me, and others in the group with special dietary needs were also well tended to.

After, we had a bit of free time to go for a final adventure — a kayak down a snaking arm of the lake. We were kicking ourselves the entire time for not reserving the four day tour, which would have tacked on another night at Rainforest Camp, along with 24 hours to pretty much just kick around at your leisure. If I have one piece of advice for anyone heading to this particular experience, it’s to make room in your budget and itinerary for one more night!

At around 20,000B (about $560) for three days, this experience is not for those on a shoestring budget. However, when you consider the included transfers especially, and use Khao Sok as a stopover between Thailand’s two coasts, it represents pretty great value. The only things not included are soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, tips, souvenirs, and extras like the foot massages offered at Elephant Camp (heck yes I had one!). The included transfers will pick you up and drop you off door-to-door in Phuket, Khao Lak, Phang Nga, Krabi, Surat Thani or even from Koh Samui.

When to come? Well, basically, whenever you have a trip planned to Thailand. “Green season,” as Elephant Hills optimistically refers to Khao Sok’s monsoon, lasts from May to October, and comes with cooler temperatures, lush green foliage, and higher chances of spotting wildlife. The least busy months are May, June, September and October, so book then if you want to have the place to yourself!

We had so much fun on this trip that we made a little video! I’ve hardly been giving my GoPro HERO3+ the loving it deserves lately, and so I was super excited to bring it along on this trip. It’s hard to switch back and forth from photo to video mode (for me at least!) but we got some really fun shots and I laugh every time I watch this video — and not just because an elephant tried to eat my camera.

As filled with natural beauty as Thailand can be, it can also be a chaotic and overwhelming place. Our days in Khao Sok were so refreshing and recharging, I left feeling more connected with nature and myself than I had in months.

It was a reminder of something I wish I didn’t have to be reminded of so often — sometimes there’s nothing more important in the world than to unplug, disconnect, and listen to water lapping against your tent, monkeys playing in the trees, your best friend laughing at a story, a paddle hitting the surface of a lake, or best of all — the rare and beautiful sound of nothing.

And with that, we were back to home sweet home — Koh Tao!

I was a guest of Elephant Hills in order to write this review. As always, you receive my honest opinions and thorough recommendations regardless of who is footing the bill.

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Special Announcement!

If you follow me on Facebook or on Instagram, you’ve probably already heard my big announcement: I’m going to Bali!

Best of all? You can come with me! I vowed that I wasn’t going to travel anywhere in March… but then I got an offer that was just too good to refuse. I’m incredibly excited to be attending an immersive coding retreat with The Institute of Code from March 3-13th. For ten days we’ll be staying in a gorgeous villa, waking up to poolside yoga, digging into some delicious website creation, and exploring Bali on our breaks! After years of having to turn to a developer for every little issue on my blog, I cannot wait to feel empowered to just do it myself!

Want to join? (Who wouldn’t?) There are still spaces available for the retreat I’m attending, so check out the details here and shoot me an email if you have any questions. Ahhhhh… I literally cannot wait!

Floating on a Feeling: One Night at Rainforest Camp posted first on http://ift.tt/2k2mjrD