WITHOUT A SOLE IN KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK

Well, it is official, I am indeed soulless, or should I say soleless!  Alan and I spent the long holiday weekend in Khao Yai national park.  I took along to wear a pair of trainers that I last wore about 6 years ago.  They have probably only been worn three times.  Okay, I didn't like them, so sue me!

Alan and I set off for a long walk around our lodge area at a merry pace, with a couple of Jack Russell dogs in tow (yes!).   After a while my shoe felt funny, and on looking down we noticed that the black tread had come unstuck slightly from both shoes.  I walked a few more paces and the shoes felt even stranger.  We then noticed that not only had the tread come loose, but also the whole of the base of both trainers.  We decided to head on back, but my shoes were soon a-flipping and a-flopping all over the place until first one and then the other just fell apart, leaving me wearing the fabric upper, which was still attached to the fabric inner sole.  We were away from the hotel and so the only recourse was to tie the bottoms to the tops with the shoelaces.  I then walked (or should I say flopped) back to the hotel, with my feet flapping like someone wearing diving flippers!

I have experienced catastrophic shoe failure before, but in an area where I could quickly change my shoes.  I think the heat just melts the glue, or it disintegrates after a few years.

Luckily for me the lodge owner got his staff to superglue my trainers together for me, as I only had sandals for my trek.  He recounted an overheard conversation between the hotel staff who were sitting around fixing my shoes.  They were speculating on why a foreigner (and therefore a rich person) was paying THB80 for glue, when they could buy a new pair of shoes in the market for THB120 as they did!  We did laugh and none more so then me, for I had paid over THB4,000 for the last pair of shoes I had purchased in Thailand, the result of big feet and a hatred of plastic shoes!  Well I tipped the man enough to get himself a new pair of shoes, which he much appreciated.

We visited the bat cave one evening.  No, we didn't see Batman, Robin or The Joker, but we did see bats by the gazillion. You can see them here, flying from the cave.

The bats flew in a long line, which twisted and turned in the dusk, as they made their way to their feeding grounds.

We have seen bats completely fill the sky when we lived in Cote d'Ivoire,  but we have never seen such a large swarm (are they a swarm, they certainly felt like one?) quite so near before.  At times they were directly overhead, and the noise of their wings was quite deafening.  They exited two caves for about the 40 minutes we were there and continued to do so after we had left.

Our guide for the trek was Yoyo, who assured us that he was mad.  Oh dear, you know you are in for a long day when it starts off like that!

We wore leech socks, and good job too.  I picked off three (okay I screamed and threw my legs around in every direction until the braver men folk had removed them), at the first stop.  Near the end of the day, Alan did his version on the dance, when he found one on his chest, outside his tee shirt!

Our truck went off the road!  The driver had parked on the soft verge and when he set off again, the car lurched then slid sideways.  I was standing up at the time, and had to grab hold of something, whilst protecting my camera AND screaming.  Let me tell you, I know how to multi-task!

We saw quite a few Gibbons, but I didn't manage to get any clear photos.  We heard them a lot as they cried out warnings to each other.  

We also saw about thirty hornbills at the end of the day, in some distant trees.  Again my camera was not up to the job.  I should have had one of those telescope looking cameras, like the sweet Japanese man who was taking photos of them.  He showed us his photos, so that we clearly saw the hornbills.  What magnificent birds they are.  Even from the distance, we could see their yellow bills, stand out amongst the greenery.

There was plenty of beautiful fungi to be seen. They had very subtle colours.

Our guide got a bit of a telling off from me for feeding the wildlife.  He had given this macaque one of the carrots from our lunch, and also fed the deer.  He knew he was doing something wrong as he tried to hide it, so he gained my disapproval.

The guide called us to look at this snake.  I couldn't see it as it was so well camouflaged.  I stuck my head in the bush, looked at the trees opposite and said that I couldn't see it, so he should point it out again.  He pointed to a spot just above and in front of my head.  Forget Usain Bolt, it was more like Kim Bolt, and in reverse!

Alan and the guide.

A beautiful liana, that had twisted into a piece of sculpture.

Huge tree roots.

With all the beauty around us, this man chose instead to look at his mobile phone.  You just can't escape them, can you?

When this tree is cut, it weeps a red sap as though it were bleeding.

A millipede. 

The sun through the tree canopy.

When we exited the jungle, we walked through tall grass.

This is known as elephant salt lick and is full of minerals and vitamins.  The elephants use their feet or tusks to loosen the earth, and then eat it.

Haew Suwat waterfall, which was where part of the The Beech was filmed.

Elephant tracks in the grass. 

Well, our Khao Yai visit was one more item ticked off the 'to do' list!

Oh yes, the trainers did survive, so Utah, here they come!