Last night my boyfriend's testicles were attacked by biting ants,' reads one comment in the guestbook at Khao Sok Rainforest Resort. Another remarks on a bird-eating spider discovered in a bathroom. More happily, greater numbers of people mention 'the flower'.
The largest national park in southern Thailand, Khao Sok is one of the country's finest natural assets. Connected to a series of other parks, and covering 738sqkm, it makes up part of the largest area of preserved forest in Thailand and is the last natural haven in the south for wild elephants and tigers.
Its prize possession, however, is what many here simply call 'the flower'. Blooming to a diameter of about a metre, the rafflesia is the world's largest flower. Found in several parts of Southeast Asia, in Thailand it grows only in Khao Sok and the adjoining Khlong Naka Wildlife Sanctuary.
Adding to its mystique, the endangered rafflesia blooms for just three days a year. A parasite with no roots or leaves, it exists for most of the year as microscopic threads growing inside the roots of trees. Buds swell to the size of footballs then burst open in January or February, revealing petals like the blades of a boat propeller. Three days later, it shrivels to black pulp.
Visiting Khao Sok primarily to see this floral wonder, the news is initially discouraging. 'There are none in flower - only buds,' says a ranger at the park visitor centre.
From the centre, two walking trails radiate into the park. The main trail follows the Sok River past a series of waterfalls to Ton Kloi falls. Midway, the path is crossed by a tributary along which a rafflesia was found in 1994.