So this weekend Jenny and I did get out to the Khao Yai National Park. As always with Jenny and I transportation is half the adventure, especially since we never seem to know where we're supposed to be getting off of any transportation we take. We started off on bus 52 which was a nightmare. I have never been on a bus so packed in my life! It was packed to the point that people were standing chest to back all the way down the bus and it probably wouldn't of mattered if you didn't hold onto the bar to keep your self stable over bumps because the the density of the crowd was sort of holding everyone in. We didn't end up getting off at the correct stop and had to take another bus and then after that bus we had to take another. We didn't get off at the right stop for the last bus either and we were wasting time and money so we gave in and took a cab to the Northern bus station. Finally, we got the Thai equivalent of a grey hound bus and went to Pak Chong, which is the closest town to Khao Yai.
I found out what the pick-up truck transportation is called, it's a sawng-thaew. So we caught a sawng-thaew to the Green Leaf Guest House which is half way between town and the National Park. The Green Leaf was ok, nothing fancy but it had a bed a bathroom and a fan which is what I was looking for in a room but if you're looking for glamour this wasn't it. They served food at the Green Leaf but the menu was small and the Pad Thai was too salty. It was 1:45 before we were ready to go to the park and the last sawng-thaew leaving the park to return to Green Leave and Pak Chong was at 4pm because you're not allowed to hike after 4pm due to the wild animals. We decided we'd go and check it out and then come back anyway so we waited for the next sawng-thaew which never came, but we did manage to hitch a ride with a really sweet family. This family pulled over and their nine year old boy (who was the only one who knew english fluently and who was really the smartest kid ever) asked us if we wanted a ride to the park. We said 'yes please' and they ended up taking us into the park and inviting us to spend the rest of the day with them. They were a lot of fun and their boy (who we found out was named Erk) was very smart and friendly. There were also two little twin girls in the family and they too were very sweet but only about five years old and much more shy (though one did hold my hand for one of the little walks we took). I learned that there are little temples at the beginning of National Parks and that Buddists honk when they pass them to pay respect so that they won't have any problems with the wildlife for the time that they're in the park. We went to look out points along the mountain range and took some pictures with our new friends as well as of the mountain range. The mountains at the park are little fluffy looking mountains, they are soft and friendly looking because they're covered entirely in vegetation and are shorter than I'm used to, not at all tall and commanding looking like the Rockies. We went to a waterfall called Haew Suwat which my guide book tells me is the one used in the movie The Beach. We also walked to a wild life watching tower but didn't see any large wild life. I did see some cool animals though. They have a lot of really pretty deer at the park and we saw both the male and the female. I also saw the Greater Hornbill which was pretty cool, some super cute monkeys which took some pictures of (that I will eventually post), and saw a lizard which again I got a picture of and will be posted eventually. I didn't manage to see the tiger or the cobra but that's ok. Maybe another time or maybe those are animals I don't really want to run into so it's for the best. I saw some elephants but not many and I didn't get a picture. We hung out Erk and his family until 7pm and then they dropped us off at the Green Leaf guest house. They were really such wonderful people. Once back at our guest house we ate dinner and went to bed (after a little joking around). Sunday morning we got up around 8am and took our showers (which were with out heated water) and grabbed a quick breakfast. This time we did take the sawng-thaew to the National Park gates. The only problem with this park is that it is hard without transportation the sawng-thaew doesn't go into the park but from the front gate to the information centre it is 14km and there is no transportation to take you to the information centre from the gates. So,Jenny and I started walking up the road. We found a service road a kilometer up the road and it looked interesting so we decided to explore after a little bit of a walk it connected to another road and so continuing following the adventurous spirit we took that next road for a while. The scenery was pretty and there were a million beautiful butterflies but we realized that the road was going out of the park and we didn't want to leave yet so we turned around and walked back to the highway. We did eventually did manage to hitch a ride in the back of a guy's truck and he took us to a look out point and then to the visitor's centre. He was very friendly and kept on smiling at us in the rear view mirror. Once we got to the visitor's centre it was lunch time and so we ate some lunch and then set out to find a quick trail (since if you remember we weren't able to do any real trails after 4pm due to dangerous wildlife). We found a quick one but had to rent these gaitors that looked like giant socks (not very fancy) because there are a million leeches on the trail and if you don't protect your legs you'll have some troubles. We found the trail head very easily and set about on our trek through the jungle and it was amazing! The sounds were fantastic, I don't know the names of any birds or bugs associated with these sounds but they were both comical and mystifying. The trail wasn't always easy to find but we were never lost for long periods of time and the vegetation was beautiful. Maybe I've been reading too much Kipling but I really felt as though I had walked into the world of the jungle book. There are vines everywhere and on everything and they are so thick! All of the leaves and trees are huge and the smell is so sweet and fresh, sometimes it was like you could taste the photosynthesis. We came across an enormous tree and I took a few pictures of it but I didn't have anyone standing beside it to put it's size into proper perspective. I did take a picture of Jenny beside the tree with her camera (I was too sweaty to do the same) and I may be able to get a copy of that to post which will help to put the size in perspective. It was gorgeous. There way I can describe how wonderful the jungle was, I could spend weeks there happily, not withstanding the many many blood sucking leeches. I didn't actually have any leech problems, one did get into my shoe but it didn't manage to eat my toes before he was noticed and put out. The hike throught he forest was also physically trying, I have never hiked in such humidity and heat before and combining that with the large hills we climbed it was exhausting. One thing is you have to make sure you have enough water, when you sweat that much it is very easy to get dehydrated. I didn't get too bad but at one point I finished my last water bottle and was still thirsty and my face felt so hot, it was most unpleasant. After we returned the rented gaitors we hitched a ride back to Pak Chong and took the bus back to Bangkok and then a taxi to Nonthaburi and that was the end of the National Park Adventure.

Edited: April 6 2006