Leeches are Foes

great hornbill

This past weekend we went on a hiking adventure! Yup, that's right. Outdoors, in the jungle, in Thailand. Wooo hooo!!!!! We have been wanting to do this trip for awhile so it was definitely overdue. Khao Yai National Park is about 2.5 hours NNE of Bangkok. Other than being a favorite place for bird enthusiasts and Thai people wanting to escape the city it is also a UNESCO Heritage site, therefore, internationally protected.

In the jungle (baaa in Thai, also is the same word for crazy... kind of makes sense) there are over 200 species of birds (including the great horn bill), monkeys, gibbons, elephants, tigers, leopards, bear cats, snakes, scorpions and of course, leeches... basically, think of an exotic animal that lives in Thailand and you can find it in Khao Yai. It's also the rainy season (thankfully it did not rain when we were on our trek) BUT it had rained the night before really heavily so everything was very damp or in some cases a legitimate flood/mud like quicksand caught us by surprise.

gibbon

green viper snake

We arrived in Khao Yai Friday night after grabbing a bus from MoChit. I made another friend on this bus ride. Apparently I have a type and that type is random Thai men on buses. Eric and I met Sarah C, Sarah B, and Reuven at the hostel and we agreed to a tour of the jungle early the next morning. We started off the tour by spotting a great horn bill, gibbons, and even some deer from the main road in the park. We got some excellent pictures with our guide's camera zoomer (I'm sure there is a more technical name for this piece of equipment but it was great nonetheless). Next, we stopped at the visitors center, took a bathroom break, and leech guarded ourselves up for the trek in the jungle.

asian scorpion

Now, just for some background information on the leech situation... as I mentioned, it is rainy season in Thailand. The types of leeches that they have in Khao Yai are not the kind that live in rivers like you may have seen in movies (Amazing Panda Adventure... the best, look it up) but instead they live on land and wave around in the air like little blades of grass (except they are brown, very skinny, and maybe an inch long) and just try and attach to any heat source that moves by them. They move by slinkying themselves end to end up and down the person or animals body. Once they attach your not supposed to pull them off because you'll bleed a lot because of the anticoagulant that they inject in you when they bite. So, basically, your screwed. The good news is that leeches aren't really bad for you (they don't carry diseases like mosquito's) and you should just let it eat and then it will fall off on its own. We all had on long pants and leech guards (basically the most basic Christmas stocking you can imagine with a drawstring at the top to tie around your calf) and I had bought knee high soccer socks just for the leech occasion. Bus spray is supposed to help keep them off you but there is no proof of that from our trip.

Okay, so basically, we were very freaked out. We had all of our recommended gear on and then some but we were all crawling with at least 15 leeches at any point in time. They would crawl in and out of the air holes in our sneakers trying to get to some skin. It was crazy. At the end of our 3 hr trek we all took our sneakers off and just stared at them looking anxiously for any creepy creatures to climb out, and they did!! Thailand is insane.

Other than the leeches, we saw a lot of cool stuff and never could have done it without our guide, Lek!  As I said we saw the great horn bill, some deer, and a family of gibbons before we entered. Then, we spotted a viper snake that was bright green and apparently deadly but he was hanging out on a bush and is a nocturnal animal so he wasn't super conscientious of the foraaangs staring at it and bursts of light sounding off as our cameras flashed. We found a few more gibbon families as we moved throughout the jungle. Also, really cool bright orange mushrooms and other strange plants. Lek even coaxed an asian scorpion out of it's hole in the group and we got to hold it!

baby camelion

bambi wanted to eat lunch with us after the trek

I am pretty sure those were the only 2 animals that we actually saw while walking through the jungle but there was plenty of other things to hold our attention. We were all sweating profusely constantly doing leech checks on ourselves and one another. Also, since it was so muddy, it was pretty much like walking up a slip and slide at times. I personally got stuck in the mud (both feet, halfway up my calf) and had to be rescued by Lek. Lek also pulled me up a hill when i was slidding backwards and had no grip except for Sarah Cortes' kneed. Shit. Thai people are really good to me. We were also all decked out with the mosquito bracelets that Gateau sent me from the states (thanks Grams!) which I think helped with the bug issues.

The last part of the journey included a long song taew ride through the jungle but on the main road again as we searched diligently for elephants. None were found, however, we did manage to squeeze in a watermelon break and a dance off. Not too shabby. Next time I come to Khao Yai I really want to do the bat caves but unfortunately it was too short of a trip to get everything we wanted done this weekend. Can't wait to return!!