Monkey Business

Day 97: Nong Khai (T) – Khao Yai National Park (T). Since crossing the Thai border two days previously, Karen and I had been travelling south-westerly in an attempt to reach the tranquillity of Khao Yai National Park: Up there on a podium with the worlds greatest parks, Khao Yai covers almost 900 square miles of central Thailand, rises to some 4,000 ft and covering five vegetation zones including the largest intact monsoon forest in mainland Asia leading to its highly acclaimed Unesco World Heritage accolade.

The beautiful Khaoyai Garden Lodge was to be our home for the next three days, set in a spacious botanical environment right next to the parks southern entrance, it provided the perfect base for Karen and me to explore the park and grab a bit of rest and relaxation. Vibrant flowers, colourful butterflies, magnificent birds and a swimming pool complete with a 10 foot waterfall completed the picture of this tropical wilderness.

And wilderness it was – a fact that I seemed to forget; leading to a rather worrying altercation with a baboon. Completely my own fault, I inadvertently managed to position myself between a cute little baby and its mother. Seeing me as a potential threat, Mrs Baboon charged; snarling and shrieking angrily. As it watched me running down the road, flailing my arms in the air and screaming like a girl, the monkey soon simmered down and returned to its peaceful foraging - obviously realising that despite my size, I wasn't that much of a threat after all!