"Where shall we go now?":
Adventures in Thailand and Laos

We left for our trail, one of many in the park of varying degrees of difficulty. Ours was to be approx. 7km long and one of the more difficult options. Our guide was great, knowledgeable and more importantly, very enthusiastic about his job. He led us slowly through the jungle, stopping every few minutes to point out insects, strangler fig trees, and even macaques. After a few minutes, we started to notice some creatures joining our group... leeches... everywhere! We had been warned about the large number of leeches in the park, especially during the wet season. Our guide had even provided us with leech proof socks, sexy white cotton stockings pulled up to the knees and tied up with string. These however, were no deterrent for the ferocious leeches we encountered throughout our three-hour trek. They seemed to seek us out, attracted to the carbon dioxide emitted by mammals, and the whole group had to stop every few minutes to flick them off our shoes, trousers and sometimes even higher body parts!

After an hour or so of trekking through the jungle being fascinated by the various species of bugs and plants, we heard a distant hooting noise, and suddenly our guide was off - running through the dense jungle foliage, trying to locate the source of the noise. Just as suddenly as he had started, he stopped still, beckoning us all towards him, looking up into the trees. There, hanging by his hands at the top of the canopy was a white handed gibbon, swinging slowly from side to side and looking at us with great curiosity. The group was so excited, and even more so when we noticed another gibbon. They soon moved on, bored by our company. The group tried to follow them, but they were too fast for us and we soon lost them from our sights. It was a truly memorable moment, and for me, one of the highlights of the whole trip.

We continued the trek, following the route that the elephants had taken that morning, and finished up back at the park restaurant for a delicious lunch and some great photo opportunities at the impressive waterfall which had featured in the movie "The Beach". After that it was back to the truck for the short trip back to the lodge for a well earned beer, and more importantly a long hot shower. As I lay in bed that night, exhausted and with aching feet, I was almost pleased that our flights to Laos had been cancelled. Otherwise I would not have had the chance to experience the beauty or the leeches of Khao Yai at all.