City Wildlife

Animals seen around Bangkok. There are geckos everywhere! Even in restaurants!

Water monitor. This one was small at just over 2ft long. 

Zebra dove

Scarlet-backed flowerpecker, female

Common house gecko

Common myna

Black-collared starling

Red turtle dove, male

Khao Yai National Park

We had so much fun in the rainforest! It was such an adventure and we needed a change of pace very badly. We hired a guide so we didn't get lost, and he helped ID plants and animals along the hike. He had binoculars and a telescope with him, so we got a better look at creatures way up in the trees. We saw so many different animals, insects, and plants. Our guide taught us how the parasitic fig tree slowly kills its host tree by choking it out with its giant roots. He also taught us how to differentiate between male and female gibbons by the sound of their call. We saw tiny baby monkeys and gibbons, and got to watch a baby monkey nurse its mother. We saw waterfalls, giant turtles and lizards, and a flock of hornbills eating fruit from a tree. I could ramble on forever about how absolutely amazing it was!! The experience was everything we hoped it would be. This post will be about the forest, and I'll put the animals in a different post because there's a lot! Another really cool thing we found was bear claw marks on a tree! There are two bear species in Thailand: the sun bear and the Asiatic black bear. We would go back in a heart beat!

Putting on our leech-protection socks

Don't approach the wildlife!

Fig tree

Our guide following the sound of gibbons

Bear claw marks on a tree

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

Wat Pho

The ancient Buddha housed in Phra Ubosot

Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple complex in Bangkok that covers 22 acres. It houses Thailand's largest collection of Buddha images (over 1000) including a 150ft long reclining golden Buddha. The reclining position represents a dying Buddha entering nirvana. The soles of his feet are very ornate and made of mother of pearl. Wat Pho also contains a school of traditional Thai medicine and massage, which is also Thailand's very first university. Many Buddhas at Wat Pho were brought there from several ruin sites across the country that were destroyed by the Burmese. The largest is housed in a temple called Phra Ubosot, which is the main temple for rituals making it the most sacred in all of Wat Pho. Phra Ubosot was built in the mid 1700s, however the golden Buddha it holds is at least 500 years old. Cremated ashes of the king who brought the Buddha from ancient ruins to Phra Ubosot were placed in its pedestal. Wat Pho is located next to the Grand Palace grounds which is where Thailand's King holds meetings and ceremonies. 

Reclining Buddha

The reclining Buddha's feet are so pretty!