Monkey see monkey do!

Had some errands to do in sukhothai so I didn't get out of there until
around 2pm. Ex and his family were so nice, didn't even charge for
any of my 3 days there, including my night in the fancy bungalow and
sent me off with fruit and bottled water for the journey, and Ex gave
me a scooter ride to the bus station so I didn't have to walk there (I
refuse to pay for taxis or tuk tuks if the station is in walking
distance). Got to phitsanolouk an hour later, but the next train to
lopburi wasn't until 7:30pm (read at least 8:30pm with thai train
schedules), so I wouldn't be getting into lopburi until 2am. I was
taking a pretty big risk getting in that late considering lopburi is
off the main toursit track too, so I was kinda worried. I was also
worried b/c this was the first time on a train where the final
destination of the train wasn't my destination. Which means I had to
read the signs (mostly in thai) in the dark very quickly. If it was
your stop you had only seconds to grab your gear and get off. I was
pretty nervous about this too, afraid I would miss it. But I timed
how long it was supposed to take to get there, and then basically hung
off the train looking after that time was reached. Ended up finding
it and finding a great and cheap room even at 2am!

Lopburi is one of the oldest towns in thailand and has some very old
ruins and temples, which are inhabited (and run) by macaques
(monkeys). It is quite crazy, a whole section of the town is taken
over too with the monkeys running across buildings and electrical
wires. They get quite aggressive and they jumped on my backpack
several times. One got away with my CU hat for a while before it lost
interest, but people have been known to lose purses and cameras to
them. It is quite funny to see the monkeys crawling over the temples
and buddha statues.

Of course checked out the market in lopburi looking for good food. The markets are always interesting b/c there can be such weird stuff there. Pig heads, chicken toes, cockroaches, fish and squid of all kinds. Tried 4 new fruits I never had before. One was a dragon fruit, but don’t know what the other 3 were, and had the cheapest meal yet. Pad Se Euw for 10 baht (30 cents)!

After lopburi I had another crazy travel experience to pak chong near
Khao Yai NP. 3 hour ride and standing room only, so that got quite
tiring, plus since I was one of the last ones on I was standing in the
front of the bus and anyone and everyone getting on or off had to
squeeze by the rather larger western, which posed more difficulties
than you'd think as the aisles are so narrow I bump each seat when
it's me walking alone, let alone squeezing by someone. I got dropped
off seemingly in the middle of nowhere...turns out it was the
intersection for the highway to khao yai, but i needed to get into pak
chong to look for a guesthouse, so I was able to catch a saegnteaw
into pak chong. Called up a guesthouse and got picked up b/c the guesthouse was halfway between khao yai and pak chong.

Khao Yai is supposed to be the premier national park in Thailand and is apparently rated in the top 5 NP’s in the world (have know idea how they come up with a rating for parks, there are so many good ones in so many different ways). It’s the largest tract of pristine monsoon forest in Thailand and the best place for spotting wildlife, so obviously I was excited.

The first day I signed up for a wildlife tour with the guesthouse. On the road at the beginning we saw lots and lots of macaques (monkeys). We then did a 5km walk through the jungle looking for wildlife. We didn’t see much, but the different trees and strangler figs were quite impressive. The hike ended at a wildlife watch tower overlooking a salt lick and lake. We saw a couple of otters there. On the way out to the truck, we spotted a family of gibbons. Cute and cuddly and amazing swingers in the trees just like the one and only true Gibbon. In the afternoon we drove to the waterfall that was featured in the movie the Beach. Ya know, the one where Leonardo di caprio jumps off of. Looking down from the top to the pool below, it was quite impressive someone jumped (a stunt man of course) as the water looked a bit shallow. Of course it’s much higher in the rainy season when the jump was filmed. They no longer allow jumping off or swimming in the pool b/c a few too many people have died trying to emulate that scene. But a very picturesque waterfall indeed. The late afternoon and evening was taken up driving along the south part of the park looking for elephants. No luck, only saw a pretty cool snake. I hadn’t really thought about it til I got here, but it was a long 5 day holiday weekend for the thais b/c they got new years eve and new years off, then the king gave them Friday off and of course the weekend, so the park was very crowded with thai tourists and campers on Saturday and they said that a lot of the animals had been scared deep into the jungle during that time.

