When Val and I started planning our trip to Thailand, we thought of maybe doing some backpacking in one of the many national parks. After doing some extensive research, we found that it was not that easy. The only way to backpack in Thailand, it appears, has to be with a guide. Part of it has to do with the country’s fauna which includes elephants, tigers, wild dogs, monkeys and or sorts of insects and little creepy crawlers and another because well, there’s not a lot of information. With that in mind, we chose to go to Khao Yai National Park for a couple of days and do some hiking there since it was not too far from Bangkok. Getting there was part of the adventure as we ended up renting a car without realizing that we needed to drive on the right side of the car and the left side of the road. Add to that having to read directions and street signs in Thai, negotiate traffic with Tuc-tucs and pouring rain in the dark. Needless to say, we got to Khao Yai late in the evening after passing the hotel we stayed in about half a dozen times before we actually found it.
The following day, we woke up and headed to the park for some hiking. Our plan was to hit the visitor’s center first to get some info and maps and then pick up a trail and go. We ended up doing three short hikes in the park.
Kong Kaeo Trail
When we got to the visitors center parking lot, we noticed a hanging bridge over a river right behind the building. We walked to a sign a found out it was an actual trail. Since we still didn’t have any information or maps, we decided to go first to the visitor center. One thing we noticed in the parking lot though was almost everyone was wearing something that looked like a cotton sack over their lower legs. We asked in the visitor center about it and found that those were leech socks… and that we needed them to hike in the park. Luckily they had a little store in the visitor center where we were able to get a pair. Once equipped with the proper gear, we crossed the bridge and started our first official hike in Thailand. The trail was actually a paved path that meandered thru the forest. Certainly vegetation was completely different to what we’re use to here in the states. There were huge trees covering the forest and smaller ones with twisting branches and lianas and all sorts of small palms. About half way around the loop we found an actual trail with a little wooden sign that read Heaw Suwat Waterfall. WE took that trail and things got more interesting. With all the rain from the previous night, the trail was nothing but muddy. As we were walking we started noticing little black things climbing on our shoes and then on the leech socks. A close inspection revealed that yes; the leech socks were working – kind of. We continued for a bit up to appoint where the trail made a sharp turn and went steep down. Thinking about climbing back up and the leeches, we decided to turn around at that time. By then we couldn’t outrun the darn little things. As we hiked back to the paved trail we started hearing monkeys in the distance. I don’t know what was going on but they did have a very heated argument going on. At first it was cool, but after a while it was a bit scarier as we didn’t know how far or close they were.
Once back at the paved trail, we spent a couple of minutes flinging leeches of our socks and battling mosquitoes as the sounds of monkeys died away. As we hiked back, we passed another hanging bridge towards the end of the loop and found a sign pointing to the Gon Gheo waterfall. We followed the path as long as we could and then went back to the parking lot
Nong Phak Chi trail
After walking out of the Kong Kaeo, we washed our shoes and grabbed something to eat across from the visitor center. I won’t go into details but to this day we’re still not sure what we ate. Back at the car and after a bit of back and forth, we decided to drive to the Nong Phak Chi Wildlife Viewing tower parking lot and hike around there. We found that, if you take a tour, they drive you to the tower on a very bumpy dirt road. Since we were not in a tour, we just went around the gate and walked there. At first the trail passes some trees that block the views of some wide open grass fields. At first it looked like the grass was not that tall. Later we found that it was about shoulder high. From the road it was easy to see paths in the fields that we imagine are made by elephants when the go to a nearby salt lick. We got to the viewing tower and climbed up. Even though we didn’t get to see all the wildlife you’re suppose to see from there, that includes elephants, deer, wild dogs, boars, etc. It was pretty cool to get the vistas from that perspective. From up there, we noticed a trail going around the lake and continuing pass the salt lick in to the forest which we decided to explore. Once we left the tower behind, we got back on a muddy trail but without leeches this time. While going around the lake we got the most incredible butterfly display which made this hike worth. First it was a black and white butterfly with a couple of long appendages on the back that made it look like a little person. Then we saw a group on the ground that were black and green with some very vivid and even reflective green spots. These spots were more visible when they flew but even standing on a plant they were pretty impressive. Later we saw a simple black butterfly with very faint shades of blue/grey that made it look like its wings were made of velvet. And lastly, a white butterfly with lines and yellow marks resembling the color of a tiger
After that, we passed the salt lick and continued thru the tall grass fields towards the forest. As we did, the sky started turning grey menacing with showers. We pushed on and got into a very dense forest. We didn’t get all the sounds we got in Kong Kaeo but still it felt like a thousand little colored eyes were looking at us either in surprise or because we looked tasty. We continued for a while as it started to rain up to a point where we thought we were walking in circles. By then it had gotten pretty dark so we decided to turn around and retrace our steps back to the trailhead. As we did, rain subsided but the sky never cleared. Back at the parking lot we took a break and started questioning if we had enough time for another hike.
Haew Narok Waterfall
We got in the car and started driving almost aimlessly but thinking about something we’d been told in the visitor center. It seems that wildlife is more visible at dusk as it sometimes crosses the roads in the park. While driving around we saw a lonely monkey walking on the road. We stopped but didn’t open the windows or got out as we didn’t know how or if the monkey was dangerous. After a while, we continued slowly on the road and saw the rest of the group. There must have been a couple dozen monkeys frolicking around near the road. Then we saw a sign pointing to the Haew Narok Waterfall so we drove in and parked. At first it seemed desolated so we thought the trail was already closed but a ranger told us we had about half an hour and if we were fast, we could go to the waterfall. The part that she failed to tell us was that it’s very easy to get to the waterfall, the hard part coming back. The trail was a paved path thru the forest with some bridges crossing the river in several places. We continued until we saw the water disappear in a hole in the forest as it dropped a couple hundred feet. From that point on, the trail became a winding staircase all the way down to a viewpoint right in front of the waterfall. The waterfall was pretty impressive and reminded me of a waterfall I visited in Canaima, Venezuela when I was a kid. After enjoying the views, we started our way back climbing the winding
staircase. It was a pretty decent workout especially because of the humidity.
Map
Interactive map
All three hikes are in this map. To check an individual trail, click on the icon and follow the link
To see the full map, click Menu and select Full Screen. You can also click Terrain to change the map style
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