Welcome to the Jungle!

As mentioned in the previous post, the night we spent at Khao Sok National Park was not very pleasant...

An unwanted guest

After dinner, we went back to our room to rest and recover from the long day we had. We were really exhausted and just wanted to sleep. We got ready for bed and I was already sitting there, waiting for Luke to join me so we could turn off the lights, when I noticed a pretty large, dark spot on the opposite wall. This spot quickly turned out to be a hand-sized spider. You can imagine the scream that followed this discovery. Luke also had a shocked expression on his face and was understandably not thrilled about our hairy roommate...

With all the excitement, we didn't even notice that the spider was no longer there. With a pretty bad feeling, we got back into bed, thinking that the spider might have gone the same way it came. Wrong!

Attack of the Killer Spider - Part 2!

We were about to turn off the lights when the spider darted out from behind the curtain and settled on the wall next to our bed. I didn't know spiders were this fast! But I also didn't know Luke was this fast. He made a leap over the bed because the spider had kindly chosen his side to attack us. So there we were, the spider on one side of the bed, Luke on the other side, and I had retreated to a corner, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Luke even tried to take a photo of the spider, but it turned out blurry in the rush.

Until that point, I had never been afraid of spiders. Sure, I never liked them, but I had never had such a reaction to a spider before. We were completely overwhelmed by the situation, especially since we didn't even know if the spider was venomous. I was also surprised to see Luke looking so shocked, as he is usually the one who remains calm. We decided that there was no way we were staying in the room with that spider and went to the reception.

From bad to worse

While fleeing from the spider in our room, we had to deal with all the other creepy crawlies waiting outside in the darkness. There were bugs and creatures crawling and flying everywhere, and at some point, I wasn't even fully present so I could block out everything around me. We also spotted some giant moths and bats on the prowl. But we weren't quite sure who was eating whom with the size of those moths...

Since it was already late at night, everyone was already asleep... everything was deserted. So we went to the bedrooms of the Thai people who were present. Julie must have had her room somewhere, but we didn't know where exactly. So we just randomly knocked on doors until someone eventually noticed us after about three-quarters of an hour.

Rescue is on the way! Or is it?

A completely sleepy Thai followed us to our room while we tried to explain that there was a huge spider in our room. As expected, the spider was no longer there. The Thai reassured us that it was just a normal house spider, non-venomous, and that it probably hid somewhere in the ceiling light. Yes, really reassuring! And so we were left with the spider in the room. At least assuming it was still in the room.

Sleepless in Khao Sok

You can imagine how much sleep we got. At first, none at all, but eventually we got so tired that we dared to get into bed. However, it was a very restless sleep. During the night, there were monkeys making noise in the area, and every time a few monkeys ran across our roof, I was afraid the spider was back and had brought all its friends. It also got pretty warm under the blanket, but I preferred to keep all my body parts under it rather than showing them to the spider. And so the night passed without us finding much sleep.

Since that incident, I have developed a fear of spiders...

The sleepless night was a great preparation for the jungle trek the next day!

To be continued....