Met a good group of people on the trip. A French couple (actually from a small island off Africa that france owns), who unfortunately didn’t speak great English, a very nice german couple who had first been to Thailand 17 years ago and can’t believe how much it’s changed with the tourism and all, a funny guy from Malaysia and an American ex-pat, Anne, who now works for a tour company here. Anne was from, who da thunk it, Greeley and Boulder. She actually grew up in the east coast, but went to UNC for undergrad and grad b/c it apparently has a great program for sports agents and she got a good scholarship that intended to promote women as agents. She also swam for UNC and of course had been to the estes park aquatic center and know’s sam hewson (who doesn’t in the swimming world) But after a few too many broncos that she was an agent for who got career ending injuries, she moved to boulder and worked to travel. She then ended up getting a sweet job while she was traveling in Thailand. She met some random guy who offered her a job. She basically organizes and takes groups of Canadians, Americans, and Australians (size 6-15people) around asia for anywhere from 9 days to 2 months. She doesn’t do the actual touring, they have guides at each place for that, but helps to organize transport, accommodation, food etc along the way. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig b/c she gets to travel and eat for free and see all the cool stuff. Plus, she says usually the group is pretty cool. I might have to look into that when I get back. Definitely made sure to get the info on the company from her.

Khao Yai is known as the best place in SE asia to see Asian elephants in the wild and I really wanted to see them b/c a. I love elephants and b. I really don’t think asian elephants will be around much longer (khao yai has the largest pop in SE Asia at 200 elephants, which isn’t much considering poaching still occurs and genetics become quite the issue with such a small population cut off from other elephant populations.), I decided to stay longer to see if I could see more wildlife and also the elephants. Now that I knew the spots to look I decided to go at it by myself.

Sunday was still quite crowded with thai tourists, but hey I was here, so I had to make the best of it. I hitched a ride up to the park HQs (hitching in thai NP’s is such a cinch, usually the first car picks you up!). I then rented a bike and biked 28km down south (in elephant territory) to a spectacular waterfall down there. After visiting the falls and getting some lunch I biked back. I still had some daylight left, so I biked 15km back towards the falls again looking for elephants and then back again. Believe you me, I was quite tired b/c it was very hilly and my steed was of course many sizes to small and had no easy gears. Unfortunately all I saw were some monkeys, squirrels, deer, and hornbills. By the time I got near the picnic areas I was tired and pretty dehydrated. I don’t often do this, but I was craving a pop. When I got to a small lake, a few miles from HQs I stopped just for a quick break, and lo and behold, this little thai girl came up and gave me an ice cold pepsi! Heaven! Of course it meant I would be photographed with each member of the family for the next few minutes, but who cares. And throughout the day I was in many a photograph with many a thai lady or family. It’s so weird. They must really think I’m goofy or something. I was getting especially asked today being on the bike I think. It’s a lot like westerns photographing the long neck tribesman or the masaii or the tribes with huge rings in their ears. Pretty funny. It was turning dusk, so I biked the few km’s to the wildlife overlook as dusk and dawn are the best times for watching wildlife. No luck, just more deer (barking and sambar). I then took the night safari, using spot lights from a truck. We saw some cool stuff…a civet, a mongoose, and 4 of these nocturnal tree mammals. They didn’t know the English name, but I think they’re called lorises.

