Backpacking at Khao Yai

So the last weekend was a 4 day weekend for Thailand. It was the end of Buddhist lint, which means we got Monday and Tuesday off. I met up with Mike West, another Peace Corps volunteer who is from the group that came to Thailand a year before ours. We decided to go backpacking at Thailand's largest national park, Khao Yai.

People in Thailand don't really go backpacking, so there are no designated sites. Actually we weren't sure if it was against the rules of the park or not, but considering that most of the trails are not marked well and split off to the point that they are essentially impossible to follow, we figured no one would have any idea what we were doing. Camping in hammocks seems to be the way to go in the jungle so we went with that. There aren't good places to set up tents, and you don't get nearly as hot in a hammock.
The first day we spent trying to follow trails to Manao Falls 8km off of the road in the forest. We hiked way more than that, but perhaps never really even got close to the waterfall. There were lots of large trees down that blocked the trail, and then animal paths cutting off in different directions, not to mention unmarked and confusing directions. We camped along one of these trails that night and headed out to try something else. Perhaps something with less leeches, as the forest we were walking through was filled with them.

The next trail we hiked down similarly died out after a few hundred yards. However we knew it followed one creek down to a confluence with another which was supposed to have lots of waterfalls. So we started bushwhacking through the woods to get down there. Bushwhacking is really hard in rain forests. There are lots of plants with thorns, and vines, and fallen trees everywhere. Eventually we made it to a confluence with a smaller stream, which we were pretty sure we could hike up to get back out to the road. So we set up camp at the confluence so we could hike further down towards the waterfalls without our packs, that way we could swim and walk through the creek without worrying about everything getting wet. Way more fun than bushwhacking through spiky plants and picking up leeches.
Pretty soon we came to a series of two 40-50 foot waterfalls. We went into the woods and hiked down around them, thinking that those waterfalls must have made up a good amount of the gradient of the river and that we would soon get to the confluence with the larger river. This was wrong. The picture to the left is above another series of 5 or more waterfalls all at least 40 feet, some significantly more. It was getting too late to walk around, so we gave up on getting to the confluence. We also figured the larger river might have too much water and would perhaps be dangerous. Some day I want to go back and check that out, because that river hits even more topo lines on the map, and must have some epically huge waterfalls.

So we camped out along the stream that night, ate kanoms (Thai snacks) which make surprisingly awesome hiking food. We also had a huge bag of cashew nuts I picked up from my community before I left, as we have a group that grows cashew trees there.
The next morning we woke up and walked/waded/climbed up the smaller stream we had camped next to. It was a very pretty little stream, lots of small waterfalls, and green vegetation on the sides.

It was now Monday, out last day in the woods as Tuesday was reserved for traveling. We decided to hitch hike around the park and check out the more visited areas of the park.






This is Heo Narok Falls. There were a lot of people there, but for good reason, it was definitely a beauitful spot.

















This is Paa Diao Daai, which means something like a cliff that is easily passed over. Its off the road through the woods perhaps half a kilometer, which is more than the distance an average Thai person would consider walking, so that's probably why it would be easy to miss.

We continued to Huai Sawat Falls which is probably the most popular destination of the park. There were hundreds of people there. We then hiked a kilometer downstream to another very pretty waterfall, and there was no one there at all. I feel like this same thing happens in the States, but I was surprised to find that it is actually worse in Thailand.

Anyway, we hitched a ride out of the park and found a pretty delicious steak restaurant that was only slightly overpriced and was playing bluegrass (awesome!) We caught another ride who said they would take us to Pak Chong where we would get a hotel and a bus ride out the next morning, but they dropped us off 10km away, by which point it was dark out. This of course left us in a worse situation before because no one wants to pick up hitch hikers in the dark, even in Thailand.

This is kind of a cultural thing that Thai people like to do called Greng-Jai. Basically it means they don't want to help you out, or perhaps can't, but they try to anyway because it gives them good karma. So like, if you ask a Thai person directions, they will absolutely give you an answer, even if they have no idea where you want to go, because they want to be helpful. It doesn't really make sense, but it happens, and its frustrating. Fortunately after hiking a few km someone picked us up and gave us a ride into town.

I guess I'll leave you with this: one of the little guys that was plaguing us throughout our trip, though mostly on the first day. They inject anticoagulants when they bite you so that you bleed a lot after you take them off.

The Thai word is taak. They can actually bite through your socks too it turns out.