Eventually, we made it to the park. If you are Thai you get charged 40 Baht each to enter the park ($1.20), if you are a tourist you get charged 400 Baht each ($12) but since we live and
work in Thailand and since she has a Thai driver license somehow we fell in the middle and were charged 130Baht for both of us ($4).
Upon our entrance I announced that the first person to see a monkey wins...not indicating what the winner's prize would be. The drive into and around the park was beautiful! As we had climbed some altitude the weather cooled off and the leaves were actually changing color! We were experiencing fall! It was so wonderful! Leaves falling from trees, crisp air...I loved it! Not too far into the park I spotted several monkeys on the side of the road and declared myself the winner. As we drove by so slowly and stopped the car the monkeys would stand erect outside my window and look to see if I had anything yummy for them. As monkeys are not as kind and snuggly as they look I kept my window closed and enjoyed them from inside. With the exception of their strange red hind ends they were quite cute. Their eye lids looked to be dressed if freshly applied blue eyeshadow accented by red eyeliner. Very modern! I wondered if the look would work for me.
We passed giant salt lick areas where we plan to return tomorrow early morning to see if the wild elephants will visit. I would be so very pleased to see a family of wild elephants!!
We hiked to waterfalls, saw several small deer about the hight of perhaps my shoulder, if that, saw lots more monkeys and then decided to check into the hotel and have an early dinner since we had only eaten cinnamon rolls all day.
Our hotel was a bit further outside the park than we expected. We finally found it and checked in. I'm not really sure how to describe this place. It is set in a "garden" setting. I use quotations as it is called Kao Yai Garden Resort or something like that. But it's not a garden in the sense that there are flowers all around. Unfortunately the grounds look a little unkempt. It has so much potential but there I go using my American eyes again. What I do love about this place is that they have 4 good sized turtles which I almost walked by without noticing. Luckily they caught my eye and we spend several minutes coaching one out of its shell, feeding them and watching them fight over the food (of which there was plenty!). I didn't appreciate, however, the ginormous mosquitoes trying to find their way to my sweet blood.
We went in search of dinner and randomly stopped at a restaurant. Only outdoor seating. A woman approached me and in my best Thai I asked if we could have dinner. She said yes and we sat. We were given a menu which to our humor was only in Thai. :-) In most places I've been to they have had English menus or someone who speaks English...not here! It was a test of our Thai abilities. Oh boy. We looked at the menu...laughed and decided we would order chicken and rice and veggies, and I found a photo of a dish that looked interesting (it was served in a coconut) but I had NO idea what it was. When I've had coconut dishes in the past they have been seafood mixtures so I wondered if this would be the same and decided we would just have to find out. We ordered drinks, pineapple juice, and the woman slipped away to prepare them. Meanwhile, we were ready to order so a gentleman came over to the table (we were the only customers) and my friend and I looked at each other and giggled. Before we could get anything out of our mouths the boy disappeared and never returned! Then the woman came to bring our drinks and also tried to dash away but we immediately asked her about food. I pointed to my picture of the something served in coconut and asked if it was available, she responded that, yes, it was available. I'll take one. Then my friend tried to order grilled chicken and the woman couldn't understand her. We repeated the order and still nothing. So, I repeated chicken, in Thai and she got that. Then she started asking how we wanted it and I thought we finally made ourselves clear. Off she went and we waited for our food. My dish came and we started eating it. It turned out to be quite good. I don't know exactly what it was but it had seafood in it. :-) It's normal in Thailand for dishes to be brought to the table as soon as they are ready even if the other dishes are not ready. We started on my dish and then finished my dish and waited but no chicken came. We decided that the waitress must not have understood our request and so she just ignored it (no uncommon). So, we called the server over and ordered chicken fried rice which he understood right away and 5 minutes later the dish appeared and was eaten. Then we were asked if we wanted another drink and we declined but asked for the bill. It never came. So, I asked again and it came right away. We chuckled over the experience and left...never to return again.
So, that was our day. We will turn in a bit early tonight so we can get an early start tomorrow with hopes high of seeing elephants, great hornbills, barking deer and so much more!!! A tiger maybe?!?! Perhaps that's too much to ask.
I love that this sign informs me that I smell bad to wildlife! :-)
These monkeys sad on the roadside as we drove by. Photo was taken from inside the car...window shut.
Baby monkey eating an apple piece which he decided he didn't want anymore so he threw it on the ground. Cute thing!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment