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Published: February 25th 2009
I left BKK after less than 48 hours. I really didn't do anything exciting there as I have been there so many times now. But, I had a really good time with my friends there before heading out. Sorry I don't have more exciting BKK stories to tell!
I met some very nice ladies at breakfast, an English woman traveling solo for one year (she's 4 months in) and a Belgium woman who was just here for a 2 week holiday. I would've liked to have spent more time with them...but had other plans.
I took a train Sunday morning to Pak Chong which is the stop for Khao Yai National Park--Thailand's oldest national park, modeled after the national park system of the USA! Nice to know we pass on some good things to other countries.
The train was late getting in and while there was supposed to be someone picking me up (confirmed by email), no one was waiting. No problem, mai pen rai, this is Thailand and this is why I have a phone just for overseas! I call, they come pick me up, all is well.
Sometimes I don't know why I bother to try to arrange
anything over email because when I got to the guesthouse they acted like they'd never heard of me before even though they had confirmed me for 2 nights and a trek!
It was no problem, you can't let that stuff bother you in South East Asia or else you will go crazy. But sometimes it's hard to let it go. I'm getting a lot better.
I stayed at the Green Leaf Guesthouse and I can't say enough great things about this place and the guides. I arrived in time to take a 1/2 day trek with Lek and Puma. With 2 truckloads of people (about 10 of us) we headed for a spring fed swimming pool. Unfortuantely, it being Sunday afternoon, it was crammed full of weekend Thais. We skipped it and went straight to the Buddhist caves. These caves were very cool with all sorts of Buddhist temples set up inside and millions of bats live in these caves. I made sure I wore a hat as others were not so lucky and came out with bat poop head.
Afterward, we drove to an open field where we waited for the sunset when the bats would pour out
of the cave at dusk. Our guides were really amazing and on the way there spotted 2 snakes (both harmless) and a beautiful little owl. They always travel with telescopes so we could see things 'up close'.
Seeing the bats stream out of the mountain side was really amazing as they formed a black line across the sky with the sunset in the background.
We had joked that since we had to skip the swimming hole, maybe we could go night swimming. He took us seriously and most of us took the dare (yes, I did!). It was a little creepy in the dark water, but great fun.
I feel really lucky that I am with a group of interesting people. There are 4 American girls who are teaching English at a Thai university, a Frenchman traveling for 6 months, an Italian who is a little crazy and a big smoker, and a retired Dutch couple whom I adore. The Dutch couple lived in Thailand over 40 years ago and this is their first trip back. I can't imagine how much it has changed!
Their lives are fascinating and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm interviewing them, it's
just that I can't hear enough about their lives! They are both almost 70 years old and keeping up with the younger people no problem at all. Tomorrow we all go on a 12 hour trek through the jungle.
It's nice and cool here in the evenings which is such a welcome change from the heat of BKK.
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Snake in the Grass
