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Hi,
Seit unserem letzten Blog Eintrag haben Elaine und ich einen National Park in Thailand besucht und sind nach Kambodscha gefahren.
Die Gegend um den Khao Yai National Park in Thailand ist bekannt fuer die vielen Fledermaus Hoehlen. Unser Gast Haus hat eine Tour zu einer solchen Hoehle angeboten und wir haben daran teilgenommen. Die Fledermaeuse haengen zu hunderten von der, teilweise unangenehm niedrigen :-), Decke. Manche fliegen auch herum (siehe erstes Foto).
An unserem zweiten Tag haben wir an einer Tour durch den Park teilgenommen und eine erstaunliche Menge an wilden Tieren gesehen. Auf dem zweiten Foto kann man einen (nicht giftigen) Skorpion sehen und auf dem dritten Foto ein paar Makaken Affen. Als Highlight hat unser Guide einen wilden Elephanten aufgespuert (siehe viertes Foto).
Nach dem National Park haben wir uns auf den Weg nach Kambodscha gemacht. Nach der Grenzueberquerung faellt einem sofort auf, dass Kambodscha noch nicht so weit entwickelt ist wie Thailand. Zum Beispiel sind die Strassen nur auf den Hauptverbindungen asphaltiert.
Unsere erste Station in Kambodscha war Siem Reap, welches als Basis fuer Besichtigungen der Tempel von Angkor dient. Unser Gast Haus stellte umsonst Fahrraeder zur Verfuegung, wovon Elaine und ich,
trotz der tropischen Hitze, auch gebraucht machten. Auf dem fuenften Foto kann man sehen wie ich ueber die holprige Strasse fahre.
Die Tempel von Angkor sind wirklich beeindruckend und die Hauptattraktion (Angkor Wat, sechstes Foto) gilt als achtes Weltwunder der Moderne und ist das groesste religioese Gebaeude der Welt. Neben Angkor Wat gibt es noch zahllose weitere Gebaeude. Manche haben grosse Buddha Gesichter in die Wand eingearbeitet (siebtes Foto), andere Gebaeude wurden von der Natur zurueck erobert (siehe achtes Foto).
Viele Gruesse,
Patrick
After our great experience in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, Patrick and I decided to seize the opportunity of visiting the world's largest monsoon forest at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.
Our first adventure required me to gather up some courage as we went touring the local bat caves, especially as we saw a giant python sleeping at the entrance of one of the caves!. At times, the bats would be just inches away from our faces and we could feel the wind from their wings brushing our arms and head. Sadly, the posted picture doesn't seem to quite do the experience justice. After walking around in the
caves, we took up a post and watched millions and millions of bats leaving their homes for a night of hunting. It took about an hour from them all to get out of the caves, with a few of them colliding in mid-air and falling to the ground and another few getting eaten by nearby hawks who apparently consider this nightly ritual an opportunity to grab some "fast-food".
Our second day in the park involved a coordinated hunt for animals on foot and them by jeep. During the hiking portion, we managed to find the endangered Gibbon monkeys, some giant spiders, and even a scorpion. Patrick was pretty courageous and allowed the scorpion to be placed on his hand while I remained in a cowering position a good distance away. Although a little less self-rewarding, the search by jeep did yield quite an impressive array of animals. We saw dozens on monkeys, some deer, and surprisingly an elephant snacking on some vegetation.
Following our rainforest experience, we decided to leave the south of Thailand for later and made our way into Cambodia. Crossing the boarder did present quite a few issues, but somehow we got through and learned
some important lessons on the way. We headed straight to Siem Reap where we spent three days biking around the Angkor Temples. Take note, when I say "biking", what I am referring to is a 9-hour daily struggle conducted on rusty pieces of extremely uncomfortable equipment rolling along less then smooth surfaces. Pictured below is Patrick powering through on one of the "roads" to a temple.
The temples, however, were 100% worth it. The first picture shows the largest religious building in the world, the mother of all temples, the Angkor Wat. Pretty impressive on site, but because of its claim to fame, it was crowded with tourists from dusk till dawn everyday. Angkor Thom contained thousands of faces built all over the temple (like the one next to me) which were suppose to remind the villages that the king was always watching. And finally, another temple complex, Ta Prohm, was left to deteriorate. It was probably my favourite as huge trees had grown right over the walls and were crushing the stonework below.
Now a bit about Cambodia. It's hot! It's hot! It's HOT!!! The word is that the temperatures this year are abnormally high (or course!).
But thankfully, fruit smoothies are still in abundance and afternoon naps through the hottest hours are common placed. The people are very nice, the infrastructure (ie. roads) is slightly lacking in some places, but we're still having a great time. And everything is pretty cheap: plate of noddles or rice for only 1$US and a draft of beer for 0.50$!
Take care,
Elaine
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Joyce Morse
non-member comment
Dad's pets
Your father never had a house pet as a child but did have his secret pets in N. Africa. He would play with scorpions in the desert until one day his father found out and came and destroyed all the scorpions.One Christmas when your father told us this sad story of childhood pets being so limited and then destroyed it made some of us cry.On another note,I once rappelled into a cenote cave (fresh water well) through bats 100 feet down into an underground "pond" the size of a football field. Your description of the wind from their wings touches on the ambience but I imagine fear of one of them biting your neck and sucking your blood must have been a concern!I am jealous of this recent part of your journey.Have fun!Love, Joyce