Khao Yai

I went to Khao Yai a while ago, but I'm going to write about it now. Khao Yai is the second largest national park in Thailand. It's home to thousands of species of plants and animals and has several waterfalls and trails to hike on. On the first day, our group (I feel like on each trip I'm with a different group. My roommate Jake and I have been hanging out and making friends with a lot of the other exchange students.) hiked on some trails. We saw a lot of waterfalls, but they're not flooded with water like they are in the rainy season. When we were done seeing one waterfall and wanted to see another, we hitch-hiked. There are many pickup trucks that will take you to your destination for free.

At night, we paid 40 baht for a "safari." Before going on it, I was a bit skeptical because of the price. I was telling people that I wish it cost 400 baht, instead of 40. Anyway, we piled into the bed of a truck with a person spotlighting the forests for us. We didn't see anything, except maybe for a deer lying down 100 meters away. What can you expect for a little over a dollar? I would say the most interesting animal sightings were those of the monkeys that were raiding the campsite, stealing people's food. Someone was feeding a monkey (which you probably shouldn't do), and when the monkey got too close, she threw the bag of chips onto the ground. The monkey quickly snatched it and ran up a tree to finish the bag. The monkeys were so smart, and it was amazing how close they resembled humans. The monkeys went through the trash in the same manner as a homeless person would, identifying what's good or not to eat.

After the safari, we went back to the campsite. The campsite was so packed, especially with Thais. (Khao Yai is a good place for people to get away, and it's pretty close to Bangkok.) It's funny that every group of Thai people camps the same way. They bring all of their own supplies, they cook their dinners, and they drink whiskey at night. In fact, we made friends with one group of Thais. They offered us food and whiskey and we hung out for the night.

The next day, after getting breakfast at the nearby food place (we were the only ones there because everyone else is cooking themselves), we met up with our new Thai friends. We decided we'd go see one of the big waterfalls in Khao Yai. They had a truck so the ten of us jumped into the bed, some of us sitting on the tailgate. I'm pretty sure the tailgate is not made to support almost 500 pounds of weight. It was pretty scary when we reached a speed of 40-50 mph, especially when there is a car behind you tailgating. Lol. We got to the waterfall and could imagine how awesome it would be if it were the rainy season. It was tall and flowed into a body of water surrounded by cliffs and trees, beautiful. I want to go back to Khao Yai or a park like it during the rainy season. When we were done exploring, we got a ride from our Thai friends to the nearest town that has buses going to Bangkok.