Swinging in Khao Yai

After navigating away from our remote Isaan village in the northeast we set our sights on Khao Yai National Park, Thailand's oldest and second largest park. Upon leaving SamBerDang, our quiet little haven in the country, we headed back to Khon Kaen for a night layover and then down to Khorat (another large industrial city in the NE of Thailand --- the country's second largest city behind Bangkok) for one night. We found our stay in Khorat uninspiring and were thrilled to be heading towards such a massive park so full of beauty. Once leaving Khorat, we arrived into Pak Chong, the largest nearby city to the park's north entrance. We were picked up by our guesthouse and arrived into our 200 Baht/night ($5 bucks) - no thrills room - and started our journey into the park entrance. Pak Chong is roughly 24km east of the park entrance and our guesthouse was 7km outside of Pak Chong, towards the park. So we had 17km to go before even arriving at the entrance. We tried hitching for a bit until the government run pickup-truck-of-a-bus picked us up and dropped us off at the entrance. From there, we had yet another 17km to travel until reaching the visitors center which is the focal point of all the trailheads. After paying $10 bucks for us both to get in, we then had to wait until someone, anyone, would pick us up. There ended up being several people all lined up ready to hitch a ride to the top. Finally we snatched a ride and were let off at the visitors center, FINALLY making it to our destination. The park, around 2100 sq. kilometers in size, originally opened in 1961. It is home to some amazing wildlife: gibbon monkeys, lots of wild elephants, supposedly 15 remaining tigers, many other big cats, 31 different species of hornbills, deer, guar and lots and lots of fascinating birds. The park is also known for many spectacular waterfalls, some of which we hiked to on our second day. The first day we didn't have as long as we had hoped for hiking after our transfer to the trailhead took so long. So we set off on one of the more popular 5km hikes that took us to a large observation tower that overlooked a resevoir. After nearly losing our way a couple of meters into the hike, we got back on track and witnessed some beautiful terrain. We were blown away by the size and shape of the trees along the way, with the branches and vines encircling us at times. At any moment we were expecting these monsters to start talking and walking around as if we were Frodo and Sam, small hobbits hiking along the trail, protecting our "precious" and guided by Gollum! The sounds of the birds and animals were amazing, a true jungle experience for the prancers. We hiked until we almost ran out of daylight. Back at the visitor center, we were treated to a large group of gibbon monkeys swinging from the trees. These little gymnists were rather fun to watch swing around free from confined cages, giving us a chance to truly see the abilities they hold inside their funny looking bodies. A great introduction to the park.

The second day we decided to hike a much longer trail and end up at one of the park's larger waterfalls, Namtok Heo Suwat. In fact, this waterfall is the one that was used in the filming of the 1999 film, The Beach, which stared Leonardo Dicaprio and is based on Alex Garland's book. Unfortunately, the waterfall was at its least dramatic because of the time of year. January is great for hiking and temps at Khao Yai (and avoiding the bugs), but the waterfalls are not at their most impressive. We took a couple off-shoot trails to see two other waterfalls and then ate lunch. After lunch we did another brief hike to yet another waterfall and met up with a very nice man that works for the British Embassy in Bangkok. We ended up walking back with him to the visitors center and had a great discussion with him about lots and lots of topics. He has done two terms in Thailand for UK foreign affairs and was a wealth of knowledge in regards to traveling around the country. (Cheers, Andy!) We hitched a ride from a great group of Thais (the ones in the picture attached) and stopped off at an amazing Italian restaurant for a great dinner! A great nightcap to a brilliant day of experiencing Khao Yai.

We are now in route to visit two significant Khmer monuments in Thailand, Prasaat Phanom Rung and Muang Tam. We are heading to Nang Rong for our stay and will visit these two ruins (a preview if you will) before heading into Cambodia for the biggie, Angkor Wat, the largest religious structure in the world. Stay tuned for these updates.