South-East Asia

Through Bangkok, we went to Pak Chong then, some 150 km away from the capital in the Khao Yai National Park, which is supposed to be one of Thailand's best ones. We were met at the train station by a couple of women, each of them trying to sell us their guesthouse. We chose the Greenleaf Guesthouse, following recommendations, and were not disappointed (8 euro for a large bungalow with fan and shower). I suppose the tours to the park offered by various hostels do not differ so much, but we had nice company and well-informed guides here. Khao Yai is pretty impressive, with snakes, monkeys, elephants, tigers, leopards, bears, spiders and a jungle where you might indeed lose your group by falling just ten meters behind. We didn't see any predators, but for the average European, seeing an angry elephant running for your car is quite an experience, not to speak about the 2 million(!!!) bats leaving their cave in a one-hour excursion each night for a hunt.