Socks

Two days ago we donned socks (and shoes!) for the first time in six weeks. And these weren't just any socks, they were 'leech socks' designed to keep the parasites out and our blood in our veins. Actually, we only saw a few leeches that day, and two of them were on me (Jay). Luckily neither had bitten into me yet... But I digress before I even start to describe what we did.

We spent two days at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand and had a great time. We hiked (with a guide) on the trails in search of wildlife and found some. Soon after crossing into the park we saw and heard gibbons and then great hornbills: amazing! We also saw many macaques, a couple of huge pythons, a giant squirrel (it really was about 4 times the size of CA squirrels), some very large scorpions, a crocodile and several bird species I've forgotten. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the parks 200 (or so) wild elephants. Oh, how could I forget: we watched as a constant stream of bats flew out their cave and swarmed across the countryside. There are around 2 million of them in this cave and it was quite a site to be surrounded by them as they emerged in a steady stream for over an hour. We stood in the path of another species of bat and had them wiz by our faces sometimes just inches away. We also stopped at the waterfall made famous in the movie 'The Beach'

Today/tonight we are making a stop in Bangkok to buy some clothes and then we're off to Ko Samet tomorrow for a little more beach vacation before heading to Europe on the 9th of June.

Oh, I have to say that the new Star Wars movie is really great! I was a little freaked out when the very opening part showed the story description in Thai text (you know the part that says: Star Wars Episode III and then gives some background on recent events) instead of English. But luckily this turned out to be the only alteration, and the whole movie was in English and not dubbed in Thai. Phew! Great flick.