Khao Yai National Park, 3+ hours north of us, a UNESCO World Heritage site and considered one of the world's great national parks because of its size and plant & animal varieties. Lots of wild elephants, birds, reptiles, large cats & even a few tigers. We sampled just teeny smidgen, and hope to return with more time and a longer camera lense
First day we had a quick lunch in park & saw nothing but monsoon. Second day, monkeys galore were out. Kept our distance, this little one yawned and its fangs were enormously scary
Ry was first to spot babies in trees, here at least 3
Pictures don't do justice, but we stood amused at base of these trees for more time than I care to admit, just taking in the moment... probably a good dozen to 16 babies swinging around, maybe 8 or 10 parents nearby
Every km down this park road we'd come across one or a handful
Further along this pair entertained us with the parent looking really perplexed at times & trying to reign in the little one. Yep, we are genetically very similar and parenting is hard
A blur of flying fun
Wouldn't have minded seeing a cobra from comfort of car, but had to settle nicely on a monitor lizard
We see lizards all the time, all under a foot long... this was a treat, though even this size is considered fairly common here. We followed it for a few minutes before it climbed back into the woods. Tempting, but we weren't prepared to follow it
This little family appeared to be discussing something... baby between them
After seeing a fair bit on our drive into the park, excited to hit trails... wearing leech socks because that's not a Disneyland bridge & trail
Yep, it's not easy, but it is good
Wondering what we might see around every corner. A few years ago, visitors stumbled across an elephant giving birth
Combing through vines & trying not to slip down muddy hill, 3/4 of us exclaimed at the exact moment how cool this hike was. We heard some incredible bird calls right after a downpour, though we didn't see much mammal/reptile life. Wrong time of day, dawn & dusk are where it's at... next time
Let's see if it holds Dad...
Lots that reminded of autumn back home
Even kind of felt like autumn, much cooler than at sea-level, yet still we sweat
Those leech socks are pretty porous, felt lots of good mud ooze between the toes
Rotini tree, or so we named it
Camera didn't give justice to the sea of green that we stumbled upon, and thankfully not into... it was still and breathtaking
At first we thought these were cute little inchworms... they were all over
Fun to watch
But then we realized they were leeches, and they were all over us
Leech socks mostly did their job, but a couple still managed to attack after we cleaned up. Here, Ry's piggies, she's such easy prey these days it seems
Only foreigners we saw in the park, with the lense & photo chops we need
Outside park along road, becoming immune to this sight, ready to see a wild one
The long weekend began... at 5am... with a road rally Isuzu had for suppliers
Our new wheels, Mitsubishi spacewagon, covered in rally stickers
Scavenger hunt from Bangkok to the Park took a long, too many hours for little girls
Pit stop... Thais get creativity points for their toilet signage
Yep, but he was driving & our driver was trying ever so sweetly to navigate us through the 100% Thai scavenger hunt. Perfect conditions for deeply desiring a morning drink, I will attest
Great Elephant Lodge... monsoon, monsoon, go away
In hotel lobby. We've seen many more escargot here than we did in France, but not dining on them here
After dinner hold-the-balloon game
Gathered all the kids on the Isuzu sponsored stage & asked "What kind of car does your Dad drive?" Hilarious
Final morning
Monsoon quickly kicked out the lovely morning, but didn't keep us from venturing into Khao Yai for adventures described in opening... anxious to go back & try to stumble across our own wild elephant!
