Today was definitely a bust. I talked Sam into renting a car rather than a motorbike because he wanted to drive up to the Khao Sok National Park (which is about 90 minutes away from our hotel) and the weather has been so bad I didn't feel comfortable making the trip unless we had a little shelter on the journey. Sure enough, we went through some pretty insane rain on our way up into the mountains, but I navigated like a pro despite having to drive on the right side of the car on the left side of the road! 
We got to the park and checked out the center. They had some interesting literature about the flora in the park, and we picked up a map of the waterfalls we wanted to hike to. Just as we walked up to the path, we saw a couple from Holland coming down. The guy looked at Sam and I, and said, "If I were you, I wouldn't go up there like that. We just pulled 30 leeches off our socks and sneakers." At that moment I looked down at his poncho, which he was holding inside-out at the bottom, and there was a leech chillin' on it. I nearly fainted. Leeches are a deal-breaker for me. He and the girl he was with proceeded to tell Sam and I they hadn't waded in water or stopped moving as they walked, but somehow the leeches got all over them. Disgusting! Sam and I walked up to the end of the pavement and we debating for quite a while- Sam did try to persuade me that he could get leeches off no problem with a cigarette butt- but at the end of the day we decided that the last thing we need is leeches. Also, as we headed back to the car, Sam mentioned that 1 out of 10 times the leech dies before it lets go and then there can be issues with infection. Wow, really glad we decided NOT to risk that one!
As a consolation, Sam and I drove out to the dam to see the river- it was beautiful! We decided to head back down to Khao Lak to get some rest and hang out. On our way back down the hill we stopped to check out the waterfall next to the highway. It was very pretty, and just about the brightest spot in our day.
Once we were back in Khao Lak, Sam and I took showers and settled in to watch some Entourage before getting ready for dinner but the power went out. We waited three episodes (about an hour) but there was no luck with the power and we discovered the water was nonfunctional too, so we found our clothes in the pitch black and went to dinner. Luckily the power DID come back on while we were eating, and now we're getting packed up and ready to hit Railay tomorrow- hopefully so that we can get some diving and beach time in!
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