A Night at Khao Yai National Park

We took a quick trip to Khao Yai National Park for some good food, shopping and some time in the rainforest.

First stop was The Great Hornbill Restaurant at the PB Valley Khao Yai Winery. They have a wood fired pizza oven.

The pizza was good.

Then off for some shopping at Palio, a shopping center inspired by Italian villages.

This is The Smoke House. A giant restaurant inspired by medieval castles.

Gin and tonic at The Smoke House.

We stayed at the Balios Resort Khao Yai. It's also Italian-themed. This is one of the public lounge areas.

Off to Khao Yai National Park where we saw some gibbons.

And some barking deer.

Haew Suwat Waterfall. As full as I've ever seen it.

Giant tree on the way to the bottom of the falls.

Haew Suwat Falls

Short YouTube video I took of the falls.

Mam actually walked across this slippery log to a nice viewpoint.

Miss Pim was less adventurous.

Mam made it back across that log.

On the way home we stopped to marvel at another bit of Italy in Thailand. This is the ultra-high-end property development called Toscana Valley.

Bike Ride - September 8, 2013

I set out on my bicycle for Ban Phutsa and Wat Prang Torng and then decided to head over to Kam Talay Soh and Kok Kruat.

Planting rice.

Wat Prang Torng near Ban Phutsa. This is an 11th Century Khmer Prang (tower). Yes, the tower leans that far over.

The lintel depicts the Hindu god Indra riding his three headed elephant, Erawan.

Leaf shaped stones (Sema stones) are used to mark the sacred area of the ordination hall (ubosot) of a Buddhist temple (wat). There are many very old and worn Sema stones scattered around this wat.

Discarded spirit houses. When people discard a spirit house they tend to toss them in a place where they will be kept company by other discarded spirit houses.

This railway overpass has been under construction for three years. I finally got to ride over it today.

I got a nice view of the railway line from the top.

After three hours of riding, I needed a coffee break. This is old fashioned Thai coffee made with a filter shaped like a sock. It is usually sweetened with condensed milk and topped off with canned milk.