Kui Buri National Park

Hello, and welcome back. I'm not writing that as if I'm saying it to you, I'm writing it as if you're saying it to me. Thank you. It's good to be home.

The jet lag didn't seem to be overwhelmingly terrible for me until last night, our fourth night at home. After hours of valiant attempt, I finally popped a Bendryl and slept for as long as I could. Phil and The Kid both had a banner night of sleep. Really excellent rest. Kudos to them.

When we last spoke, I told you briefly about our vacation last December. Here's more brevity on that subject. There are a few national parks near Sam Roi Yot district. This one, Kui Buri, is where you go if you want to see elephants in the wild.

People with a sense of adventure can hike and camp in the park. People with a toddler can pay to ride in the back of a truck through part of the park. It was an exciting drive, with stops at several elephant viewing areas.

There are elephants in that clearing. Can you see them?

There they are!

Closer, elephants! Closer!

To be perfectly candid, I'd hoped the elephants would be walking alongside the trucks, and forming deep and meaningful bonds with me. In hindsight, that sounds a little bit unreasonable. I guess it's a possibility (the proximity part, not the friendship), but maybe not a likely one.

It was still worth it. We saw a few elephants much closer than these, and we also saw a gaur, which is like a big, wild cow. Gaur are listed as a vulnerable species. They're native to this area, and are the tallest of the wild cattle species. Kui Buri is one of the best places to see them.

I didn't get a photo of the gaur. Here's one of the truck in front of us, instead.

I'm glad we got to see some animals, but I would have been happy with the trip, regardless. It was nice to be in big, beautiful, open space. Thailand has 127 national parks. I hope we get to see a lot of them.

Sam Roi Yot District

We took a vacation. We took the vacation in December. We took this vacation before we had a dog sitter, so Bella came with us. It was a full family affair.

Phil found an Airbnb beach house in the Sam Roi Yot district of Thailand. It's southwest of Bangkok, close to Myanmar, and on the Gulf of Thailand. We had a great time exploring the nearby national parks, but you have to wait to see those.

This is just the other stuff we saw in the area.

Beach!

Beach in December!

The road where we stayed. 

Dusk at the beach.  

Dog in the wind at the beach.

That bird hung out with that cow all day. It flew away as soon as I tried to document their friendship. 

Cool temple by the mountains.

Awful monkeys by the side of the road. These are macaques. They are native to Thailand. They are carriers of herpes B. Don't touch the awful monkeys.  

Another cool temple off the side of the road. 

This is how I pictured Thailand before I came. Isn't this how you picture it? Yes, Virginia, there is a Thailand that looks like this. 

When we returned to Bangkok, multiple different people told us that this is their favorite place in Thailand. We high-fived ourselves for nailing it on the first intra country vacation (though Phil gets all the credit).

It's beautiful, and interesting. It has tourist infrastructure, but isn't overrun by visitors. It was delightful.