While the others were still asleep, Lilach went out for a morning walk and saw a lesser fish eagle and several macaque monkies on the trees by the other river bank. After a morning visit to the shallow river pools and breakfast, Daniel and I saw some movement in the trees by the bungalow, and noticed two gliding lizards on one of the trunks. It was a different species from the one we saw in Khao Luang – Draco taeniopterus. A thorough search of nearby trees yielded at least 5 more specimens, and quite a few stares from other guests and the local maids. We saw the males in territorial display, extending their yellow dewlaps – a skin flap under their chin that can be extended downward, and their red lappets – skin flaps behind their ears that can be extended upwards. Another local reptile was found peeping out of a crack between the concrete base and wooden frame of the bungalow, about two meters above the ground – it was a young clouded monitor (Varanus nebulosus). The bungalows, like many other buildings in these areas, were build on concrete pillars, to protect again floodwaters and unwanted crawling visitors. For reasons we didn’t understand, here the arrangement was three rather thick pillars in a single row under the middle of the structure. It looked like a rather precarious balancing act from the outside, but we didn’t notice any structural instability or shakiness from the inside.
We checked out before noon, and drove to a nearby elephant sanctuary, where we heard that they take good care of several elephants rescued from unpleasant employment conditions. On the way there, we passed an elephant walking along the road with a mahoot on its back. Elephant sanctuaries condemn the habit of riding elephants, claiming it’s cruel to the animals. As far as I could understand, the cruelty is not so much in the riding itself (I think a skinny mahoot doesn’t burden an elephant much), but in the practices used to tame wild-caught elephants in order to turn them into work animals, whether the work is riding, logging, or begging in the streets. Anyway, in the sanctuary we visited, visitors are welcome to spoil the elephants with tasty food and treatments they like, such as mud bath, shower, and thorough scrubbing. We enjoyed all of these activities (to varying degrees) in the company of a very good-natured female elephant and her keeper. After the happy encounter we took a shower and changed back from bathing suits to our hiking cloths, and were served some mangosteen and rambutan. While eating the fruit, we noticed a familiar movement on a nearby trunk, and again saw some gliding lizards in action! This time it looked like Draco maculatus… A large treefrog received applause on a good support role.
We decided to spend the second night in the area in another spot near the park, close to the Ratchaprapha reservoir that borders the park from the northeast. On our way there we saw an evening market, and stopped to examine it. In addition to the strange fruit and vegetables, we saw how curry dishes are displayed and sold in small plastic bags, and tasted sweet sticky rice made over an open fire inside a bamboo stick. I couldn’t resist the temptation of a counter offering fried insects, and tasted an assortment of larvae, crickets and locusts. The crickets and the locusts were unremarkable, and without the spicy condiments sprinkled over them I would say they were rather tasteless. The larvea, on the other side, were interesting, with a flavor that was somewhat reminiscent of almonds (as I remembered from a previous encounter with this strange food item). The large grubs were particularly juicy – not something I would eat on a daily basis, but an interesting culinary experience.
After getting some ripe mangoes for Daniel (not an easy task – most mangoes are sold when they are still green and hard), we continued to our hotel, found the room we had ordered rather disappointing, and upgraded to another room with a large balcony overlooking the river. The balcony was shared with the nearby room, and occupied by its inhabitants – 4 very friendly Mexican guys who asked us about our route and said they arrived in Thailand that same day. It sounded very unlikely that they indeed got here on their first night, but I didn’t pursue the issue. At the proprietor’s recommendation, we visited a nice restaurant not too far away, and had a Good dinner, including a catfish curry that the owner (who spoke surprisingly good English) recommended as a typical local dish.
Family Trips 