Ratchaprapa Dam ( Chiao – Lan Dam , Surat Thani province)
We had a great time visit to the southern of Thialand, Suratthani province. Of course , people usually think of Koh Samui ( Samui island ), Phangan Island and Kho Tao. In case if you prefer some other choice for the fresh lake, Rachaprapa Dam would the best option for you.
Ratchaprapa Dam is in Khoa Sok National Park , Surat Thani Province. It is an 165-square-kilometre (64 sq mi) artificial lake, created in 1982 by the construction of Rajjaprapha Dam by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) as a source of electricity.
Ratchaprabha Dam, meaning “the light of the kingdom”, got its name in May 1987 from the king at the opening ceremony on the king’s 60th birthday. Before that day it was called the “Cheow Lan Project”.
From Chiang Mai, we could catch the flight from Chiang Mai International Airport to Surat Thani by Airline such as Air Asia , Thai Lion Air for example. It would take almost 2 hrs by flight from Chiang Mai to get there. From the airport , continue the trip to Ratchaprapa Dam for about an hour. Then the journey would start again. From the pier, there are many people’re waiting for the boat to the accommodation inside the dam. We’re lucky that we had planned and made the appointment with the boat man from our accommodation earlier before the trip started. The boat man took us on the boat and travel through Ratchaprapa Dam to the floating bungalow. Along the way on the boat , there ‘s a pleasant scenic on site. It ‘s difficult for us to stop taking pictures and enjoy with the scenery on both site. The Boat took 40 minutes for us to reach at the accommodation.
Our accommodation is private floating bungalows with the lovely view of the fresh water lake in the emerald green color and nice view of the mountain. It ‘s such a perfect moment for us to relax. Lovely atmosphere , fresh air and quiet. Even rain couldn’t stop us to taking pictures and enjoy our time there. Our room is a private room which faces to the emerald green lake and the mountain. There we could swim , kayak or just sit and relax sitting in front of the room and enjoy the scenery. We had a great time spending the night in the nature and relax. The next day we took the boat to go around the lake as well as the highlight of Ratchaprapa Dam itself. It called “ Thailand Kui Lin” which prefer to part of the mountains and rock by current and wind erosion by nature. The view in front of us could hold our breath with the beauty which we found it’s difficult to explain in words. We stopped there for taking photos ( Of course many and many photos) as much as we could. Many people usually travel to China however we found that we could find them here in Thailand with more diversity of beauty and nature. The boat man brought us from place to place for us to take photos before heading to the pier and drop us off to the main land. From the pier , we continue on the road a bit to the edge of the dam to overlook of the whole view of the dam before leaving to the next destination. Only 1 night in Ratchaprapa Dam is might not enough which we plan for the next trip for more night for us to relax and gain more energy in the next visit to “Chiao Lan – Ratchaprapa Dam” . See you next time!.
