We got back to Bangkok on Thursday morning, Nadia and her husband Wesley picked us up at the airport and we headed to Khao Yai. AKA: the most magical place, I’m slightly obsessed. I mean look at this place….

 

Khao Yai is about 3 hours northeast of Bangkok. It is in the mountains and absolutely beautiful.

We got to our hotel, The Frog. The owners name is Kob, which means frog…buh dum chhhh. He and his friend Chakorn built this mini resort. There are 5 bungalows, a kitchen, and a lounge area. Nadia and Wesley had stayed at the place before so they messaged him asking in we could all BBQ together that night. When we got there he asked if we wanted to go on an adventure to the bat caves. (bug eyed) Absolutely!

Then we hopped in this vehicle. Hollaaaa.

We drove about 30 minutes and came to a place where Kob parked. We were able to see the huge cave hole in the side of the mountain. We waited about 30 minutes and then BAM, thousands of bats started flying out of the cave. So so so many bats it was crazy. They flew close together but moved like a massive snake line. There were so many we could hear their wings flapping, sorta sounded like ocean waves. I sound crazy, but it was mesmerizing. This picture does no justice. It was super cool.

We got back to The Frog and started working on dinner. Everyone cooked together and then we all sat around and ate. They guys and ladies that worked there didn’t speak English so Stephaine and Kob helped us translate everything, which got pretty comical.

Friday morning Kob told me he would teach me how to make a traditional Thai breakfast. So I woke up early to help cook everyone breakfast. It consisted of boiled rice, cabbage, eggs, sasuage, and then one brownish dish that I’m still not sure what it was. After breakfast June, an artist that also works at the Frog, and I had an art making sesh. He let me help him make this hanging bird and coconut leaf dolls. He made the big frog statue that was in the picture above. Such a talented and cool guy!

We packed up our stuff and headed to the market. We were only able to stay one night at The Frog because it was booked for Friday night. We headed to a market and shopped around for a bit, then thought visiting a winery sounded good. We had a late lunch at the winery and then got a tour and taste testing. It was quite nice, I never took wine testing in college so I usually have no idea what to do with wine. Now I have some kind of clue what it’s all about.

After wine we decided we wanted to ride horses. We found a place that was literally straight out of Oklahoma or Texas. It looked like a real country place. Cowboy hats, deer heads, white picket fence. It was like a piece of home in Thailand. The group of horse they had had just gotten back from a ride and needed a rest. The woman told us we could come back the next day and she would have some horses ready for us. They did have a small horse for Layla, so she got to ride for a bit. While we were waiting we discovered that they had Budweiser beer! Score. After Layla finished up there was another farm down the road that we wanted to check out. It was a full fledge petting zoo. They had geese, pigs, rabbits, an American cow, horse, chickens. Everything. We got to go in the chicken coup and find eggs. Haha, something I’ve never done.

After living the country life we headed to a Classical American Car show. Chakorn, a friend of Kobs, told us about it. Chakorn has an organic farm and had a booth at the car show. We were definitely the only western people in the whole place. There was good live music and lots of food stalls. We booked a hotel that was across the street from the market. Oh boy. Lets just say it had cob webs, ants in the bathroom, and about 10 grand daddy long legs. The great news, I did do any “spider checks” in my sleep. That’s progress people!

We woke up Saturday and had an “American breakfast” in the hotel. Which consisted of scrambled eggs and a slice of ham. Luckily there was also some yummy toast and jam. Finally, We were off to ride horses!

Did I mention I’ve only been on a horse a few times before? The last time was last summer at camp and Lance had to walk the horse for me because I was terrified.

Well…. one hour trek through the mountains on a horse by myself. Check. Lance and Sandy would be so proud! I even trotted!

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Khao Yai was because of the weather; it felt somewhat like fall. Also, because of the Jim Thompson Farm, which has orange pumpkins. After riding the horses we headed 90km east to the Jim Thompson Farm. When we arrive the guard stops us and informs us that the farm is closed until the beginning of December. I’m sorry, WHAT?! I just wanted to see orange pumpkins! They did have one huge fake orange pumpkin outside the gates, so we stopped for a photo shoot.

Our holiday was coming to a close. After the failed mission at to the Jim Thompson Farm we headed back to Bangkok. We had lunch a real local place along the highway. From the road it didn’t look like a place to eat, but they had some yummy fried rice. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the front of the place, but instead I got a picture of the toilet. Adding something else to my list of firsts, squatty potty that you have to manually flush.

So…you put your feet on the white parts. Don’t worry, they have anti slip grooves. You then squat down and do your business. The big barrel to the left is full of water. The small red bowl is what you use to flush. Scoop up a cup of water and drop it in the toilet. Repeat until the water is clear again. That’s the real deal, people

We stopped about an hour outside the city to get some gas. We decided we just weren’t ready for holiday to be over so we took a slight detour to have dinner along the beach. It wasn’t a fancy beach by any means, but it was a beach. I also tried seafood again and it was quite good. Back on the road to Bangkok.