Khao Yai National Park Trip

Day 6. Spent the weekend at Khao Yai National Park which is Thailand's oldest nature reserve, a world wildlife heritage site and a very popular destination for Thais from all over the country. It was National Children's Day on Saturday which may have made it a bit busier than usual. Khao Yai's located about 200km north of
Bangkok and stretches across over 2000km² and four provinces. Here're the photos.

They're in completely random order, both in terms of subject and chronology. I've added the odd description here and there. Highlights of the trip included:

• Seeing two captive tigers
• Seeing wild deer, monkeys and an alligator.
• Hearing a monkey (or gibbon, I'm not sure which) dawn chorus which was both amazing and kind of eerie. The only downside to this was that I would've probably missed it if I hadn't been woken by the sound of a small child vomiting violently a few metres away but it was worth it for me, if not perhaps, for the kid.
  
• Swimming in a pool at the bottom of Haew Suwat waterfall.
• Seeing a few examples of one moped with an entire family on it (two adults, two children) and another with three people and a dog, none of which I managed to catch on film unfortunately. I'm hoping to see one with five or more lifeforms next, perhaps a family with a couple of kittens in saddle bags or something.
  
• Camping next to a friendly old woman (who we quickly adopted as a temporary aunt) who not only supplied us with various bits and pieces we needed: tinder (freshly chopped with her handy machete), cooking oil, a candle, lighter etc; but also offered help and advice with various things.
• Seeing a moving plant (video below.)
  
• Plus too much other stuff to mention here. The photos should give you some idea.

This was the furthest I've been from Bangkok so far. The first thing I noticed was that there were very few farang (foreigners) this far off the tourist map. I saw one other bloke on the first day and one group on the second day. I could frequently hear Thais talking about the "farang" as I walked past. Generally the children just pointed or asked their parents about the farang and a few practiced their English, which was more limited than my Thai apparently. Walking around Bangkok and the surrounding area nobody bats an eyelid so it was a bit strange at first but I quickly got used to it. It is also true that the Thais are generally all very friendly, much more so than in the UK. Smile at someone randomly in the UK and the reaction will likely be anywhere from cynical confusion to violence. Smile at someone randomly here and they just smile back. My kind of place.

Camping was good fun too although quite a lot classier than I'm used to. The majority of the Thais were obviously fairly regular campers because they were all so well prepared. It was home from home for many of them. The facilities in each camp site were excellent too. Everything you need is available to hire or buy, from BBQ buckets (not made from the usual metal like I've seen before but from a concrete type substance) to mats and from tents to food.

That's enough about camping and the park for now. I might edit more stuff in later but the pictures tell the story best. Just a quick note on one or two other things. Firstly I should say how brilliant Kriang, Will and Pook have been as hosts. It was a six hour round trip and Kriang did an excellent job of driving everywhere over the weekend from motorways to mountain roads. We took a fairly hefty detour, mostly for my benefit, in order to go to some place where you can milk cows, although the particular place we wanted was closed. Will has taken me into Bangkok on a tour for the afternoon, Pook always asks what Kriang has planned for me when she calls (and I think she might even have called a couple of times just to suggest things and check that he's looking after me!) and has given me a Thai sim card because I couldn't get my one to work. (So note that there's no point sending me messages and stuff to my UK number. If you do want to call or text the number is +66865605875.) And they've generally all been wonderful, thoughtful hosts so far. There's pictures of Kriang and Pook in the slide show above, but Will didn't join us so here's one of the Crosby Brothers. For some reason they look like musicians to me in this picture.



I also found the old SD card which I suspected was lost. There's only a couple of photos on there vaguely worth posting. This is a poor shot of the Golden Triangle Massage Palour where I had my foot massage. It's in the ground floor of the building to the left of Siam Prototypes.



And this is a traffic cop dealing with a massive pileup.


There was a line of about 15 vehicles all crunched up with a truck at the back, its load of cash machines or similar deposited on the road. I didn't take pictures of the crash because I didn't think it was appropriate considering people might have been hurt. In Bangkok the traffic and driving is about as bad as its reputation: you frequently see mopeds and occasionally cars driving the wrong way up the hard shoulder, which is usually used as an extra lane by those travelling the right way, people overtake, undertake and generally cut each other up constantly. Less than half of the moped and motorbike riders wear helmets, including child passengers and everybody tailgates each other because if you leave enough space for a car the gap'll get filled. You'd think that such massive pileups might serve as a lesson to people not to tailgate, but it doesn't, and after a week or so I'm not surprised. There's very few accidents, especially considering how people drive and everybody is very good natured. There's no such thing as road rage here, people hardly ever use their horn either. It's just everyman for himself and get on with it. Even the traffic cops undertake, speed and use the hard shoulder as an extra lane.

Penultimately here's another beer I've been enjoying: Chang beer. I like a bit of Chang now and again.


Lastly, just headed into Bangkok for dinner and a look around. Had my first Tuk Tuk ride. A novelty certainly, but there's too much smog, fumes and smells in Bangkok. Since you can get an air con taxi for about the same cash, usually a little less, it'll probably be my last. Saw an amazing Hindu temple, with detailed artwork all over it but photos weren't allowed. Bought a bottle of Thai wine, a Shiraz. I'll try that soon and report back.