Langurs, Monkeys, and Butterflies... Oh My!

We’ve been here for two weeks now, but it feels like much longer. I’ve been working a lot, but I’ve had a few days off to explore around. Last week we went to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. We hiked over steep cliffs to the town of Bang Pu, a very small beach with a resort and access to the Tham Phraya Nakhon Caves. We quickly stumbled onto to several Langurs swinging from the trees above us. They were cautious of us, but not scared. They playfully entertained us for a while until we headed to the beach. Later, on the way to the caves, we came across more Langurs. These ones seemed even friendlier at first. A small one swung right above me and stopped. James said “Watch out, it might pee on you.” I moved aside and he took my place to get a good picture with the camera. However, the Langur started peeing and pooping right over our heads. James ducked out of the way as I laughed. Luckily, the Langur missed us both. So first the snake poop, and now the Langur almost got us. Just a few feet further, I spotted a spider web, and not just any spider web, a HUGE spider web. And in it was a black, with green and red coloring, spider, bigger than my hand, bigger than James’ hand! We took some pictures, but you can’t really see it in the photos.

We hiked higher and farther up to the caves. It was almost like entering a lost ancient city. The cave walls were smooth and sparkled. The stalagmites hung down with little bits of water slowing dripping off. There was lush green foliage and a few flowers. Some areas you could crawl farther back into the darkness. One section had a shrine where there was incense burning and a stool to pray on. There were also several candles that James lit. Several Kings of Thailand have spent time visiting these caves, and their pictures are displayed in the cave. There is also tons of Andy Goldsworthy like rock formations that various people have created; the ones where they balance several different rocks on top of each other.

This week we headed to the Pa La-u Waterfalls. This is an 11 tier waterfall about an hour and a half from where I live. The tiers are spread out over a long distance, so we only made it to the third tier since it was late in the day by the time we got there. On the way there we stopped in a small “town” to use the restroom and grab some food. When we tried to start the car again, it wouldn’t start, or even click over. James banged on the starter with a rock for while and then we called John. We couldn’t get a hold of him so we left a message. We had given up on the waterfall and just wanted to get the car going. We tried one last time and it started. Now, what to do, go to the waterfall that is in the middle of nowhere with a beat up car that might not start with the possibility of coming across tigers and who knows what else? Or go home, even though we’re already half way there. We decided to go for it. We figured it started, it’ll start again, and if not then we’re almost stranded in the middle of nowhere right now, we might as well be stranded with a waterfall.

As we drove closer we came across some monkeys. They actually looked more like chimpanzees, but we’re not sure exactly what they were, since there weren’t any signs. So I’ll just call them monkeys. The monkeys were crossing the street all at the same time and there were tons of them! At least 30 slowly making there way across the street. There were little babies hang on to their mothers and other tiny ones jumping about. We got a pretty good video of it too.

When we arrived, we headed down the “trail.” The first thing we came to were tons of resting butterflies perched on a big rock at the edge of the water. Their wings were closed as they were sitting. Of course, I had to close to them, and they all fluttered around me with their big brightly colored wings. They didn’t seemed scared or fly away, they just fluttered around us. It was beautiful and the best part of the falls. All along our hike were tons of them, just sitting on rocks, waiting to show their pretty wings off. When we got to the third tier we could see tons of big fish swimming in the pool of water. We wondered what they would do if we jumped in. James got closer and they swam deeper. He jumped in and was refreshed by the cool water.

This weekend we’re off to the island of Koh Tao.

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