Observations from a Farang – Guest Blogger Gabe
I know I know … everyone is anxiously awaiting a cool blog from Allison who is much smarter, prettier, and a better writer than I am … and all you get is THIS! I will do my best to entertain due to Allison’s busy schedule today.
After 27 hrs of flying to the opposite side of the world and 14,000 km (better start thinking metric) in the air, I landed in Bangkok. This blog is a conglomeration of a few observations and events over the past week.
THINGS DONE ON A MOTORBIKE
Waiting to cross the street provides a lot of time to observe your surroundings as it typically takes a very long time to spot the gap in traffic just big enough to sprint across oncoming lanes, stop on the center stripes, only to repeat the same process over. Motorbikes are remarkable machines that are underestimated in western cultures. They are a staple of transportation here and have incredible maneuverability. I never understood what could be accomplished with a motorbike!!! I nearly clapped my hands in amazement for a guy who managed to balance a large basket of goods behind him with one hand keeping the other on the handlebars. After another mile of walking I realized that he barely earns amateur driving status. It’s the guy carrying the 20ft bamboo ladder while gracefully maneuvering Bangkok traffic that is impressive. Most people think a family of four needs an SUV to get around town … not in Bangkok. A motorbike works just fine. Now granted this is not a common site and typically involves the person riding behind the driver to carry the infant while the small child sits in front of the driver holding on the handlebars, but a feat none the less. A family of 3 is a pretty common site for motorbikes along with dogs, groceries, packages, etc. Not many things are too big to carry on a motorbike. As a pedestrian, you must always be on the lookout for motorbikes. I’ve already lost count of the near misses. You can’t just look at the normal flow of traffic…they come from all directions, even sidewalks, and market stalls.
Motorbikes win my vote for best overall form of transportation!
HORNBILLS, MONKEYS, ELEPHANTS IN KHOA YAI
Allison can attest that its crucial for everyone’s health and wellbeing to leave Bangkok occasionally. Its nice to breath clean air, see a blue sky, hear the sounds of birds, see grass, as these are not common in the busy city. We took advantage of a 3 day weekend by heading a few hours east by train to possibly one of the most beautifully rugged national parks in this part of the world. Khoa Yai national park is considered home for wild elephants, tigers, snow leopards, monkeys, hornbills, barking deer, and so much more. The park stretches to the boarder of Cambodia and consists of mountains, rainforest, and lots of waterfalls. For roughly $10 we stayed at a gorgeous lodge just outside of the boundaries of the park. The grounds of the lodge were covered with manicured gardens, ponds, and an amazing pool complete with its own waterfall.
Day 1 consisted mostly of lounging around the pool sleeping on handmade lounge chairs that would make any carpenter proud. The local eateries proved to be a good choice. It was refreshing sitting on a rudimentary teak deck, listening to birds, staring off into the mountains carpeted with rainforest as we ate fresh thai cooking. Now this is the Thailand I envisioned. We decided to take one of the evening tours offered by our lodge in effort to get a feel for the area and also to see if we wanted to do a full day tour in the park the following day. The evening tour took us a buhdist monk cave that had a few bats and stations for the monks to meditate. The highlight was watching millions of bats stream out of another cave on the mountainside. It was impressive, however, its very similar to watching the bats fly out from under the Congress St. bridge in Austin. We chatted with Tommy, our guide, and he agreed that Allison and I were capable of touring the park on our own. As soon as we got back to the lodge that night we walked down the street and rented a motorbike!
Day 2 was a bit more eventful. I was a tad nervous at first driving the motorbike having precious cargo on the back (Allison). We were given multiple warnings by people for various things… ie: they drive on the left in Thailand, no gas stations in the park, super steep switchbacks going up the mountain, elephants tjhat can charge out of the forest at you as you go past, slippery wet steep hills on a motorbike if it rains, leech socks, extremely difficult trails to follow … nothing to worry about….right? By 6:30 we were on our way with a full tank of gas. The switchbacks were very steep but it was no problem. Allison and I had big smiles plastered on our faces just from riding through this amazing landscape. We almost immediately saw a monkey on the side of the road carrying a baby. Soon after we spotted a Great Hornbill roosted up in a tree. This is supposedly THE biggest bird in existance. It has a bright yellow beak as well as a yellow streak on the underside of their wings. While hiking out to a watchtower we spotted a deer….then we heard barking..??? Never would have guessed there could be such a thing as a barking dear. Its true…they do exist. A couple of local school teachers out shooting photos offered to show us a cool trail where we might spot some more monkeys. It was a neat little hike that made us realize we needed leech socks!!! A quick trip to the visitors center and we are wearing our leech socks and new full brim safari hats! The next stop was Hew Suwat waterfall, which was made famous in the movie “The Beach”. This was a bit too touristy for us. The easy access meant lots of people so we decided to explore a trail that is supposedly closed to the public. The word “trail” in Khoa Yai merely means you are following animal trails that wander aimlessly through the rainforest. Some are marked sporadically with a dot of paint on a tree so the park can advertise they have “trails”. Needless to say it’s easy to get lost. After climbing and clawing our way up and down through the thick rainforest it was obvious by the huge footprints that we were on an elephant trail. These creatures must be super agile to navigate through that terrain!! We found a much more secluded waterfall called Hew Sai. In attempt to find a 3rd waterfall we realized how easy it is to get lost. At each split we would mark the intersection with an arrow of leaves or bamboo to mark where we have been. Some of the elephant tracks were so fresh that we fully expected to climb over a rock and be staring down a set of huge white tusks! Even though we eventually found the right trail, we decided to head back to leave some time for other areas of the park. It was starting to get late in the afternoon and gas to get home quickly became a concern. Using good judgment we opted to skip one of the big waterfalls since it was another 30km up the mountain. Instead we motored up to the summit of the tallest peak. En route we discovered a huge group of monkeys hanging out in trees near the road. We just sat there and watched them play in the trees! One in particular just sat in the tree scratching his back and staring at us as if to say “are you done looking at me?” The view from the summit was blocked by thick fog rolling in. We coasted mostly down from the summit to conserve fuel and stopped off for dinner near the visitors center. The sky was getting dark in areas and it started to rain just a bit. At this point our concern shifted from lack of fuel to lets make it down the steep switchbacks without wrecking the bike in the rain. It started raining harder on our way out of the park. Miraculously about 1 km before the steepest sections, the rain let up and the roads here were still dry. We cruised on down safely and rolled back into town just as the gas needle dipped beyond the red at 120 km. We celebrated with ice cream and beer! What a day!!!
Day 3 was another day of rest and relaxation. Allison and I got up for a nice refreshing run, which was followed by a dip in the pool. We treated ourselves to a 1 hour full body massage which was amazing and only cost about $8!!! It was my first of many real massages. That girl pushed, pulled, beat, and climbed all over me. In the end I felt like I was floating through clouds. If all of you can help me convince Allison that she should become a professional massage therapist … that would be GREAT! More good food and a few hours at the pool summed up the rest of the day. Back to Bangkok…..
Tonight we get on a bus headed for Koh Chang Island for a 4 day retreat. I will make sure Allison writes a lengthy blog about beach bungalows, white sand, hammocks, and clear blue water upon our return!
This blog was made possible thanks to the persuasiveness (aka…”threats”) from Laura. Thank you for the hmm.. cough.. choke.. cough… MOTIVATION to write! ☺
Until next time – Cheers!
Original post by allisonrae