Day 1: Bat Cave (Khao Yai National Park)
May 25 - No rest for the weary! We booked a 2.5 day tour with Bobby's Jungle Tour and after driving through the night to arrive there, we planned to rest the first day we arrived, and then start the tour the next day. However, the owner at Bobby's convinced us that it would be better to start today as it would mean that all of our tour would fall during week days and we would avoid the busier weekend. So we started the half day portion of the tour the same day we arrived. We were able to shower, eat lunch and rest before heading out with our driver and our guide. We had 3 German guys join us in the back of the covered pickup (a songthaew) and headed out to a famous natural spring for a quick swim. It was quite lovely, however since it was at the end of the dry season, it was shallower than usual and the water more cloudy. Nonetheless it was quite refreshing! After we dried off, we took a little stroll through a local market (mostly food, some housewares). Our guide was helpful and explained what some of the things were (fresh and dried fish and meats, gelatinous balls on a stick, etc). Next we drove through the countryside in the early evening. I remarked that it reminded me of Southwestern Ontario. We arrived to a bat cave, just outside of a small temple, greeted the monks who oversaw it and entered. The ceiling was about 50 feet high inside, and there were some small bats flying around. We saw small Buddha statues (they are usually place in small dugouts or caverns within the cave) and then ventured further in. The guide commented on how cute the bats were, especially the babies that could be seen hanging from the walls at eye-level, or lower. I couldn't agree, but they did make a good challenge for Michael to photograph, especially the ones that were flying around. After we spent a bit of time in the cave we exited and drove a short while down the road to get set up to watch approximately 3 million wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats exit Khao Luk Chang Cave high up on a hill at dusk. First they started to stream out slowly, and our guide re-evaluated our position based on how the bats were flying. We raced back to the songthaew and drove madly down the road to get to a better viewing spot. It was so mesmerizing to stand and watch the bats fly out way above our heads and do loop-dee-loops in unison! Wow! We watched for a long time, and were told that depending on the evening, this could go on for an hour. What a sight!
~ Leah
Swimming at a spring
Asian Vine Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) - A guide from one of the other tours at the spring caught this snake and was showing people. Apparently it was poisonous but had fangs at the back of its throat so it didn’t pose much risk to humans. (edit by Leah: key word “much”...)
There was a small market setup a short distance down the road from the spring, so we had a quick visit
Left to Right: rambutan fruit (similar in taste to a lychee), longan fruit, and we never actually found out what the fruit on the right was...maybe someone can tell us?
Dried chilies and garlic
Protein options of many types
Our second stop on the tour was this bat cave which was also a Buddhist Temple
Dead bat
Bats flying around inside the cave
Next we watching 3 million-ish bats leave the caves for a night of feeding. It was mesmerizing watching the ribbon of bats undulating across the sky. There were hawks waiting as the bats exited and they would swoop down and grab one and fly off with their dinner.
Bats flying off into the sunset for a night of feeding