Our Own Villa

The view from our villa.

We hopped a  bus for a 2 hour trip outside of the city and headed for the hills! The countryside of Thailand is beautiful and so much cooler and less humid than the city. We went to  Khao Yai to visit and explore the national park there. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and encompasses over 1500 square miles of rainforest and grassland that hold rich wildlife, caves, and waterfalls. We stayed in a really neat villa about 15 minutes from the national park entrance. The villa complex is called The Frog, and the property is dotted with 9 individual cabins. Lush plants and ponds surround each villa so it feels very secluded and private. The owners live nearby and even have gardens near the villas. They grow their own produce to use in the delicious breakfast and dinner dishes they cook for their guests. Since you are so far out in the country, it is very quiet and relaxing. At night the only thing you can hear are crickets and frogs - a LOT of frogs! It's so peaceful. On our first night there, as we walked back to our villa from eating a magnificent home cooked Thai dinner, a large fruit bat flew right over us! So magical!  My favorite feature of our villa was the open ceiling in the bathroom. It was screened in, but other than that it was open so it felt like you were outdoors while you showered. There were also live plants growing in the shower area, which was super cool.

Open-ceiling bathroom