Namrin in Khao Yai

Dear my friends around the globe,

If you remember, I just lost my camera. This trip was a week later from Maroon 5 concert so the photos during this trip are from my friends. (Thanks all).

I and another 10 friends (in fact, 9 adults and 1 kid) joined this green trip number..?? (nobody remembers but more than 10 for sure). They are my ex-workmates when I worked for a computer company. My ex-boss is the person who initiates the green trip. Therefore, he and his wife are like father and mother of the trip. He usually sets up a green trip to travel to many places in Thailand but mostly somewhere not too far from Bangkok. Our most popular destination is Pattaya but not this time. This trip we fancy forests and mountains, and the main activity apart from sightseeing is EATING! I had ice cream 3 times in 2 days ...until I had to refuse the 4th time.

What is Khao Yai? If you live in Thailand and you don't know it, you need a Primary-school book immediately or a Thai friend, maybe. For people who are not Thai or never live here, Khao Yai, literally meaning "great mountains", is the first titled national park and currently the third largest national park in Thailand which covers partly 4 provinces: Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi, and Prachinburi. It has been nominated as World Heritage Site as well. Khao Yai consists of complicated mountains and there are 5 main forest types: Dry Evergreen Forests, Dry Deciduous Forests, Tropical Moist Evergreen Forests (70% of all), Hill Evergreen Forests, and Grasslands. The highlights in Khao Yai are flora, fauna, and waterfalls.

Unfortunately, March is the beginning of summer and before this was cool (& dry) season so waterfalls are quite dry. Also, we didn't see any stunning flora because we didn't intend to search for it so the photos are likely to show the activities we've done and "animal planet" program.

The first thing I'd like to present is a steak restaurant we had for lunch. It's the most "hard core" restaurant that I have ever experienced in terms of its service. Pls let me translate to Thai. If you get a chance to pass by Khao Yai, you may want just to pass Lex's Restaurant (with no stop) LOL. (see the photo below.

Word by word
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Lex's Restaurant

Closed Monday (Except long weekend)
ditto (in Thai)

Suggestion: (Open 9.00Am - 18.00 PM) {they really say suggestion in Thai and write 18PM!!! which is 6PM)
As the restaurant provides service in American Style, all dishes will be served at the same time. Pls all of you in the same table order the foods at the same time because
CHEF will not switch his cooking to another table until yours is done except you order your own second dish. {pls tell me about the American style. i really wonder how it's like}

How to do steak:
Rare = 20%
Medium Rare = 40%
Medium = 70% (recommended)
Medium Well = 80%
Well Done =well done

We reserved the right to refuse service anyone.
We reserve our rights to refuse to serve anyone.

Extra plate (extra plate) 50 baht each {pricey! Normally the restaurant doesn't charge an extra plate}
(Only serve courses or sets in menu)

The rules above has been using since the first opening day (10 years +)

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All I can say is we felt that we were threatened by the restaurant. LOL. However, I think the steak is very good. I got a bite of beef and it 99% doesn't smell for me that is very impressive. However, when the waiters were away, we discussed that this restaurant may have a lot of one-time customers because their service is just unbelievably strict and unfriendly. It's hard to stand in this business without one-time customers. Also, we really wonder how about other restaurants nearby because they are about 10 steak restaurants within this 5 km radius on the same road. Anyway, we had to keep our doubt quietly because this meal already cost 1/3 of our budget!! (Very expensive) :-O and we were just at the beginning of day 1!!

After lunch, we had ice cream at Umm...Milk by ChokeChai Farm. It's the famous tourirm farm and their main business is to produce fresh milk so the ice cream is very milky. yum yum :-)

After arriving at Khoa Yai, we left our baggage at the accommodation which were 2 quite big semi-attached houses. It even has one servants' room as well. WOW! Then, we went to Haew Suwat Waterfall which means sth like Hell of Suwat (I'm not sure what Suwat refers to...it could be a name of hell in Buddha story) . After playing water, we had a light meal at another camp site where we found many deers walking around to eat grass (I think). We wandered around the camp site for about an hour. Then, ordered some foods for dinner. (Didn't we just eat?)

We came back to our accommodation, took shower and had a proper dinner altogether. It was about 7PM. We noticed that there was a big group of people partying near our place. Anyway, we didn't take it serious as it would be over before we went to bed for sure as this is a national park, not a club. At 8PM, we went to join the night safari by spotting the animals that came out at night. It was very dark and very fast so we had just a few photos. At 9PM, we came back. While we watched TV and chatted, 2 strangers knocked the door and said, "Today is Prachinburi's governor's birthday. We are sorry for the noise but we won't stay up late. Please join our dinner" And then, they brought 3 big foam containers fully filled with food inside. I think they thought we were relatives or children of a Minister because our places are called, House of Minister. You know what this meant. Yep, we had a late meal.

Next morning, we were willingly divided into 2 groups. The first group got up just before the sunrise and went out to wake up all the animals plus took some photos. The second group woke up when someone called "breakfast is ready!" hahaha, hmm...that included me :#) After breakfast, we just relaxed. At first, we planned to go for kayaking or rafting but it seemed that the river or the stream in this season is not quite suitable for those activities. So, we went to the viewpoint of Khao Yai, mainly covering Khao Kaew area (Green Mountains). It was a piece of cake to get there because it can be reached by cars. Not so long, it's noon....we had lunch and then, ice cream but this time we didn't go to the steak place so it's fairly cheap. We returned to BKK. And on the way back, half of our friends stopped by Umm...Milk again to have ice cream. But I had enough ....it was just too often. And this is why I wanted to call this trip, the eating trip! (When arriving at BKK, we also had dinner together. What a complete closure!)

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Namrin:-)

Link Version:
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202008/Khao%20Yai%208-9%20Mar/?albumview=link