It’s winter here at this park and it’s pretty high elevation, so I was freezing that night. I stayed in a dorm b/c it was only 2 bucks a night. I pictured like the bunkbeaded research dorms typical in our parks, but it was basically just a wall with 3 sides of screen and then you slept on the wood floor. I had asked for a mat and blanket. The mat was just an incredibly thin straw mat and the blanket was quite tiny and thin. So needless to say the sleeping wasn’t great. It’s not that cold there (the low when I checked the thermometer at the park was 45), but it’s so humid you get wet and sticky and then when it gets cold, it really gets cold. I got up at 4:30 to walk to the wildlife blind (I no longer had my bike). Again no luck. Just deer and some giant hornbills. I walked a few jungle trails until around noon when I was just starving and thirsty. Got a big OJ and a big tub of icecream! There was a 10km trail that went through the jungle to get to the big waterfall from the beach, and another waterfall as well and that had the best chance of seeing wildlife.. Apparently it was a difficult trail and tough to follow (lots of huge downed trees and intersecting wildlife trails) so they said you needed a guide. Lonely planet said you needed a compass and to be experienced or hire a guide. A problem with traveling alone is that you have to pay the whole guide fee. 15 bucks…which isn’t too much, but a lot for me on a 15-20 dollar a day budget. It would be just fine splitting it with 3 or even one other person. But there were no western tourists around and thais don’t hike. So I decided I could do it by myself. If it got too sketchy and I feared getting lost, I could simply turn around. I would also time myself, so that I would no when I was reaching a point of no return in terms of turning back before dark. I started off on the trail, or at least what I thought was the trail, but after hiking for an hour I realized it was just some other random trail. I thought it was the correct trail b/c it had bridges (a good sign), although rickety, and some random nature signs. Well, I went back to the visitors center and re-assesed their terrible map. Started again, and this time for sure found the trail. Now I didn’t have ton’s of time as it was 2:30, so I definitely made sure to keep track of the point of no return. I had to walk faster than I would like for a trail I was looking for wildlife on, but what could ya do. Hear lots of things crashing into the jungle and saw a few brown blurs, but it’s difficult to see things much further than 10 feet away in the jungle. Did come across a very fresh pile of elephant dung, but no elephant. I was pretty nervous for a lot of the trail (even though it was easy enough to follow) just b/c I was by myself and running short on time. Wish I had had the bro with me as he has been on many of those return late at night in the dark trips (remember: lion lake to sandbeach lake, mtn biking in Carlsbad, NM, and mtb in Buena vista bro!?). I ended up making it in plenty of time, time to see both waterfalls and an hour and a half to spare of light. Took me two hours to do the trail (the visitor center says 4-5). I had the waterfall made famous in the beach all to myself though. Not a soul, which was very nice!! I would take the road back to the visitor center which was 15km by road away. I had hoped to hitch, but as there was no one there I had to do it myself. I had booked a night safari for 7pm, so I had two hours to somehow cover the 15kms. I started to jog, though I likely wouldn’t make it at a job. But in a half hour I passed a campsite and there were people coming in and out of that, so I got a ride. The night safari was again pretty good. The highlight were 4 huge asian porcupines. It was 8:30 and I now needed to get back to the guesthouse as I didn’t want to stay in the freezing park again. As it was Monday, there was not near the traffic as the weekend, so I was worried I would have to stay. But first car that came by picked me up and was able to take me the 20km’s to the entrance. Now I had another 20 to go. It was a bit more difficult getting a ride outside the park, but eventually after a half hour of walking I got one. My guesthouse was booked, but I just went next door. A bit more expensive, but nicer and free internet (thus the post now as it has been too expensive up here otherwise). I was super exhausted and thankful this place was nice enough to have a warm shower! Bought some junk food and warm noodle soup b/c I felt I deserved it!

