Khao Yai Road Trip

Khao Yai National Park was established in 1962 as the kingdom's first national park. I had wanted to visit for years, but without reliable public transportation to or from the park, it was never easy for me to get to.

Now that I have a car, that's changed, and a few weeks ago, Pinky and I decided to take a short two-night trip to Khao Yai and the surrounding region (also colloquially called "Khao Yai"), which stretches across parts of four provinces and is known for its resorts, nature getaways, laid-back lifestyle, cafes, farms, and more.

After leaving the city, we stopped for an early breakfast at a rest stop along the way, and by late morning, we were in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (nicknamed "Korat").

This hilly area is known for its mountains and hills, cooler weather, and large number of farms.

Our first stop was at Sweet and Green Farm, which is known for growing delicious produce, specifically tomatoes. We got to explore the farm a bit and ended up buying some tomatoes and a few boxes of fresh tomato juice from the farm shop.

Soon, we arrived in Mu Si, a little resort town just outside the gates of the park in Pak Chong District.

It was time for lunch, and since Nakhon Ratchasima Province is the "Gateway to the Northeast", of course we had to have some Issan (northeastern Thai) food.

We didn't know it at the time, but Penlaos, the restaurant where we stopped to eat, had recently won a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for their food.

The dish I was most excited to try was their award-winning avocado som tam, a traditional northeastern spicy salad typically made with shredded young papaya. Here, slices of creamy avocado were served with pieces of fresh, juicy shrimp and tossed in the traditional spicy and sour som tam dressing.

After lunch, we hopped back in the car and drove on to Saisook Khao Yai. This little shop in Mu Si Town sells very fancy popsicles, each one named and themed after a bird or animal found in Khao Yai National Park.

Refreshed after our popsicle break, it was time to drive on to the national park.

Pinky and I paid the park entry fee, then drove the 20-odd kilometers winding up from the park gate to the visitor's center along a long, narrow mountain road. The scenery was amazing, and we could feel the air growing cooler and windier as we wound our way up the mountainside.

In fact, the weather got so cool that we rolled down our windows as we drove up to the visitor's center.

Eventually, we reached the park headquarters, where we booked a night safari, before setting out along a boardwalk trail over the river.

 

As we walked along a rickety wooden suspension bridge above the muddy brown water of the river outside the park HQ, we spotted three new birds for our life lists: the Oriental Pied Hornbill, the Great Hornbill, and the Barred Cuckoo-dove.

Driving on up the mountainside, we reached the Sai Sorn Reservoir, one of the most popular spots in the park for nature watching.

The small lake is surrounded by open grasslands and forest and is very popular with wildlife. The weather was beautiful, and we saw at least three couples taking pre-wedding photos in the lawn around the lake.

As dusk fell, we reported back to the park headquarters to book a ride on the Night Safari. For just 600 baht (about US$20), we were able to hire a pickup-truck driver and a guide who used a flashlight to search for wildlife as we drove along, sweeping the beam to look for animals in the darkness.

We clambered up into the bed of the pickup truck, even as the rain began drizzling all around us, and our guide turned on her light and started scanning the surroundings for animals.

There are an estimated 400 wild elephants that live at Khao Yai National Park, and our guide told us that she usually sees some on a night safari about once a week.

We didn't get lucky that night, but we did see a ton of deer, jackals, and foxes.

The highlight of the trip was when our guide spotted a small civet eating berries out of a tree just feet from where we had pulled off to park.

Civets are pretty cool. They’re nocturnal, cat-like mammals that are actually more closely related to mongooses than cats. They’re excellent climbers and spend a lot of their time up in trees searching for fruit and insects to eat. The type that we spotted, the Asian palm civet, is probably most famous for its role in producing kopi luwak, the infamous "poop coffee". To make kopi luwak, civets are fed ripe coffee cherries and later excrete them partially digested. The beans are then collected, cleaned, roasted, and brewed into a rather expensive coffee that is considered a delicacy across Asia.

We were not here for his poop, however, and after watching the cute little civet for a few moments, we drove on, allowing him to enjoy the rest of his meal in peace.

After a good hour-plus driving around the dark roads of the national park, we returned to the headquarters. It had started drizzling, and Pinky and I were happy to get back into our warm, dry car to head back down the mountain.

Khao Yai National Park was incredible, and we only barely scratched the surface of all that it has to offer. I'd love to come back to camp sometime soon!

I've always said that Erawan was my favorite national park in Thailand, but Khao Yai might give it a run for its money. The two parks are very different, but both have incredible nature, scenery, and wildlife to explore, and now I'm not sure which one I like more.