I think I may have been more excited than the kids about the next stop on our trip—where we were going to see elephants!
We were to fly south an hour from Bangkok to Surat Thani and find a van waiting to take us to Elephant Hills Camp in the Khao Sok National Park, the oldest evergreen rainforest anywhere. It’s a beautiful part of the country, with huge towers of limestone, deep valleys, waterfalls, and beautiful lakes. And though elephants were all we were guaranteed to see, the National Park is one of the most biodiverse places in the world, home to over five percent of the world’s species—with tons of insects, birds, and bats, various primates, deer, bear, and even tigers.
We spent two nights there at the camp, but one could easily plan a much longer stay, hiking its trails and exploring its dense jungle in hopes to catch a glimpse.
This weekend should be a nice one! We’re meeting friends at our local brewery for some drinks tonight, going on a chicken coop tour, and having a fiesta at Hudson’s school. Anything good coming up on your datebook?
Here are some last minute ideas if you’d like to toast to Cinco de Mayo tonight:
That said, the news has been awfully sobering lately. Here are some links, starting with what’s weighing most on my mind and finishing up with some lighter fare…
We had four nights in Bangkok, and if we’d change anything about our two weeks in Thailand it would probably be to add one more night in the city. But, frankly, we could have probably spent our entire two weeks there and still have wished for more, so at some point one just has to hope to have gained an appreciation for a place that might be enough to keep with them always. And then hope to return.
Some find Bangkok too hot, too polluted or too chaotic, but we loved its energy, the clash of its ancient culture with a modern metropolis. And the food… we never could completely get our fill.
My impression is that there’s a different Bangkok for every traveler and every budget. We spent our first two days settling in and getting re-acquainted; and then this is the Bangkok we found for the next two days with two little kids…
