Khao Yai National Park

Macaque.

So in the tradition of modern life or shall I say my life,  I have been side tracked into necessities and other avenues instead of finishing my recording of our visit to Thailand.    

In my art class I am working on surrealist collages giving me intriquing brain twists which has me throwing my creative urges in that direction instead of writing. 

And finally after a few months delay we have the tree guys here today taking down a pepper tree which has turned itself into a beautiful monster, one eroding the quality of a hundred year old tile roof.

  I had the roof fellow out yesterday and he did not like what he saw.   We are possibly looking at reconstructing the slope of the roof over the kitchen which apparently was done incorrectly in the first place.  And the endless berries and leaves falling from the pepper tree have not helped the condition of the roof either. 

As to my computer, this brave old machine...it is now so old that I cannot download the new software, Catalina.   But, of course, all the shipments of Apple products from China have been interrupted because of the Corona Virus.   So I will see what happens with that before trying to order a new one.  

 Throw in my husband's cataract surgery and you have the rest of the excuses for my change of direction.

But back to the story.  After leaving the North of Thailand, Dave and I were driven by our faithful driver, Billy, from the airport towards The Khao Yai National Park area in the south .   We were to stay a few nights  at Lilawalai,  an unusual garden resort named for the Frangipani flower.  

 There must have been over 300 trees of that species there on the serene and charming grounds.  It would be a real event to be present when all of the trees are blooming.   Gardeners were everywhere sweeping and tending the organic gardens.  

 This area was very isolated and we were reliant on a driver if we wanted to go out into the town.  English was not spoken in the hotel but we did well with a few key words....like "massage", "dinner", "wine" etc. 

   We did go out for one meal to an unusual restaurant called "EAT  at Khao Yai".  I found it just now on Trip Advisor and recognize a photo of the excellent "spare ribs" that I ordered.  There was also a duo singing and playing a soft Thai form of jazz, not unpleasant.

One of our guides for the few days, Pu ( pronounced Boo)  came to meet us the first evening to take us to witness the bats exiting their caves for the night.  It was an astonishing event which went on for more than the 20 minutes that we stayed.  

No one knows where the caves are as it is forbidden to climb the hills to search for the them.  Along with the swarm of bats were groups of raptors hoping to score a meal off the unsuspecting prey. 

  I do have a video but alas it wouldn't download so I will just show you a few pics of our next day in the park where we saw a gibbon family high up in the trees crossing the highway, two kinds of great hornbills ( huge) and a host of other birds and many lazy deer begging by the restaurant area.  And of course there were the savvy little Macaques hoping for handouts at the side of the main road. 

Macaque monkey in Khao Yai National Park

Dave with our guides Jay and Pu ( the pretty one) sitting by a stream to enjoy the birdlife near by.