This past weekend was a three day weekend, having the Monday off to celebrate Father's Day. Because I am teaching Monday through Friday I, like most other full time employees, am restricted to the number of weekend trips I can take. I find myself weighing the length to reach a location verse actually being able to have time to enjoy it. After throwing around some ideas of where to go for a long weekend a national park seemed to be an ideal destination.
So we began planning. Now when I say "we" I mean all of the other expat English teachers in my city that I am friends with. At that time there were around 8 of us interested in going on this trip. Planning anything for 8 people can be a bit tricky, but becomes more complicated when nothing is in the same language. Also the week we were supposed to leave we were told not to go to the park, that it would be overcrowded and awful because of the long weekend.
The plan was to take some mode of transportation, rent a car, van, bus, train, or mixture of the sorts to get to the actual park. Now figuring this out in Thailand is hit or miss when it comes to ease. Luckily we have some Thai friends and contacts who helped us eventually figure out the best root to reach Pak Chong. We were leaving from Sing Buri by public bus to Lop Buri, where we would take a mini van to Pak Chong. Pak Chong is the city closest to the northern entrance of Khao Yai National Park.
From Pak Chong most people get a Songthaew, a taxi that is a truck, and take it to the gate entrance; or rent motorbikes and drive them from Pak Chong. Because only 2 of us felt comfortable driving bikes with a passenger on the back we were either looking for 4 bikes, 2 if necessary, or another option all together.
We were lucky because the four of us that ended up going left our apartment around 5:15 am (I am the one that made us a few minutes late), got to the bus station, caught the first bus to Lop Buri (18 Baht), found and did not overpay for the minivan to Pak Chong (70 baht) with ease; and caught the Songthaew (40 Baht) to the Northern Entrance right as we were getting out of the minivan.
Ok, so we are outside the entrance to the park... The one motorbike rental place is closed... What.. do.. we.. do... We did what most North Americans would do and found a guy in camouflage next to an official looking building (obviously thinking park ranger). We asked him about getting into the park, to the visitor center, what we needed to do.
Internal thoughts... The websites all said hitchhike but we are 4 beautiful young women, should we do that!?
He said he would drive us to the different sites and then take us to our camp... he was a taxi driver! After he laid out what his prices were we opted to go take some selfies in front of the park's sign. Pretty much being the most basic bitches we could be, but screw it! We are already being stared at by the hundreds of cars slowly entering the park. Also, being some of the only non-Asian people in our town we are pretty used to being stared at. I kind of understand how an animal in a zoo feels with the constant observation.
Back to the point, after finishing the required basic pictures we found a different official looking building (it was next door to the other one) and asked about getting to the visitor center, camp site, etc. They told us to take a taxi and that the price was the same. Again, the website said we could hitchhike but we were not prepared for it... yet. So, we went back and found our guy, took him up on the offer and climbed in the truck. He was charging us 2,000 Baht total for the 4 of us for a tour today, and 500 Baht total to pick us up from our campsite on Monday.
It was set up like the Songthaew, but a smaller truck. Just before we were preparing to head off into the distance the driver asked if 2 other women could join us. That day he was going to give us a short tour of the park and then take us to the campsite. Because of the park's size you need some form of transportation to reach the major waterfalls and views. We, of course, welcomed them and off we went. The two women were from Bangkok and visiting because of the holiday. They had hopes of renting motorbikes as well but were only there for the day.
The four of us felt such success! We had to figure out as much as we could and as quickly as we could because half our group had bailed. We had been told the traffic would be horrible and it would be terribly busy, but we had prevailed!!! We not only made it to the park, but now we were inside and it was only around 10:30 am!
Now I grew up in Orlando, Florida. I love theme parks and have a great imagination. While there wasn't a giant fence or doors to be pushed open, once we crossed into the park I couldn't help but hear the Jurassic Park music. You know you grew up in Orlando when reality reminds you of the illusions back home.
The park was beautiful. It reminded me of Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, some of Florida, hell anywhere tropical that has mountains and can be chilly. The weather was incredible, nice and cool, a little nippy at night, but perfect for camping. If you looked around the taxi you couldn't help but smile because of how excited, relived and genuinely happy everyone was at being here. It is truly amazing what a little bit of nature, fresh air and the hope for elephants can do to a person's soul.
Our first stop was the kilometer 30 viewpoint. It was a beautiful sight overlooking the valley below. There was a town that you could see, which removed some of the isolation feeling you can find in national parks, but it was still lush and overly green.
