One evening I felt like taking a walk. Since we had spent 3 weeks with the travel group, I wanted some solitude, so I headed off alone. Earlier I had seen a sign pointing to a cave, so I found the sign and followed the arrows. The trail first took me over a narrow bamboo suspension bridge over the river. I felt disconcerted on the other side, because it seemed like I was on private property, and also I couldn’t see where the trail continued. I walked along the river toward a limestone cliff (being the clever gal that I am, I thought this would be a logical place for a cave). I found the trail again and another sign to the cave.
I followed the trail and made it to the cave, which was a disappointment. I peeked around for a minute, and then decided that the hike was more enjoyable than the cave, so why not just keep hiking? The trail continued, but first I had to climb over some down trees. It was obvious that very few people venture past the cave. The trail was narrow and secluded. I didn’t see anyone, but I heard voices. I wandered off trail for a little while to find the owners of the voices, but I never did. I also saw what looked like a plantation of some sort, but I couldn’t identify the trees.
The trail ended at what seemed to be a temple. I stopped on the trail about 200 feet from it. For some reason, I didn’t feel like I should go any farther. I know that temples in Thailand are open for anyone to visit, so I told myself just to go over there. I took five steps forward, and then felt an overwhelming urge to back up. Very strange. I told myself that I just didn’t want to disturb any monks who may be there. And maybe I wasn’t supposed to be on this part of the trail anyway. I hiked back the way I came. It took about half the way back before I stopped feeling uncomfortable.
It was the next day that I heard "the story". Not wanting to scare anyone, our trip leader hadn’t shared it earlier. But since we were leaving, he thought he could tell us. It seems that in the 1960s there was a cholera outbreak in the Phuket area and over 600 people died. Since the bodies were tainted with cholera, they had to be sent away to be cremated. The bodies were sent to the Khao Sok area and were cremated in a kiln a couple hundred meters from Art’s (I had walked right past the kiln on my hike). The ashes were scattered around the area, and the temple I saw was built to honor the dead. There are hundreds of spirits living in the area, and there have been many ghost sightings. Some guides refuse to come to the area because of it.