We had already decided that we didn't want to spend new year in Bangkok as we thought it would be even more chaotic than its normal crazy state so we headed to Khao Yai national park. We got a bus to the gate of the park but it was still 14km to the visitors centre and campgrounds and we didn't fancy tramping along the road with our packs. Fortunately there were loads of cars coming into the park and one of the rangers talked a driver into taking us. The visitors centre was heaving, which we attributed to the fact that all the Thais were on their new year holiday and had come on day trips to the park....however we were told by the park office that all the campgrounds were full and they would let us know later if they were going to open another one. We left our packs and went on a short walk through the rainforest. It was only about 2km but none of the Thais ventured very far from the visitors centre so we hardly saw anyone. It that seems that it is also important for some Thai women to wear your nicest dress and high heels for a day in the national park...not exactly good hiking clothes!
We returned to the visitors centre to be told that they were going to provide more camping space up the road so we set off with our packs. Unfortunately a million Thais in their cars had got there before us. We wandered around for ages trying to find a good spot and settled for somewhere on the edge of the campsite. We did have a beautiful view out of the door of the tent and if you could pretend that there wasn't a virtual refugee camp behind us it was quite peaceful. Because the Thais live very close together in both cities and towns, they have a somewhat different attitude to personal space and this is reflected in the camping habits....we had to extend our guy-ropes as far as they would go so the closest tents would be at least a few feet away!
Fortunately, all the Thais wanted to do was cook up enormous feasts and chat with other families so there wasn't much noise. We didn't make it til 12am though, the first time in many years! (though we did toast the new year early with some cheap Thai whiskey we had bought on the train up to Pak Chong). The next day we decided to use some of the park's hiking trails, as this was the first place we had been to in SE Asia where you could hike without a guide. We set off, and after an uncomfortable first 10 minutes when we were convinced that a tiger was going to jump out of the jungle, we were well away from all the people. It turns out that human nature is pretty much the same the world over as no-one ventured more than about 5 metres from their cars and so we saw no-one on our 10km hike, despite the hundreds of people in the park!
Halfway through the hike, we came across an observation tower looking out over grasslands, a lake and some elephant salt licks. Although we didn't see any animals (who could blame them, with all those people around we too would have fled for the deepest, darkest jungle!), the view was fantastic. On the way back to the campsite we saw gibbons, hornbills and loads of deer.
That morning we had been pleased to see that the campsite was emptying, but on our return after our hike there were almost as many new people! Again though, they were all pretty quiet and we slept quite well. The next day we had to try to find a lift out of the park so we headed back down to the visitor's centre. On the way we were accosted by a couple of people shouting "farang, farang!" and we had to pose with them for photographs! Now we know how celebrities feel! (we were pretty much the only western people in Khao Yai so perhaps we did stand out!). At the visitor's centre, one of the rangers flagged down a passing pick-up, and the Thai family inside agreed to take us back to the park gate.We climbed into the back with our packs and joined the 3 daughters, one of whom spoke very good English. We stopped with them at a Buddhist temple in the park, and they showed us the correct way to offer our respects to Buddha with flowers and incense and to pray for a safe journey. They dropped us at the gate and we flagged down another pick-up, which we thought was going to Pak Chong, from where we could get a bus back to Bangkok. Shortly after leaving the park, we stopped and a long "conversation" ensued where they spoke hardly any English and we of course spoke no Thai. After plenty of gesticulating, and inventive ways of getting points across, we worked out that they were offering to take us to Bangkok but were going sightseeing on the way and wouldn't arrive until 8pm. Without wanting to seem ungrateful (we had after all, climbed into the back of their pick-up) we said that we had hoped to arrive a bit earlier so they said they would take us to Pak Chong instead! The reason for wanting to get to Bangkok early was as it was our last night in SE Asia we had a big night planned (we had really enjoyed Bangkok when we flew in and were conscious that things would get much more expensive when we headed to Oz). After being dropped off in Pak Chong we had an hour or so to refuel with the usual rice and tasty thai dishes before we hopped on a yet another bus.
We arrived in Bangkok in good time and jumped in a tuk tuk back to our now favourite hotel (The Lamphu Tree House). we were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to the one of their penthouse suites complete with jacuzzi and great views of Bangkok (from the jacuzzi!). Perhaps Bangkok is one of the few places in the world where this sort of luxury is really affordable! After making full use of the jacuzzi and finally feeling clean after our camping, hiking and travelling we headed off to the Khao san road (a well known market and area of restaurants and bars) - here we enjoyed a fine last Thai meal and several beers and Sarah had one last massage! Then it was on to the famous Patpong market. Here Sarah went on a bit of spending spree and thanks to some frenzied haggling we obtained several bargains. A few bars and some more beers made for a fine evening.. as we staggered back to find a tuk tuk we noticed a pile of rubbish that appeared to be moving! On closer inspection we noticed just how many rats share the streets of Bangkok, but somehow it just seemed to add to Bangkok's charm!
The next day we flew to Australia... both suffering with a hang-over!
