Khao Yai - National Park and World Heritage Site

A while ago (since I am behind on my adventure postings) me and a few other people (Mary, Martine, Jenette, Tara, and Kristie) visited Yhao Yai - a national park in Thailand and a world heritage site to boot!

When living in Bangkok you really enjoy the few times that you can get out into nature.  Khao Yai is a beautiful forest just a couple of hours away.  It had great hiking and wildlife spotting trails.  We all had a fantastic time and got to see some pretty cool things.

The first thing to talk about is probably the creepy crawlies.  We saw a whole lot of really really weird things while in the park (and caves).  Things called scorpion spiders and tree leeches (actual leeches that suck your blood.....but live on the land!) and all sorts of other scary looking things too.

A tree leech stuck onto a leech sock.

These freaky looking things are both spiders.  The one on the right is called a scorpion spider, and I don't remember the name of the spider on the left... but I do remember that it was huge.

We also got to see some less scary looking animals like gibbon monkeys and deer.  Our guide was very, very knowledgeable.  During our trek he would once in a while stop, listen, and tell us which birds were making which sounds.  I also once randomly, and jokingly, pointed to a plant and asked him what it was and  he was able to ramble on about what it is called, where it is found, and it's medicinal purposes!  We also came across a snake in the tree - I forget what it is called but our guide said it was very poisonous.  Luckily we saw the snake before we crashed or walked through the tree as it was right on our trail.

We also saw bats.  Lots and lots of bats exiting a cave at night - it was spectacular!

Unfortunately, we never did see a tiger or elephant.  We did, however, come across a lot of fresh elephant crap, and some elephant prints that our guide said looked relatively new.

Other than that we saw a lot of really beautiful scenery and nature.We went up to the top of a lookout tower and saw some cool toucans and water snakes swimming in the lake across from us.  We saw (and climbed) some huge trees, and also made our way to a couple of waterfalls. 

And we of course found time to swim in our hotel's oddly cold pool.