Advertisement
Published: January 20th 2008
Edit Blog Post
We've been on the move. Had to force ourselves off the beach and brave the journey back to Bangkok, it only took us 20 hours this time and cost 200 Baht less, so that was nice! Decided, due to a change of plan, not to stay in Bangkok so we booked a train to Lopburi, waited the three hours for it to leave then enjoyed the relative comfort of a third class journey a little way North. Lopbori is a fairly small town that has some really interesting ruins from the 6th to 10th centuries AD, but the real reason we came was to give Anny her first sighting of some monkeys. This town has a troup of mischievous monkeys running amok, and after a little hunting we found the pesky buggers! They seemed to have made their home in and around one of the ruins. They were utterly without fear and every time one of us turned our backs to photograph an interesting group, one of the cheeky chappies would climb on our backs! One enterprising soul, wanting to be as cool a monkey as me, made off with my sunglasses!
That evening we went for a walk looking
for somewhere to eat, we came to a street that we had walked down not an hour before, now it was transformed into that quintisentially Thai institution: the busteling night market. How it had sprung up so quickly I have no idea, perhaps the monkeys, proving as industrious as they are naughty, lent a hand? We spent, and have done every day since, a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours wandering around sampling different dishes and snacks from the hundreds of carts and stalls available. Half the time we had no idea what we were getting, we just sucked it to see! For a total of 120 Baht (about two quid) we both ate Pork balls on a stick with impressively fiery sauce, squid on a stick, two fried fish of unknown provenance, some sort of french toast, some starange fruit, delicious sweet type things and a lovely fruit shake! Fantastic. The mood was so friendly, the Thai's, being a sociable lot, make eating a comunal experience, fun as well as nutritiously rewarding. We ate the last of our meal in a park adjascent to the market where, in another (though exceptionally comic) display of sociability, we watched hundreds of ordinary
Thai's doing dance aerobics to some awful Thai pop. Next to this there were two Takraw courts (a Thai game not disimilar to volleyball but with a lower net and where any part of the body may be used to return the small woven rattan ball but the arms) where some amazing athleticism was on show. These guys can kick the ball when it is higher than their heads (with one foot still on the ground) and, as a finishing move, can turn a sommersault in the air whilst overhead kicking the ball into their opponents court and then, miraculously, land on their feet! In a typical show of Thai generosity and kindness, because I was showing interest, I was presented with a Takraw ball as a gift. Just like that, with only a shy Wai and a smile; no explanation given, no thanks wanted. Lovely.
Next day we went to Ayuthaya where we saw yet more ruins, all very interesting, some quite magnificent. In one the roots of a tree had entirely surrounded the head of a Buddha in a woody headlock! from there we were on the train again this time the destination Pak Chong, a medium
sized provincial town that we were to use as our base for exploring the near by Khao Yai National Park. Khao Yai is 2168 square Kilometers and comprises one of the largest remaining intact tracts of virgin seasonal rainforest. Inside the park, at lower altitudes, you have the seasonal rainforest (trees here loose their leaves in the dry season to conserve moisture) and higher up there is true tropical rainforest. The park has an amazing amount of wildlife, including the now sadly, critically, endangered tiger.
After entering the park in a jeep with seats in the back we climbed steadily upwards untill we came to a viewpoint with magnificent views down and accross the thickly forested park. We then started the drive to the point where we would enter the jungle for our shortish trek. On the way we came accross another jeep, stationary, with its occupants peering into the thick, dark jungle. We climbed out to have a look and could just, barely perceptibly, make out the dark bulk of an elephant. If we needed any more pursuading, we were soon to get it. The beast started shaking trees and emitting a deep, low rumbling. The crashing of
branches got nearer and when it gave a huge, deafening, trumpeting blast of warning our guide yelled "run" and we all, with frantically beating hearts, rushed for the jeep! Unfortunately the creature never emerged onto the road for us to get a good look at him and the terrain was too dangerous to follow him in.
We entered the jungle for our trek and immediately our world closed in upon us, the light was darker and only a slight dappeling reached the ground, huge trees with enormous buttressed roots towered above us, the trail was thick with tangled knots of vines, insects as loud as a dentists drill buzzed and clicked in the trees, birds sang and Gibbons shouted their distinctive call from the canopy. The most impressive tree has to be the strangler fig, a tree that lives up to its moniker. This fig is a parasite. It begins its life high up in the canopy of the tallest trees, presumably deposited there by a birds lower intestine. It attatches itself to the host tree and begins to feed from it. As it grows it sends down arial roots that eventually reach the ground from where it can
draw an additional source of nutrients, at the same time starving the host tree of, what previously, had been his alone. The fig grows remarkably quickly and in a comparitively short period of time the host tree has been entirely overwhelmed. The fig's canopy now blocks all the light, its roots steal all the nutrients and so eventually the host dies and rots away. This often leaves the fig with an entirely hollow center (where the host used to be), the bottom of the fig a tangled mess of roots. So impressive.
We eventually came out into a clearing where there was a large waterfall and, in the pool at the bottom, swimming and eventually crawling out, we saw a meter long Water Monitor Lizard. Looking above us we were lucky enough to see a pair of Giant Hornbills flying by withn the distinct "whoosh, whoosh" of two meter wings ( we were later to also see Asian Pied Hornbill). We then followed the river, crossing it many times, back into the jungle. As we did the sounds of Gibbons got much louder but unfortunately we could not see them, the canopy being really thick and visibility limited to
the edges. But then, spectacularly, we were threated to a display of arial gymnastics that even the Takraw players would have been proud of! Leaping, diving and swinging overhand through the trees came four Black Gibbons (one male, two females and a youngster), at one point they amazingly bridged the gap between the trees over the river not ten meters from where we stood. Such a good day!
Later we were to see an elephant on the night safari, along with Macacks (sp), Barking deer and a giant squirrel. We are now making a dash for the border, viaPrasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung! Speak to you all soon from Cambodia
Advertisement
Tot: 0.311s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 25; qc: 127; dbt: 0.2091s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Kathleen
non-member comment
Very cool ;)
Hey you two, thats amazing ! I love the monkeys, Scott I hope you got your sunglasses back ?! Hope you 2 are well, but as we can see you are ! Enjoy !!! Really like the updates. Cheers Kathleen