I really, really wanted to see an elephant and who knows when I’d be in Thailand again, so I ponied up the money (33 bucks) and hired another wildlife tour. Apparently on the tours they see elephants one day a week. I had already been on 1, and the tour by myself on bike, so I figured I had a decent chance. Plus it was Tuesday, so less people. This time I went with the tour company out of the new guesthouse I was staying at. On the drive up we saw another nice family of gibbons. I love watching them. They are so graceful in the trees. They mainly are swingers and do not use their feet. You can see where the name monkey bars comes from… On the nature walk we saw yet another family of gibbons. Then eating figs high up on a fig tree we saw a binturong (bearcat). It was a pretty incredible find. The guide who guides every day only sees 1 or 2 a year. It was definitely not a mammal I would see anywhere except in a zoo. We also saw a bear of giant squirrels. Again we did the waterfall thing. This time I was with a group of 3 from Italy, 2 from Holland, 1 from deutchland, 1 from schweitz, and an elderly german ex pat who just loved the macaques on the side of the road. On the way up to the waterfall, we saw the other of the species of gibbon in the park. This one is quite rare and endangered and I could tell it was a good find b/c even the guide got out his camera. After the waterfall, we drove to the top of the highest peak in Khao Yai. There is a military outpost on the top with a big radar antennae that the thai royal army uses as their main airspace defense. Interestingly, it was donated by the American army. After that we went for the elephant safari, and sadly, no luck. Shoot! Well, I could stay another day, but I won’t b/c I can’t waste all my time and money looking for something that is only a 15% chance of seeing. I may see one tomorrow, in 5 days, or in 2 weeks, so it’s unfortunately not worth it for me now. Before the hour long, freezing (we’re in the back of a truck) drive to the guesthouse I bought some breakfast porridge at the cafeteria to warm the innards. Hmm…it was rice based, pork and fish flavored porridge! Well, it was definitely a very great time in Khao Yai. Saw some awesome wildlife, some fantabulous waterfalls, and some beautiful monsoon, rain, and dry forest scenery.

Speaking earlier of all the thai tourists at khao yai for the holidays. I also ran into a bunch of thai tourists in pai over the weekend more towards the beginning of my trip. That is the only time I have run into much tourists. In fact, due to a few issues, I have been extremely lucky with the amount of western tourists here. There just hardly are any! This makes things nice b/c it keeps prices down, makes bartering for guesthouses easier, makes finding the good guesthouses with available rooms even late in the night, or even finding them. When I got into Bangkok my first night at 2am, I was originally planning on just sleeping in the airport b/c there was no way I’d find a place, but I found one easy, and very cheap. It’s also nice b/c it’s just great to not have tourists crawling all around. Thailand is probably the number 1 “exotic” destination in the world, so it can be quite crowded. In fact, a lot of the more experienced, jaded se asia backpackers don’t even go to Thailand anymore unless they go to remote spots b/c it apparently makes them sick compared to 20 years ago with all the tourists around as they remember empty beaches with no bungalows or people in site and hidden hilltribes.. And prices have skyrocketed even in the last 10 years; one of the reasons, along with incredible rainforest/coral reef destruction and increased spoilage due to tourists that I wanted to go to SE asia as soon as I could before it became too expensive like say Europe (my parents backpacked in Europe way back when for 5 dollars a day, now the lonely planet Europe on a shoe string suggests to budget 100 dollars a day for budget. When I was there I struggled to keep it under 70) and before all the natural beauty was gone. But yea, it has been great, I really don’t see that many farangs (foreigners) at all. Just enough to meet some cool people. According to the T.A.T. (tourism authority of Thailand) guesthouses in Thailand are anywhere from 50% capacity (chiang mai) to a lowly 15% capacity (Bangkok). This is mainly due I think to the struggling euro/American economies, but more so b/c of the untimely closure of the two main international airports in early December. For someone like me with no job to come back to, it wasn’t a huge worry, knowing it would eventually open up and I could go. But people with only 2 weeks, 3 weeks, even a month, could not spare to waste vacation time waiting for it to open, or fearing it wouldn’t, so they rescheduled trips elsewhere, and it’s main more people nervous about Thailand as well. And of course the thai government isn’t the brightest always. Instead of offering huge deals like they did after the tsunami nearly ended tourism, they have done nothing, and instead changed people coming in overland (via laos, Malaysia, Cambodia) only 15 day visas instead of the usual 30 days. This is insanely short when you consider you need a day to get to the border, and a day to cross and go back for a visa run, leaving you with only 13 days. This means that people’s who’s 30 day fly in visa expires, that would typically go to laos or Cambodia or Malaysia for a visa run, but then come back to Thailand to spend their money in Thailand are just staying in the other countries. Hmm…the new ruling might kind of effect me to, but I’ll probably just spend the extra money while in laos to get a 30 day tourist visa so I can have 30 days down in the southern beaches without worrying about a visa run.

Well, tomorrow it’s off bright and early to Kachanaburi (home of the death bridge over the river kwai made famous by the movie), one last stop before going back to Bangkok so I can fly to Myanmar.

Hope everyone is well back home!