Gibbons, Macaques and Giant Hornbills - Jan 8, 2008 - Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Today we went hiking in Khao Yai National Park. We drove to the entrance and stopped shortly thereafter because a giant hornbill was perched on a tree very close to us. We got some very nice pictures!

A few minutes later we saw gibbons walking down the road. One was kind enough to pose for us. We continued to see monkeys by the side of the road at regular intervals.

We then stopped at a view point and put on long white over-socks to protect us against leeches. From there, we drove a few more minutes, pausing to see if we could find an elephant - but no luck.

We then started a 5 km (3 mi) hike through the jungle. When we started, the tribes of gibbons were greeting each other, as is their morning custom, by hooting loudly. Birds joined in to this beautiful cacophany. We must have heard at least 5 or 10 different kinds of birds calling distinctly on our hike - not to mention the background of twittering.

On the way we saw poisonous red ants, vines that had parasitically attached themselves to trees, huge patches of lichen, and enormous elephant droppings (sadly, not the elephants themselves). Most excitingly, we saw a pair of macaques skipping effortlessly across the treetops.

We came to a large meadow with a water tower, then stopped for lunch in a small valley among the trees. We sat in mosquito-netting tents with delicious food at the campsite: sauteed vegetables, fried pork and chicken coconut curry. The food had been freshly cooked and prepared by three cooks at the campsite!

We then finished our hike back to our bus, and took a ride to the visitor's center where we saw two old taxidermically stuffed tiger skins along with morbid stories about how they had been killed because they'd maimed adults. Otherwise, the visitor's center had a general theme of "respect wildlife" and "protected parkland is good!".

From there we went to a waterfall, where Lisa went swimming right under the waterfall.

We then went back to our splendid resort hotel and spa in the small Thai town near the park. We took a relaxing hot shower, and each had a 90-minute full-body Thai massage for the amazing price of $18 each. ("Yabalash!" only without the sarcasm.)

Finally we had dinner - best yet. We shared a spicy minced shrimp appetizer, then Lisa had an outstanding Masamun curry, and David had stir-fry pork with black peppercorns.

Now off to bed!