From there we went to the Visitor Center. We were hungry for lunch at this point and just making sure that we were pick up our camping gear, that we had registered for before hand (albeit for 8 people). The cafeteria was simply a covered area to sit down and eat local food from small stalls that were behind it. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but do not expect a normal cafeteria with air-conditioning and buffett style, or someone behind glass serving food.
After eating, much needed coffee, checking out the gift shop, confirming we would pick up our things at the campsite, and attempting to find and use one of the last "normal" toilets before only having squatting options, we were off again.
Because we only had him for the full day Saturday and we all wanted to get the most out of this he took us to the largest waterfall there. We took off for Haew Narok Waterfall. The waterfall is down a short hike, followed by very steep and quite a decent amount of stairs. Once we made it down, without falling, I tried to actually take it all in.
I find that now a days we grab our phones and "click, click, click, click" before actually seeing what is happening. I know for a fact that I am guilty of this. We are so distracted by not having proof to put on Facebook, instagram, or show our friends later that we actually miss what is happening directly in front of us. I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, person to point this out. But seriously, next time you find yourself surrounded by nature, or see something incredible, keep your phone in your pocket or purse and just be in that moment. Just take everything in that is happening just then.
As I was saying, I climbed down the stairs and listened to the crashing of the water on the rocks, noticed all of the different plants and trees that were growing on the rocks near me, surrounding the waterfall's edges and around the pool below. Every now and then catching a faint spritz of the cool water when the wind allowed. I took pictures of my friends stopping to enjoy the view themselves. Because to capture someone else allowing themselves to be distracted in this world by something other than a rectangular lit up device is actually quite enjoyable to watch.
After we climbed back up those steep stairs, our driver took us to our campsite at Pha Kluai Mai Campsite. Once we had paid our driver we got in line at the small office stuffed full of campers. Now we had to tackle our most reoccurring dilemma... communication. We had the print out from our original reservation for enough tents, pillows and sleeping bags for 8 people. Next we had to get across we only needed half of everything.
I must admit, I really let Allison and Jenny tackle this challenge. They totally kicked ass at it and we got all of the needed supplies, except the tent... When asking where it was or where do we go all we were "told" was a hand gesture pointing to the left. Back to frustrated... We saw multiple tents that were obviously the campsite's and had been rented out. However most of them were already occupied. We wandered around a bit being confused and tired until asking another camper. They managed to get across, just pick one. So we did.
After going up and down the rows of tents we managed to find one and immediately filled it with our belongings so not to lose it. From there we located the toilets. Next we found the small store next to the main checkin building. After searching high and low we realized we had made one fatal error.... Alcohol... we had none! There wasn't any for sale here! Maybe the "restaurant" had some...
I put quotes around "restaurant" because it was not what a westerner would consider a restaurant. It had a window to order from and some basic Thai food, meat/noodles, meat/rice, veggies, eggs, etc. Also there was a man grilling whole chickens and a fruit stand. The food was pretty good, once we figured out how to order/what to order. The grilled chicken was delicious. The sweet potatoes were good but mine could have cooked a bit longer. I'm freaking camping and complaining about being a little undercooked... ridiculous!
Now back to the lack of alcohol... The restaurant had none, so we made a decision.... sugar high. Well everyone got what was their bad food really. Some of us soda, cookies and others chips and chocolate bars. We ate, got comfy and tuckered down out front of our camp. Allison brought small coconut candles and added citronella to them. Emily was prepared and brought cards so we weren't completely deprived of ambiance and entertainment. We struggled at first, but finally learned how to play Hearts, or at least Jenny's version of Hearts.
Eventually sleep won out and we all headed to bed. I have realized that I do not sleep well when it comes to camping. We had pillows, mats and sleeping bags but I could not get comfortable for the life of me. I managed to get some sleep, I think, and awoke to a lot of hustle and bustle bright and early.
To sum up this day, Sunday, quickly it pretty much went....
Attempted to conquer squat toilets
Food
Slowly got ready
Hitchhiked our way to the visitor's center, with ease.
Booked a night safari tour
Browsed gift shop (so we wouldn't stop on our way home)
Walked across a suspension bridge
Hiked to Kong Kaeo Waterfall
Encountered a snake, that I carefully distracted with a long stick because it was a little aggressive.
Hitchhiked back to our campsite, with less ease. It took 3 different trucks to finally get there. One only drove us maybe 2 minutes down the street, but they tried.
