Trojan Tales from the Far East: Khao Yai Day Two: Jungle Trekking

At 7 AM the next morning, we woke up and headed from our guesthouse to the Khao Yai National Park, a thirty minute songthaew trip away. Once again, we had the same guide as yesterday and were with one other couple on the tour.

Jon on the songthaew (converted pick up truck)

Jon at the park entrance!

After entering the park, our first stop was at this beautiful outlook, where we also put on the leech socks we would wear during our hike. The two of us had never worn or seen leech socks before, and we definitely felt a little silly putting them on to wear - they basically go under your shoes and over your pants leg to your knee. The ones we had from our guesthouse were even blue and shiny, just to make them even more attractive.

Jon at the outlook, wearing his leech socks

Beautiful view!

After getting outfitted with our leech socks, we were all ready for our hike. Before entering, our guide told us to make sure that we were quiet, as we didn't want to disturb the animals, and to follow him closely. He also told us that he could never guarantee us seeing any particular animals - it all depends on the day and where those animals happen to be. We were both excited and a little nervous - just walking a little bit around the park we had already found multiple leeches on our shoes and socks! Although we were able to swipe those leeches to the ground, we were still a little uncomfortable that one would fall onto our bare arms (we were wearing t-shirts) or, even worse, onto our heads!

Our guide, offering a prayer to the Buddha before heading into the park.

Our trek through the jungle was pretty intense - the trail wasn't perfectly marked or cut, leading to us climbing over tree roots and pushing branches out of the way as we made our way forward. Luckily for us, we were able to view several animals during our trek and we were also able to see several beautiful sights. The trees in this park are ancient and huuuge, and some of them had amazingly intricate trunks and roots. The most memorable part of our hike, though, was impossible to capture with a photograph, as although they never presented themselves for a perfect picture, the gibbons could be heard everywhere around us. For those who have never heard a gibbon's cry, it sounds kind of like a screaming baby, and we could hear them echoing around us throughout our entire trek. This sound really set the atmosphere for our jungle trek.

After a long trek through the jungle, we came out into a beautiful grassland for the last part of our trek. A beautiful lake was in the middle of the grassland, and there was a salt lick that the wild elephants in the park liked to visit. Here, we relaxed for awhile, enjoying the scenery.