The charming peaks of Khao Yai (Big Mountain) are just under 3 hours driving distance north-east from Bangkok and the endeavour will create eternal memories, beckoning from the beauty of the region. Khao Yai boasts of having the third biggest national park in Thailand, covering a whopping 2168 square metres of land, making up the western area of the Sankamphaeng Mountain Range. The loftiest peak of the range is Khao Rom, tickling the scales at 1,351 metres high.
The green haven is home to over 60 different species of mammals, over 300 varieties of birds and over 3,000 classifications of plants! Many years ago I had deer eating out of the palm of my hand from the mouth of my tent, but the freezing temperature at night put me off another spate of camping!
On the road to the Green Giant
A mission had been orchestrated before embarking on this journey to 'The Green Giant', part 1 of the plan; Scour the internet for a room with a stunning view, a view that could be embraced, a view that you could smell it was so good, a view which placed you in awe of the natural wonder of our planet! After hours of searching I found such a place and this was the view from my balcony:
Blessed with the beauty of the green peaks
Some cave style dwellings, with rooftop balconies sitting in the rays of the Sun
If you are interested in taking a trip to Khao Yai, you will need a car as everything is quite far apart, I believe there is public transport to the largest town; Pak Chong, but without transport you would have to arrange transport to every place you visit, or hire a motorbike. I saw people on motorbikes scaling the green mountain within the national park, but they certainly weren't breaking the sound barrier!
We stayed outside of the National Park, there are a few campsites, but last time I had to wear a jacket, socks and my shoes inside my sleeping bag. The temperature on the mountain goes through the extremes of boiling in the day and freezing at night! The bungalow was a lot more comfortable!
Some of the biggest attractions of being on the mountain are the views and the waterfalls, on this particular trip many of the best viewpoints were closed due to subsidence from the tail-end of the cruel monsoon season. We decided to visit one of the waterfalls named Nam Dtok Haew Narok, translating to - Hell Gorge Waterfall
Journey to the Falls
Ascending the 'Green Giant' via a long snaking road
Scenic view from a viewpoint half way up the giant!
A friend we met at the viewpoint, he had enough of our company
The waterfall is a 23km winding journey from the visitor centre in the national park. The total height of Nam Dtok Haew Narok is supposedly 150m, but this spans out over three tiers and there is only access to the first tier. The route starts off nice and flat and you have to cross a gorge over an old bridge, which was solid, but looked a little 'worn in'.
Old wooden faithful
View from 'Old Wooden Faithful'
The pleasantries of our mission to the falls soon ended, soon after crossing Old Wooden Faithful we were presented with a shin burning 199 step descent to reach the cascading flow of H2O. I love a challenge, but I was more worried about my junior explorer and Mrs Explorer. The steps only had a rail on one side at points, which made some hair-raising passes when crossing paths with other view seekers.
Mission Complete
A New Friend
This was Boris the tortoise, we met him at the waterfall, at first I assumed he was wild and started taking pictures of him, then later found out his owner had carried him the 199 steps down the waterfall(What!). His Thai owner had named him after his favourite tennis player- Boris Becker
It was definitely worth the trek and my exploring family traversed the 199 steps of faith with great skill and courage. I would propose the hike to be more than a worthy trek and a great bit of lung busting exercise, especially making the ascent back to the car park!
Khao Yai has more to offer than the confines of the national park, in Part 2 I will take you to some of the other enchanting spots on the outskirts of the park.
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Keep exploring!