Gardenhome Resort Khao Yai Pak Chong

... wearing leech socks which were most definitely a requirement for the trek! We had a light trek (in comparison to Chiang Mai!) and we fortunately reached the meeting point for lunch just before the rains came. The afternoon was a little dismal as it rained non-stop, so we had a brief visit to the waterfall famous for its appearance in 'The Beach' movie and spent a little while looking for wild elephants - but no to avail! I don't blame them! I would have ...

... it for a bit, not by the Thai mob but rather our insistent guide. We don't like doing these sort of things as it stresses the animal, but when someone hands you a snake its not like you can just drop it at your feet. Eventually the snake was put back on the flowers and went about its' day, slightly shaken. Our next stop was a Buddhist cave temple where the priests share their temple space with hundreds of bats. After this we drove to another cave for ...

... relations and maybe even a new ad slogan for racial tolerance: "Tolerance- so easy a monkey can do it." I don't know. We then parked the truck and started on a hike in the woods on a lightly trodden trail. The big hope on this mission was to see wild elephants, which only happens a small percentage of the time. It started out cold but soon warmed up- it's the rainforest. Along the hike we saw more gibbons, a tree ...

... with insects and animals. We saw the giant black squirrel, gibbon monkeys (which were the highlight - we even saw a tiny baby monkey playing around with his mom), scorpions, a million ants working hard, leeches (ugh - hence the leech socks), Oriental horn bill birds, and a very very aggressive macaque. Calvin swam under a waterfall which was very cool. Our guide today ...

... of the temples. The architecture of the buildings along the river bank was very questionable. Most of the buildings were crooked or already disintgrating. As we passed by children bathing in the river, they shouted 'sa wat dee kaa! (hello!)" and waved our way. So far, I've been very impressed by how friendly Thai people are. Tomorrow-off to see the beautiful beaches of the south.

... day to bring a date to the park. He doesn't ask for payment but we give him a few baht anyway as thanks. The park itself is huge and most Thais that visit drive around between the various view points and waterfalls. The guy in the information office looks very amused when we say we haven't got a car but he does sell us a trail map and point out some routes we take. We pick a route to the waterfall in 'The Beach ...

... my worst fears were realised. It had only 1 welcoming person on the entrance! A restraunt with digdy old um antique furniture and the swimming pool had only one waterfall! Wait...This isnt what lonely planet said. But they did charge me a riduculous $8.30 a night! - Train ride to pak chong - getting laughed at - Apprehensive about where i was being taken - resort for $8 a night. - interesting people and then the very interesting drunk German who worked for the ADB

... amphibians: indonesian pit viper, white lip viper, clouded monitorlizard, tokai geckos, tree frogs and poisonous giant toads (lick'em and you fly). Insects, worms and spiders: crab spider, golden web spider, scorpion spider, black scorpion, stick insect, praying mantis, wood louse, various giant millipedes, various colouful butterflies and dragonflies, various beetles, giant flies, ants and termites, many leeches, a slug just growing a shell, filiform worms.

... it. Then the obligatory five-minute wait to see if it counted. Can't the first touchdown be simple? These guys almost understand what's going on. Big Ben just got a "Ki Gon", which means he was exaggerating the touchdown, that he didn't really get in. 7:54: "Wow," from the Thais, about the field goal snap and hold. Very impressed. HALFTIME Two years ago, I watched the Superbowl at a missionary's house in Haiti. You all remember that halftime show ...

... that. The idea is to recruit 3 volunteers from each village (39 people) between the ages of 16-24 to serve as AIDS education volunteers. It will be their responsibility to give 5 trainings in the next year, as well as give individual education and contraceptives to interested youth. The US gov't will be paying for the initial training, and the Thai gov't for the ongoing costs of materials and small village trainings. The funding will come from PEPFAR, which comes from G ...