{"id":448,"date":"2009-12-20T00:03:19","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T07:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/?p=448"},"modified":"2017-09-13T13:32:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T17:32:25","slug":"khao-yai-national-park-december-18-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/khao-yai-national-park-december-18-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Khao Yai National Park December 18 – 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There are those places that everyone reads and knows about before traveling to Thailand like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket. \u00a0Then there are those places that you hear about once you get to Thailand that you just have to go to like Pai and Koh Chang. \u00a0Every country have those.. well, secret places that very few tourists go to and are gems of the land. \u00a0Khao Yai National Park is one of those gems that most travelers do not have on their itinerary when traveling through Thailand.<\/p>\n

Myself and the rest of EP teachers were informed about three weeks ago that we were going to Khao Yai for some kind of camp with the 4, 5, and 6 students. \u00a04, 5, and 6 is equivalent to 10th, 11th, and 12th graders in the States. \u00a0The coolest thing about this trip was that we were going to be camping in the park. \u00a0Actual tent and sleeping bag, so I was pretty excited to be doing something like this in Thailand. \u00a0I was a little upset at first because I only teach the 1, 2, and 3 students. \u00a01, 2, and 3 is equivalent to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders in the States. \u00a0I wanted to go to a camp where I would know the students because I have so much fun with my 1, 2, and 3 students in class. \u00a0We were set to leave on Friday the 18th. \u00a0I could not leave until 12 O’clock because I had to teach in the morning. \u00a0Everyone else left at 7 in the morning to get to Khao Yai.<\/p>\n

It was about a three hour bus ride from Suphanburi to Khao Yai. \u00a0Brett, Ally, and I had some interesting dialogue on our trip. \u00a0It ranged from the “King of Thailand” to “How did Christianity become so prevalent in South Korea?” to “Improving our students’ English.” \u00a0The most fascinating thing about Thailand to me is the love of the King. \u00a0It is really hard to put into words, but the King means so much to the people of Thailand. \u00a0It is one of the few things that keeps the people of Thailand all connected along with Buddhism. \u00a0It will be a scary day when the King passes. \u00a0I think their will be more uproar when the King passes than the Coup back in 2006.<\/p>\n

We finally arrived at our first destination in the park which was Haew Suwat Waterfall. \u00a0It was not a far walk, but you had to walk down 80 steps to get to the waterfall. \u00a0It felt like the mountain was cut into a little basin for this waterfall. \u00a0You felt like you were much farther from the main road than actuality. \u00a0It was a beautiful site and one of the best waterfalls I have seen.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0002\"<\/a>After the waterfall, we went to our campsite for the first time. \u00a0We went to an area where there was about 75 tents set up. \u00a0Many Thai people come here to camp out for weekends. \u00a0It was really cool to be there. \u00a0That night our school had an animal sighting activity planned. \u00a0We hopped on the back of a pickup truck and off we went. \u00a0We had a little kid shining a light around the forest to spot the animals. \u00a0In the beginning, we did not see anything. \u00a0The stars were gorgeous, but no animals. \u00a0There were a couple of trucks in front of us that had slowed down and had their lights on something in a field to the left. \u00a0There were about three huge deer walking along. \u00a0They had antlers and everything. \u00a0Uncle Teddy, you could have tried to go for one of these. \u00a0Deer was the main animal that we saw on the rest of the trip. \u00a0There was one point where we noticed these two small creatures scurrying, but could not tell what they were. \u00a0The light finally got to them and it was two porcupines. \u00a0If you have not seen a porcupine, they are an interesting looking. \u00a0They can be described as two halves: the half towards their back is covered in their needles and the other half is an animal that resembles a possum. \u00a0That was the first time I saw a porcupine and I was happy to see one. \u00a0We got back to our site and passed out. \u00a0Just to let everyone know. \u00a0It got real cold at night. \u00a0It did not rain, but the grass was wet. \u00a0Their was definite frost, so you might think that Thailand is hot and it is, but high in the mountains it is cold.<\/p>\n

We had to get up at 6 in the morning the next day for bird watching. \u00a0We walked along the road in search of some birds. \u00a0The foreign teachers were not really into it along with the students. \u00a0We got to talk to some of the students which was the highlight of the morning. \u00a0We packed up our gear and headed off. \u00a0We first stopped at the gift shop before we left Khao Yai. \u00a0Here is a picture of some of the students in the sixes. \u00a0I don’t teach them, but Annie does. \u00a0Lately, we have been teaching them sign language which includes some bad words.<\/p>\n

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On the way back home, we stopped at a place called, “ChokChai Ranch Resort.” \u00a0If you are craving some Steak when traveling in Thailand than this is the place to go visit. \u00a0Steak is rare in Thailand because their cows are not fat like the ones in the state. \u00a0At, “ChokChai Ranch Resort,” \u00a0there are legit American cows. \u00a0They are black and white, not the usual brown that I am used to in Thailand. \u00a0I did not get to try any of their steak, but I did have some ice cream and this is REAL ice cream. \u00a0I also tried some milk and it was REAL milk. \u00a0So, if you are craving some thick milk and ice cream or steak then stop by, “ChokChai Ranch Resort,” to get your fixins.<\/p>\n

We had one more place to stop off at before Suphanburi. \u00a0It was another waterfall. \u00a0The waterfall was not the most spectacular, but what made this waterfall fun was being able to swim and tube down it. \u00a0The falls were small, but you were still able to go down the falls in a tube which made it very fun. \u00a0It was fun to swim in the river.<\/p>\n

So Khao Yai is a definite must see in Thailand. \u00a0Do not forget about this wonderful place. \u00a0I will go again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are those places that everyone reads and knows about before traveling to Thailand like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket. \u00a0Then there are those places that you hear about once you get to Thailand that you just have to go to like Pai and Koh Chang. \u00a0Every country have those.. well, secret places that very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allaboutmatt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}