Who'd think I’d want a little break away from the city and the beach? This weekend I went to Khao Yai, which is a National Park in Thailand. It was a fantastic time – and get this, I actually needed a jacket (a light jacket, but a jacket nonetheless) while I was there. My friends and I went on an organized day tour since we figured its best to go with experienced guides and it just made sense. We did a 4 hour trek through the jungle – and on that trek, I stepped in Elephant Poo!! I was the only one who did. Just my luck. I always seem the one to experience an unfortunate event such as that. Thank God it wasn't fresh!
Throughout the day at the national park, we spotted many animals. Our guides are on this network, they are so connected with other animal spotters. They'd call each other on their cells and race in our songtaews to the area of the park where the animals were. They also had these hi powered binoculars and telescopes so we could all get a really good look at the animals. We spotted wild elephants and got hear them call to each other. It was exciting because the elephants that I usually see around Thailand are domesticated and used for entertainment purposes or labor. It really hits you to the core listening to the elephants call to each other. I am sure they were scared when they hear the engines of our trucks coming and all of us trying to get a shot.We saw 
gibbons (a species of monkeys with white faces), other monkeys, hornbills (toucan looking birds) wild deer, and others. This tour was pretty legit as far as animal watching goes – there were a few guys from California who had just came to Thailand to check out Khao Yai and they were serious outdoors guys. They were complete with their bird watching books, where they documented the many animals and bird species we had spotted throughout the day. So this tour was great in that arena. We then went to Hew Suwat waterfall – which 
was the waterfall from “The Beach.” As with everything in the movies, it was different than I had imagined. The waterfall was smaller than the film made it out to be, but it was still such a beautiful sight. Then we went to the highest point of Khao Yai and watched the beautiful sunset while enjoying fresh slices of watermelon. (By the way, all the fruit in Thailand is amazing – I haven't tasted better fruit anywhere else in the world, the have fresh fruit shakes with no sugar added or power – just the pure stuff. That is one of the many things I'll miss about Thailand.)
The next day my friends and I went to a heavenly winery in the Khao Yai valley. The landscape and the climate reminded me of home, near the Napa Valley. There were rolling hills and rows upon rows of grapes. It was absolutely gorgeous. It made me a little homesick, but I again shook the sickness away and reminded myself that I am incredibly lucky to be here. We arrived at the winery and were pleasantly surprised. If you have ever heard about how wine was in Thailand, then you'd know that it's not a common beverage enjoyed amongst the Thais unless you're in a metropolitan or 
touristy area. My wine experiences of Thailand (when I could get it) weren’t too impressive, and I wouldn't consider myself a connoisseur by any means. But the wine my friends and I enjoyed on that Sunday was divine.
we arrived at the winery, we just had missed the scheduled tour by 10 minutes so we had an hour to kill. My bpen lai (no worries) as the Thai's say. There was wine and appetizers, heaps of amazing travel magazines (that only further ignite the travel bug I have), killer views from the acclaimed restaurant, The 
Great Hornbill Grill, and great company. We also got an unexpected free 10 minute massage to kick off the relaxing vibe of the property.
Post massage my friends and I went on and enjoyed a few glasses of vino and no sooner were informed that our tour was waiting with a few extra people. They asked us if it'd be alright if we did the tour with a television crew for channel 11 – we all looked at each other and shrugged and said it was fine. The tour was nice and informative. We got to taste the different varieties of grapes on the property and were filmed throughout each stage of the tour. Wish I could have seen the footage! 
Funny, we weren’t even asked to sign a waiver...a little different from the states! The winery and the National Park tour at Khao Yai made for a great weekend, I’d definitely do it again, especially since I feel like I only scratched the surface of the massive park.
