27.03.2008 Khao Yai National Park

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Khao Yai National Park

We were woken up at 7 am. We jumped into the shower and had a tea for breakfast before getting onto the truck.

We only drove a few minutes into the park before we stopped at the visitors centre where we got leech socks, totally sexy - not!!!

In the centre we could have a look at stuffed crocodiles and maps of the park as well as read information boards. Most of us bought a rain coat because it had been dripping on the ride to the park but fortunately it would remain dry for the rest of the day.

We went on a short walk and spotted a Gibbon (monkey).

After the visitors centre we continued to drive into the rainforest for another few minutes. I can't really say, for I totally lost track of time. We had to get off the truck and continued our journey by foot. I was amazed by the beauty of the forest. Soon we spotted the first leeches. They were about 4 - 5 cm long worms which attached themselves to the ground with one end and stood up wiggling with their bodies. They were literally ambushing us. Though really tiny, they looked evil. I can't say that I was scared of them because I have already been bitten twice a few years back and I know that it doesn't really hurt, yet I didn't fancy to be too close to them.

At some point our guide stopped walking and asked us all to be as quiet as possible. He was really excited about something. He took his telescope and discovered an apparently really seldom bird. He let us have a look as well. Then he asked us to hand our cameras to him and he took pictures through the telescope. Without that you wouldn't have seen much of the bird on the photo - except with Fabians super 10x zoom camera of course *stilljealous* 😊

We had a break at a little lake and then walked on. In the afternoon we reached Haew Suwat Waterfall (one of the film locations of the movie "The Beach") where we had lunch. Some guys from our tour went swimming. I would have loved to go but we didn't have our swimming things with us and decided to hike around a bit instead.

After lunch we went for a walk again and soon left the track in order to look for wild elephants. I was amazed at how well the guide new the animals. They can read tracks. Ok it's easy to follow a series of knocked over trees but they also know about how long ago an animal passed by looking at their droppings. He could also hear the elephants while I couldn't hear anything but singing birds. We spotted a 12 - 15 year old elephant bull. He just stood there eating. The guide told us, that we're not allowed to get closer than 50 meters. He said that if the bull feels bothered he will probably run towards us. I asked him what to do if that was going to happen. He explained to us, that while we have to run around the trees they're no obstacle to the elephant and that he can just sprint straight and run them over. So the only chance to survive this is to run fast enough. Well, that's comforting news! An elder lady in the group got a panic attack and the guide had to leave with her. We tried to make photos. But Fabian was the only one who managed to take a nice one - have I mentioned yet that I'm jealous of his camera?

While we stood there watching the Elephants I could all of a sudden feel something bite me in my back in the area of my right blade bone. I knew at once that that was a bloody leech. I asked the guys to have a look. The young Dutch guy reacted at once, pulled out a mosquito repellent with DEET and sprayed some on the leech which let go at once. Phu... just about survived that one 😉

When we got back to the truck we were asked to take off our shoes and socks and check for leeches. Some of these creepy things managed to get into our shoes but couldn't bite because of the leech socks. I have to say that it was quite a bit of a bother to keep looking out for them on our walk. They kept sneaking up our legs and we had to get them off by shaking our legs or tamping on the floor.

All of a sudden one of the Danish girls started to scream. She had discovered a leech on her back just above her belt. We could tell that it had been soaked quite a bit already. Someone grabbed a lighter and held the flame towards the leech which let go. The girl was shocked at how much she bled. We tried to calm her and I told her that it's normal to bleed a lot. She'll be ok.

In the late afternoon we went to a view point where we had an excellent look over parts of the park. It was beautiful 😊

When we got back to our lodge we were asked if we wanted to take a shower before they'd take us back to Pak Chang. We were amazed at the service because we had to check out in the morning. We appreciated the generous offer, ordered our food and went for a shower while they cooked.

After dinner they took us to the city. Again, we only had to wait about half an hour for the bus. During the journey back to Bangkok we didn't talk much. We were extremely tired. We just sank into our seats and snoozed a bit.

After arriving in Bangkok late, we took a taxi each because we lived in different parts of the city. It was an unforgettable trip and I wished we had the time to stay another day or two.

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Photos

Elephant bull
(Pic by Fabian)