Sexy Elephants

I have been out of the game for a while now. For the past month I haven't ventured very far. I haven't made it much further than Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, both of which I have already frequently visited. But a couple weekends ago, I was pleasantly surprised when I bumped into some fellow teachers that I had not seen since the beginning months of our Thailand adventure. It was great catching up and as we discussed future plans, we realized that we had all planned on going to Khao Yai National Park the same weekend in February. So, obviously, we organized it together to make it one, big happy trek. 


Although I was not excited about the 5-6 hour trek to Khao Yai, which consisted of a van ride, a cab, a train ride and a car ride to the hostel, I was kept highly entertained during the majority of the trip....all courtesy of my white skin. From the moment we stepped onto the third class train with our standing room tickets, we were thrust into 3 hours of endless stares. The train employee kept bringing us further into the train until he had us sitting in the very rear of the train, surrounded by M6 boys and soldiers. Awesome. Within minutes, the schoolboys were handing us their practice service entry exams, asking for our help and then taking our pictures and staring at us with huge smiles. Sarah later noticed that our faces graced the backgrounds of their phones. That's not creepy at all. Needless to say, the train ride went by fairly quickly with all that was going on. 


The next morning, we woke up bright and early to begin our 12 hour day of hiking in the jungle. Anon, our guide, was a fiery little one. He was typical Thai tiny, but he was incredibly vivacious. Everything- and I mean everything- was 'sexy' to him. Us, our bug spray, our socks, the trees, the monkeys, anything and everything was 'sexxxxxy.' He was a great tour guide, and took us completely off of the trail, which I totally appreciated. After dousing ourselves in 100% deet, tightening our leech socks (yikes!), making a 7-11 pit-stop and channelling our inner sexiness, we began our journey. Anon told us that we may see red hornbills, snakes, gibbons, elephants and tigers, but only if we were very lucky. He was completely determined to see any and all of the animals, but I didn't really expect to see too much. 

Leech socks are so IN right now.

Leaf hat!

BAMFS 

As we trekked around, dodging branches, hopping over bamboo shoots, climbing rocks, and trudging through all sorts of greenery, we saw some cool trees (sandalwood, cinnamon) and could hear the animals in the distance. Anon belted out some really impressive gibbon calls, and it was really cool to hear them respond from way high up. But, despite their excitement, they were no where to be seen. At one point, we heard the red hornbill batting its wings, and we hurried along to find its location, which Anon was successfully able to do. We all stood in awe as we saw 2 hornbills flap their giant wings and disappear into the sky.   


We journeyed on, making our way back to the songtaew to grab some lunch, when Anon excitedly hushed us and pointed up in the trees.  Way above us we spotted a family of black gibbons and we strained our necks as we watched them for the next hour. They were so entertaining while they slapped each other, swung from tree to tree, lazily hung from a branch and then stared at us with their fuzzy little white faces. It was really cool, and we left the jungle very content with our sightings. But little did we know that things were about to go all Jurassic Park on us.

The man, the myth, the legend

Gibbon!

After lunch we headed to go see a waterfall that was featured in 'The Beach' and then hike up to swim in a more isolated waterfall a little further into the jungle. Before entering the park, a German couple warned us that they had just seen an elephant about 15 minutes prior. All day we had been warned about wild elephants and how we had to be quiet, and then run back to safety to avoid getting charged. Scary! Despite the warning of a wild elephant, Anon basically had us running in silence to catch a glimpse of it. We made it pretty far in when we heard the loud crackling of branches and the familiar sound of flapping ears. We all froze...excited but kind of nervous. We hid behind bushes, trees, whatever we could as we listened and watched the elephant come closer and closer. And this guy was huuuuge. Beautiful, but large with large tusks. I really had no desire to be charged by him. Our guide disappeared (with my camera) and got as close as he possibly could to steal a snapshot. As we saw the elephant come closer and closer, we kind of panicked. We had no guide and no idea how to get back to safety because we were no where near a path. Anon finally emerged and told us to run and so we nervously ran/fell down the hill to safety and to a gorgeous waterfall, which Anon proudly named "Sexy Elephant Waterfall' in celebration of our spotting. 

Pretty Waterfall

Wild Elephant!

Sexy Elephant Waterfall

Good times

After swimming, we realized we had to make our way back to the entry, and most likely past the elephant again. Oy. We silently walked through the jungle and saw no sign of our not so little friend. I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed the entry gate up ahead, but was quickly set aghast when Anon jumped a mile backwards in shock. I was sure the elephant was waiting for us, but, no, it wasn't an elephant this time- it was a King Cobra, an extremely poisonous snake. Seriously? C'mon! We backed up and waited until it slithered a little further up the path and then slipped on  by it. But only after Anon poked and prodded at it with a giant stick to secure a better photo. That guy was insane, but in the best way possible. 

Cobra in the leaves. YIKES!

Obviously a good idea 

The rest of the weekend was not as adventurous, but it was still great. We swam in natural springs, we lounged, and we saw a really cool temple where we got to practice meditation with a very well-known, well- traveled monk. All in all- a great weekend with a great group of girls. It felt amazing to get back in the traveling game, which is good, because the next 2.5 months are jam-packed with all sorts of adventures. I don't hate it.