From Khorat it’s just a short distance west to what is considered one of Thailand’s premier national parks, Khoa Yai. I think the name of the village where I’m staying is Mu Si, but everyone just refers to this whole area as Khao Yai. This is where the people of Bangkok come for rest and relaxation. There are tons and tons of really fancy resorts, big restaurants, and for some reason, go kart tracks all over the place.

From my hotel it’s only about a five minute drive to the entrance of the park. I read there was a lot of wildlife spotting in the park, but I didn’t really take it seriously until I got to the gate and saw the “what to do when seeing wild elephants” sign. There’s also a lot of elephant crossing signs throughout the park and I even saw a cobra crossing sign!? Supposedly, there are clouded leopards here too. Maybe I underestimated this place. We’ll see.

My main plans were to make the rounds to all the waterfalls. Hiking is restricted to certain areas because of the wildlife. Right behind the big visitor center is the trail to Kong Kaew Waterfall. May as well start there.

The waterfall was really just a couple of short cascades, but wow, this place is really beautiful!

Not too far from the visitor center was this great viewpoint. As I was leaving I heard a woman scream. I looked up just in time to see a monkey run past her and jump in her car as she was trying to get in. A few seconds later he jumped out with a plastic container of food. As I drove away I saw the monkey on the side of the road with the open container eating her sandwich. Ha! *mental note* be careful entering and exciting the car and don’t leave anything loose in there… got it!

The most popular waterfall in the park is Haew Su Wat. This is more like it! This is also the easiest waterfall to get to, so it was really crowded, but wow!

I realize I just witnessed a monkey steal some food from a car and scare an unsuspecting woman to death, but I think these signs are a little unfair.

Just look at that sweet face.

Pha Kluai Mai Waterfall took a little more effort to get to. It wasn’t a long hike, but it involved some more bushwhacking and proper jungle hiking. I was pretty dirty afterwards. Some of the views of the river were really pretty.

The waterfall itself seemed to be two or three tiers. It was near impossible to get a decent view of any of them. I climbed around on some rocks, walked through some bushes along the shore, and searched for ways to get better views that didn’t involve plunging to my demise, but these pics will have to do. After all that climbing around and trying to get a better view, I pulled out the guidebook (saved on my phone) to see if maybe there was something about the hike I was missing. All it said was to be careful along the banks because crocodiles are sometimes found in this part of the river. Oops!

At the far south end of Khao Yai National Park is Haew Narok Waterfall, billed as the largest waterfall in central Thailand. I guess if you can’t be the biggest in the country, that’s the next best thing. It’s an incredibly impressive waterfall either way.

The hike to Haew Narok wasn’t too difficult, but it did involve a lot of steep steps of doom. That’s just the bottom half in the pic.

I especially enjoyed the hundreds of butterflies fluttering around the big bridge over the river. I had to walk through a small cloud of them to get across. And of course there were some ever present monkeys.

Driving back through the park I ran into a traffic jam. So I hopped out of the car to see what the fuss was about. Wild Hefalumps! I really didn’t think I would see any, but Hefalumps! I was a little late to the party, unfortunately. I got to see a mom and baby cross the road, but by the time I got the camera aimed they were walking back into the forest so I was only able to get a couple of pics of the baby’s back end. What a great way to end the day, though.

Well, I had one more day in Khao Yai, but I had already seen everything I came to see except for one other waterfall way south. I read that the waterfall was just a trickle, though, and it was pretty far. I didn’t think it was worth it. But it turns out there was ANOTHER set of ancient ruins about the same distance in the opposite direction. I didn’t think I would have time to make it up there, but I just couldn’t resist.

The ancient city of Si Thep has been occupied since around the 3rd century until about the 13th century. It was a prehistoric settlement, then a Dvaravati city, then Khmer, and was eventually abandoned when nearby Sukhothai and Ayutthaya came into power. Today, there are basically three large temples and a lot of random foundations remaining.

The structure seen above looks like just a big pile of stones, but when you get close you can still see a lot of the foundational artwork still intact.

The most impressive part was this huge Dharmachakra wheel sculpture they found. Odd that they put it here instead of one of Thailands many museums. In fact, this is maybe one of the most impressive pieces of ancient art I’ve seen in the whole country.

The final temple had only one lonely surviving lintel of the Hindu god Shiva. That view back to the first temple was really amazing though. Actually, the whole site was really beautiful. Definitely worth the drive.

We’re not done yet. Just down the street there are two more sites to check out. In 2008, the locals of the village randomly started wondering to themselves, “Hey, what do you think is underneath that really big hill all covered with weeds at the edge of town?” So, they started digging and discovered what is now the largest Dvaravati temple in Thailand, Khao Klang Nok. Crazy!

Finally, Rushi’s Prang, propped up by steel supports, is also known as the hermits residence. I don’t think much is known about it, but it dates to the same time period as the other buildings in the Historical Park. It was a nice quiet place to just sit and chill for a few minutes before driving back to Khao Yai.

I know I said I was taking a break from the ruins, but it’s not my fault that Thailand has so many ancient cities just laying around. Just a warning, the next two stops are pretty much all ancient ruins too. This place is a history buffs dream! On to the next…