Saraburi, Pak Chong and Khao Yai National Park

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This weekend has been so fun! On Thursday morning, I took a ferry off of Kho Pha Ngan and then took a bus to the nearest train station in Surat Thani. The train to Bangkok was supposed to leave at 7pm but was delayed by an accident (!?) for 3 hrs so I waited at the train station forever. I should stop expecting things to ever leave on time! Delays are the name of the game I guess. Anyway, the train finally came and I was off. It was the first time I had taken an overnight train and it was great! I loved it! You get your own bunk that you can fully stretch out in. I had the best sleep in a long time and was happy to wake up in Bangkok the next morning. The next train I took turned into a really great experience. To get to Saraburi, where Brooke was working, I had to take 3rd class train. Usually on buses and trains you can pay more or less depending of if you want A/C, fan, or nothing. Saraburi is not on the tourism radar so I was for sure the only westerner on the train which consisted of rows and rows of wooden benches next to open windows where you can catch a nice breeze when on the move. The train took about 4 hrs (a direct trip normally takes 1 hr) because it stopped in every tiny town while ppl jumped off and on. It was great b/c I got to be squished next to different ppl the whole trip - some ppl ignored me, and others took up the chance to practice english which was a lot of fun. I was worried that I would miss my stop since you have to be quick to get off and they don't announce anything and there aren't any signs but thankfully by the time I got near Saraburi, all of the ppl around me knew where I was going and one man was nice enough to wake me up and tell me to get off! I would've slept right through my stop! Brooke picked me up at the train station - it was great to see her. She showed me where she was living before packing up to head to the bus station and off to our national park adventure. Two other teachers - both Americans (Texans actually) who are friends of Brooke's came along too. Friday night we took a bus to the town nearest to the park entrance and stayed at a very friendly guesthouse that served the best fried Thai omelette that I've ever eaten! The next morning, along with two other British backpackers, we headed out on a full day adventure in Khao Yai National Park - Asia's "largest intact monsoon forest" and UNESCO world heritage site. The park boasts rainforests, savannahs, beautiful waterfalls and lots of wild life. Thanks to our expert guides, we got to see quite a lot of different birds, animals & insects - snakes, scorpions, giant millipedes, giant centipedes, guar (looks kind of like a buffalo...), bear cats, elephants, giant flying squirrels, eagles, hornbills, kingfishers, lots of different deer and monkeys including gibbons and macques. It was great! We also hiked through the jungle which was so fun - it was like pretending to be Indiana Jones! haha It was really muddy and we were covered in mud and leeches by the end of the day. We finished off our tour by visiting the waterfall that Leonardo DiCaprio jumps off in the movie The Beach. It was beautiful. Brooke and I took the chance to wash off the mud and swam in the waterfall - climbing around the rocks at the bottom of the falls and playing of rope swings! We were all pretty tired that night! The next morning the American girls headed home, but Brooke & I felt like we needed to explore the park a bit more. Since the park is massive, we couldn't get around on foot so we decided to rent a motorbike! Neither of us had ever ridden one but we thought that it couldn't be THAT hard - so $10 later, we were cruising back to the park for another day of adventure 😊 We spent the day driving around the park, exploring more of the waterfalls. We visited the parks tallest falls which was a 150m drop! We also hiked into some a few other sets of falls - swimming and rock climbing to cool off. It was a lot of fun. The real adventure started when we realized that the motobike rental guys had NOT given us very much gas! hahah Motorbiking through the park trying to get out and to the nearest gas station on just fumes was hilarious! At one point, there was so little gas, it barely would start so Brooke would start it and keep revving the engine, then I would have to jump on super quick so we could keep going and not stop! We did buy a bottle of petrol, sold from a lady in a whisky bottle but it definitely wasn't enough and we had to coax the bike along, most of the way coasting and not using the gas at all! Thank god the way out was all downhill and we made it without running out of gas. Victory! We amazingly made it back to town (now in the dark!) and returned the bike in one piece. So many things could've gone so badly - broken legs, motorbike crashes, elephant chargings, getting stuck in the deserted park at night with no gas, etc. but somehow things all worked out! It was a great day! I just wish there was some way to capture amazing moments - like biking along and all of a sudden being surrounded by 30 monkeys or waiting for a bus at the side of the road, dirty & exhausted, eating the best full chicken wings with our hands like homeless children! hahah Now I'm back in Saraburi - heading to Bangkok soon to meet up with Tory at the train station. Then we're heading North to Chiang Mai on another overnight train.

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