At the end of part 1, our heroes were sweaty and tired after an afternoon clambering around a boulder field and getting up close and personal with some flowers. But there was another park to visit before the day could be considered complete.
Like many of Thailand’s national parks, Sai Thong is a large area of land in which serious nature lovers can immerse themselves. Sleep at the park in a chalet or a tent, and then spend hours tramping around in the undergrowth getting bitten, stung and, if you are lucky, eaten alive by a predator. For the casual visitor, Sai Thong offers a waterfall and, to be honest, it is not that special. However, after a hard day of travel and hacking around Pa Hin Ngam, it was a very pleasant place to end the day and just enjoy being next to the little waterfall in the late afternoon sun.
On the way to the park we passed by a school where everyone was playing at being boy scouts or girl guides. Checking with my cultural adviser, this is normal in Thai schools every Thursday. All the children were immaculately turned out in their uniforms.
Nik accosted a baht bus containing children who found him highly amusing.
Having lingered at the waterfall for a while, we headed back to Chaiyaphum and found a hotel. The River Resort did not seem to be anywhere near a river, but it offered large, clean rooms for 890 baht so we checked in and headed for the restaurant behind the hotel. The food seemed cheap enough but the beer was outrageously priced at 160 baht for a draught Heineken. But I was thirsty and ordered one anyway, to be rewarded with a large jug of foaming beer, not so expensive after all. Nik doesn’t drink so it was down to me to finish it, somehow I managed.
Back to my room and feeling totally knackered. On with the aircon and off to sleep. Woke up two hours later with a case of near-hypothermia, it was bloody freezing. The temperature control on the aircon was broken, so I just turned it off and went back to sleep. Two hours later I was awake, bathed in sweat. So I turned on the aircon and went back to sleep. Two hours later….repeat the cycle until 0600 when I dragged myself out of bed for another day on the road and in the parks.
To be continued.