Speechless in Khao Sok: No WiFi, No TV, and

electricity for only a few hours at night Short Travel Stories

BEFORE READING

1. A. Match the following words and expressions on the left with their equivalents on
the right.

Set off Get Hold/ Take something quickly.

Whack Descend by jumping.
Bump Kind of boat, similar to a raft.
Grab Rapid active commotion.
Jump off To start a trip/To leave on a trip.
Tail boat Protuberances on the road.
Raft Hit hard.
Hustle and bustle A flat float, usually made of logs, planks or rubber.

B. Measures: If 1ft= 30.4cm, how much is 6ft in cm?

2. Read the story- do not pay attention to the blanks and options.

Speechless in Khao Sok

After a) to spend/spending four days in the craziness of Bangkok, we set off on the very long
and smelly train journey to Surat Thani, Thailand. I was so glad to arrive 1)_________ Surat. The
smell 2) _________ the toilets was terrible and even though we had pull down beds, I was
constantly b) whacking/to whack my head off the top of the bed (if anyone reading this has
done the journey and they are over 6feet tall they will understand) every time the train hit a bump.
And trust me there are a lot of bumps.

When the train c) arrived/arrives, it is not like at home. There 3) _________ no call of which
stop you were 4) _________ at. You had to do a quick run to find a worker on the train, hoping he
understood what you said, grab your bag and jump off.

After a quick snack, we d) were jumping/jumped on the minibus and headed to the National
Park Khao Sok. On arrival, we jumped into a long tail boat, within minutes of the boat setting off I
was sat there in amazement.

Its not often e)I being left/ have been left speechless, but Khao Sok f) had done it/was done
it. While we 5)_________ on the way to the floating raft houses I must have taken about 50
photos. As soon as we arrived, our bags were straight in the room and we 6) _________ for a
swim in the fresh lake. Going from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to this place made you
appreciate it even more: no wifi, no TV and electricity for only a few hours at night. And the food,
lets say, the fish is very fresh.

a. Fill in the blanks and choose the correct option.

b. Find synonyms for the following words and expressions:
- Go to (a place) =
- Happy=
- Surprised to the point you cannot speak=
- Directly=