Khao Sok National Park

The Thailand idea of a taxi ride is a pickup truck with benches and a roof in the bed. It made for a great view of the countryside, but you definitely had to hold on to a handrail the entire time.

Wassup dog?

We arrived at our resort in Khao Sok National Park in time for a tube ride down the river. The place was beautiful. I didn’t know that being in a rain forest actually makes you feel like everything around you is alive. We seemed really out of place with our painted rubber tubes and artificially colored swimsuits on, but I didn’t let that stop me from using a rope tied to a cliff to swing into the river.

I kept expecting to see velociraptors in the rain forest.

The river we tubed down.

A nearby waterfall let us wash off the sand. I did my best model pose while unknowingly being recorded. Then it was time to feed the local monkeys.

Waterfall shower.

We barely saw any at first, but once the other monkeys heard we had peanuts they came out in droves. Exceptionally cute, they would hug our legs while running from their older siblings and chase each other across trees.

This monkey was someone's pet.

But these guys were wild & hungry.

Like tiny people, but with tails.

The food at the place was great. The guys showing us around were very friendly too, if their English was just okay. But hey, I can only say thank you in Thai, and even then I get confused if I should be using the male or female version (after a week and a half of listening and experimenting, I figured out to use the male version because I’m a male—not because I’m speaking to another male).

One of the staff showed off this gigantic grasshopper bug. He was really loud!

On a side note, we saw the premiere of an awesome show called Sticky Rice Warrior, a high budget modern military action television series. It stars a handsome young Thai protagonist who basically becomes Superman after, you guessed it, he eats sticky rice. The special effects were great, but oh man the acting… I think they just spent a disproportionate amount of money on the deflect-a-bazooka-rocket-to-save-the-in-over-her-head-reporter scene.