Khao Yai National Park

So we went to the Khao Yai National Park over the weekend! Lions and Tigers and Bears oh MY!

There were actually Tigers there. So between 5 and 6 PM we werent allowed to wander too far since that is Tiger feeding time. Woot!

We slept in tents since that was the cheapest. And really...it WAS the cheapest....since it rained for about an hour. and when I say rain I mean flooding rain - cause thats what happens here. So it was just storming away and Paige and I are sitting in our tent and then it starts to drip on us. haha From the top centre and every corner leaked. So we shuved out towels in the corners and put a towel in the centre. Just to soak it up. It was manageable and we did not get wet.

Later when it cleared up we went for a 3.4KM hike. This was a nice journey to a waterfall which was in the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DeCaprio. Woot! But along the entire route were signs that said Beware of Crocodiles! We were walking ALONG side a swampy area with nothing but a little rope blocking the way into the swamp. One sign wouldnt of been to bad. But these signs were every 20 feet. So we picked up the pace a little since we were getting hungry and didnt want to be somebody elses lunch! Ok at times we started to run. So what. Crocodiles are creepy. But we did not run into any luckily. haha.

Around the park we just hitchhiked everywhere. Sounds strange but the security gaurd said to us "No, dont walk thats dangerous. Hitch hike; its safer". haha Not every day you hear that. So basically we flagged down vehicles and asked them to take us where ever they were going. Since one of the waterfalls was 23KM away. It was the huge 5 tiered one too! There are photos of the group of us at it. But you can only see the one tier of it since the other tiers were closed down, atleast the viewing points were.

Then Lonely Planet told us there were Bat caves 3KM outside of the park. So we started to hike there. Along the way we talked to street vendors who told us it was 3KM to the entrance, but another 3KM in that road. So ugh. it wouldnt be possible to hike that far with the bats coming out around 6PM. Then we ran into a vehicle with Angeline and Hafidz inside, and the guy was nice enough to drive us out to the bat caves, atleast, we thought it was the bat caves. Instead we got taken to somebodys house, and there, we spoke to the people living there and they said they'd take us up to mountain. Oh yay! Well, up the mountain, really does mean UP the mountain. It was STRAIGHT up, full out rock climbing, with no gear, and multiple trees that we had to swing around and hope that we did not fall to a bumpy rocky death. haha It was VERY exhilerating, but WOW! haha so we got to the top, and had to wait for about a half hour until the bats emerged. They came out in SWARMS!! They were SO tiny! but they came out for like 15 minutes straight. Just this HUGE straight line of bats. But the cooelst thing was, from above, owls and hawks were diving straight down through the path of bats trying to catch them to eat them!!! It was such an amazing thing to see!! Then we had to get down the mountain again while the sun was about a SLIVER left in the sky. By about half way down this steep rocky death trap, the sunset and we had to go via flashlight. haha It was extremely tricky and extremely scary, at times I thought I would fall off the mountain. But alas, we all are safe and sound and I cant promise I wouldnt do it again. :D sorry mom. haha.

Then we got on a bus. and I feel bad for every person on this bus. because they had to sit next to the 10 of us who must of smelt SO SO SO terrible. Like sweat and guano (bat shit). Just so so so stinky. Poor people. hahah.

WAIT WAIT WAIT. LOOK AT THE MIDDLE PHOTO OF THE CHINESE GUYS! THERE WAS THIS DEER THAT WAS WITHIN TOUCHING REACH,AND THEY HAD THESE GIGANTIC CAMERAS TAKING PHOTOS OF IT FROM SO CLOSE! It was an AMAZZZZZZZZZZZZING morning. like WHO needs a camera THAT big. bhahaha. Compensating much??? hahahha And Deer. Lots of Deer in the park. I really wasnt all that excited to see them. Only the other kids from Ontario and Minnesota were not excited either since well....we see deer all the time. hah. nothing new there. but those cameras.....oh god.....what a morning.

:)