Khao Yai

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!

Teeth Woe is Us

Poor Ry. Today she broke her 2 front, permanent teeth.  Just walking in a classroom, tripped. A good 25% of both front & center teeth... gone.  Into nervy, root pulp area... pain.  Gonna have to wait a couple months to see if they can be saved, but she thankfully got patched up for the time being.  Pretty darn well, I pray. It looks good, to my anything-but-knowledgeable eye.

Scary to know who to trust.  It's not me, it's my child! She hasn't had these teeth for even a year, needs them for many, many more... and they're front & center. Still relying on our own dentists back home & an ortho up in Bangkok for Allie, who do we see & trust in a moment's notice in a town with skanky looking dental clinics on literally every other corner?  They're truly everywhere here.

Her school principal directed us to another school parent who is a dentist and we got in with him an hour later. Feeling pretty good about his work, time will tell.  By the looks of the outside of his office, I wouldn't have picked him.  But someone's mother once reminded to never judge a book cover, and I think that applies to Thai dental office fronts as well. I pray that Ry & her broken teeth live happily ever after.  And while she's working that out, we have yet another lesson in bending with the breeze.

$60 total fee for x-ray & 2 hours of extremely tedious crafting & repairing on a wiggly child. I had 2 small cavities filled this summer in the States... 45 minutes total, at a cost of $231 EACH. I know, because I just wrote the check.  Hmmmmm. What kind of dental reform is in that new healthcare package, Mr. President?

Gotta scoot, just heard the tooth fairy coming.

Hey

So, what flavor of Pringles are you?

Every Monday morn a woman stops by our new house, selling flowers from her pick-up. Only $3 for a bunch of 10 lovely orchid stems, color of my choice, delivered to the door before 9am. Takes the sting out of starting a new week... and they last a good 10-12 days 

Allie & I delivered load #2 of toys & books to the orphanage... again, THANK YOU! 

Pouring rain outside, but no lightning so Ry goes for it. Trying to use our air con less, we're enjoying our little pool

Thailand Open at the school golf course last week. Cool to see these signs all over the course, after the mayhem this spring.

We're back to our beat... reading logs, algebra, fighting with clarinet reeds, tennis, riding, orphans, running, ant patrol, catching flights. 

Hi-ho!