Ate and then headed out to Pha Kluai Mai Waterfall to be followed with the hike to Haew Suwat Waterfall
The hike to Haew Suwat was a bit more tedious because there were any direct signs and two possible paths. I went down both a bit and they seemed about the same. We decided to follow the one along the river. Luckily it turned out to be the right one. While trekking through the forest Jenny made sure to express her pure excitement in everything she saw. After having a close encounter with a snake and then a spider or two some of us were more on edge. The scream of joy that came from seeing a purple worm caused one or two heart attacks. After seeing the signs for crocodiles the next release of excitement almost caused Emily to fall in the river. Jenny threw something in the river and fish swam to see what it was... We love Jenny's pure joy and excitement at little things, but we asked her to take it down a notch before one of us died from shock of tripping from the loud burst of sound.
Then we heard it. Waterfall, people, noise! We were close to seeing the waterfall that is in the movie The Beach! Finally! Except once we appeared out of the jungle we were in a parking lot and couldn't see the waterfall. It was on the other side of the parking lot! Made our way over, took the necessary photos from the viewpoint and headed down to the water.
After climbing on rocks and getting some good posed shots, we was decided to climb out on rocks directly in front of the waterfall. After closer examination we found that we could also go behind it. It was incredible. I wish we could have swam out there but that is not allowed. Currents, crocodiles, the usual. Standing under the waterfall and looking up you could see the sunlight dance off the water and the bright green moss or plant that hung down on the edge. The sky was bright blue, the moss and hanging plants were brilliantly green. It was gorgeous and felt so good to be in and feeling nature again.
Instead of walking back through the jungle (which we couldn't do anyways because it was too late in the day) we hitchhiked again. We managed to flag down one of the last trucks leaving the parking lot and got back to the campsite.
After getting back, eating, changing and hanging out around the tent we had our night safari. It was convenient because they picked us up from the campground. We sat in the back of a truck on benches on the side. Our "guide" was a girl with a high powered flashlight, much like ones used when hunting. Before leaving we were told there would be additional people joining us, which was great because we were refunded the difference.
So on a side note, keep in mind that I am from Florida. I had on hiking pants and two long sleeved shirts on top of a tank top. With all of that I was pretty darn chilly! My Canadian friends were loving the cooler weather which was just fun to see how excited they were about it. Ok, back to the safari. We left the campsite and drove slowly through the park, our guide moving her flashlight constantly. We were looking for monkeys, elephants, civets, deer, etc. Sadly, we were not able to see any elephants or monkeys. But we did see plenty of deer (which are pretty huge) and a civet (which is a new animal I'd never seen before). It wasn't too surprising that we did not see any elephants. There was a trucks about every 10 seconds.
Once we got back we relaxed for a bit and then decided to head to bed. It had been a long and exhilarating day. However, we had to get up early the next day to get out of the park. Obviously, we had girl talk and stayed up for another hour or so. The funniest part might have been when Emily put her earplugs in and proceeded to yell, I mean tell, us how she couldn't hear anything.
The next morning we got moving, packed our bags, packed up all of the camping gear except for the tent. After bringing up all the other items we were told to get the tent, so that slowed us down a bit. Next we had to hitch a ride out of the park. One thing we did not think about... People who were leaving would have trucks, but they would be full of camping gear... Oops!
After quite a few no's we were able to get a ride part of the way, to the Training Center. Finally, a car pulled over and he offered to give us a ride all the way to the Pak Chong bus station! He was an older gentleman and unfortunately we did not get his name. He was also a teacher and up there for the weekend camping. He told us to teach the kids "goddamn proper pronunciation and spelling." He said those were the two biggest problems students had. Because a lot of the students are not taught English by native English speakers they are not taught how to form the words and sound properly. And if we can teach them proper spelling and pronunciation they should be able to sound words out.
He was very nice and funny. He took us all the way to the bus station, which was actually where we needed to find the van. He went out of his way to talk to the people at the station and told us exactly where we needed to go to catch our bus. He said we had to cross the street and that a van would come every hour so we might have to wait a little bit. We thanked him profusely and offered money for gas or anything else. He said the only thing he wanted was for us to teach proper pronunciation and spelling!! We crossed the street and a few minutes later he drove by to make sure we made it safely. A minute or two later the van pulled up and we hoped in. The timing was perfect! We had been so lucky with transportation on this entire trip!
We had to switch vans a little less than halfway to Lopburi to get to Lop Buri and then take the bus back to Sing Buri. Overall it was very easy and we got back pretty early in the day.
This park was beautiful and pretty easy to get around in while hitchhiking. However, if you plan on going for a couple days I might rent a scooter, car, or arrange for at least one day using a taxi to take you to the more distant sites. I highly recommend a trip to this park! The "winter" seems to be a popular time of year, but coming from theme park central (Orlando, Florida) the crowds were nothing. I truly hope you enjoyed this and continue avoiding adulting with your own adventures!
