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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat
    Mendip's Avatar
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    In search of Chang

    No, this ain't about finding a beer after 2pm... this is the real deal.

    The daughter had a long weekend away from school so I decided to make the most of it. I'm well aware that she's growing up way too fast and soon won't want to spend time with her old man and I want to make the most of the time we have... she called me 'annoying' last week which really hurt. I can take 'embarrassing' because I think that's a father's job, but 'annoying' is another level.

    I've long wanted to see the wild elephants in the Khao Yai National Park, but as is typical, we have never explored what's just on our doorstep. 'We can do that any time' etc etc, so it just never happens. Natural history is a passion of mine and it was time to rectify this wrong.

    With no school on Friday, why ever stay in Korat for a long weekend? I made an on the spur decision, on Friday morning booked a hotel for a couple of nights in Pak Chong, spent an hour packing, and off we went.

    Google reckoned 1hr 24m to the hotel in Pak Chong, but didn't reckon on 7-Eleven stops for provisions on the way. I'm an old hand at this kind of thing and wanted to ensure a supply of Leo (not Chang) and Mont Clair in case of the worst case scenario, a dry hotel.



    I wouldn't want to walk it, mind.

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat DrWilly's Avatar
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    Nice one. I quite like Khao Yai and took my kids camping there a few times. But I learned never on a long weekend...

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat
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    ^ This wasn't an official long weekend.

    The daughter's school had parents-teachers meeting on Thursday and Friday and therefore had no teaching going on (when I was a kid in the UK these meetings were in the evenings so that working parents could participate - but that's a gripe for another thread). Anyway, I organised our meetings for Thursday to give us a personal long weekend.

  4. #4
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    I really enjoyed that area when I lived out there Mendy. I used to do a loop on my moto up and around Khao Yai. A few times stopped and did some laps at the GoKart track (not sure if there anymore). Then the popular Moo Han restaurant for some grub before hopping back out on the hiway back.

    Hope you and daughter had a great time.

  5. #5
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    Mendip's Avatar
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    The hotel in Pak Chong wasn't far off Highway 2. I wasn't expecting that and was hoping we would be staying up in the mountains closer to the Khao Yai National Park. I guess when you do these things on the spur of the moment with pretty much zero research, that's life.

    It was a nice enough place.

    Our room was down by a river... the front entrance was to the left but there was also patio doors out on to the river, so you could also enter from the rear, as it were.



    A nice sitting area by the front entrance.



    Dr Willy had designed the door mats, by all accounts.



    It was perfect inside. Two beds on two levels, a kind of maisonette design. There was a time that the daughter used to enjoy a cuddle with her dad but those days are long gone. She bagsied the upstairs bed, leaving me downstairs on my own.



    Ducklings maybe? Clever stuff whatever they were.



    The daughter's upstairs area also had a nice sitting area. I later discovered by the the four breakfast coupons they issued me, that I had stupidly booked a four-person room. It was nice for us to have separate sleeping areas but we had way too much space. In fact, it was nice for the daughter for us to have separate sleeping areas... I got a bit lonely downstairs on me own.



    The daughter could look down on my bed with the option to drop things on me if I were to crash out early... an opportunity which of course she took full advantage of, the bugger.



    A nice toilet arrangement...



    And out the back, looking on to the river. A third seating area. With hindsight, this would have been the perfect room option had I come doen with my Welsh mate and his son. The kids could have sat with their tablets in one of the areas out front and we could have separately sat out back and guzzled Leo, looking at the river.


  6. #6
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    It looks very nice, Mendip.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat
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    This was the view when sitting out back. Nice enough and east facing, so cool in the evening. In fact Pak Chong was noticeably cooler that Korat, which didn't really get much of a cool season this year. I could happily live in Pak Chong I reckon, in another life maybe.



    And to the right... nice. That watermill gave this resort it's name.



    I couldn't get the daughter to go out on a boat with me... as she matures she's becoming less fun. There's a place in Korat just after the Terminal 21 junction that sells these boats and I'm thinking of getting one for the pond. I reckon that could be good fun with the dogs.



    Anyway, we had a few hours to relax on Friday afternoon/evening before our elephant hunt on Saturday. There was a pool which had to be tried out...



    ... and was bladdy freezing. Not only is Pak Chong cooler than Korat but the pool was sheltered from the warming sun by trees. This may be a good thing in April but in January it meant I lasted about two minutes in the water.



    After I warmed up I took a look around the river. The water seemed to be a bit clearer than the pea-green water of my pond and the fish were easily visible.



    Hungry buggers as well when thrown a handful of pellets.



    And that was day one of our elephant safari. To be honest the only animal spotted was a dog in the car park.



    My forward planning certainly paid dividends when I discovered that there was no alcohol available at the resort.

    I didn't just float down the river!



    Yep, it's all about the planning.



    The menu was very Thai and a bit limited, but OK. There was only one dessert... a kind of home-made coconut ice cream with peanuts, sweetcorn and some green stuff mixed in. A bit strange but OK, and went well with a nice cup of coffee (which I had brought with me - it's all about the planning!).


  8. #8
    Thailand Expat DrWilly's Avatar
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    Your daughter may have regretted that top if she’d considered warm air rises… but it does look like a great get away.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat
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    Even when on holiday, I awake around 4am. I don't know why... age? ... general mental stress? ... a destroyed sleep pattern after many years of permanent nights across multiple time zones? ... Maybe I just don't need much sleep but I'm permanently knackered so that can't be it. It really pisses me off.

    So, on the day of our elephant hunt I sat out back alone and watched the sun rise...



    ... with my second cup of tea. I had also brought along a bottle of milk, a small bag of Yorkshire Teabags and my own airline teaspoon that lives in my wash bag.

    It's all about the planning.



    Yesterday's pool towels had dried out nicely in the morning sun. I had my eye on these two... these blue hotel pool towels are always really good quality and make a great addition to the pool house at home. My usual tactic is to liberate a couple from the pool early in a holiday and then leave them drying in the room until they seem to have been forgotten about... and then into the car they go.

    Sadly these two beauties disappeared while we were out at Khao Yai on day one, before I had a chance to purlion them... bladdy efficient housekeeping!



    While drinking my early morning Yorkshire Tea I saw squirrels...



    And a pair of black, greater racket-tailed drongos. Apologies for the Shutree-esque photo quality.



    After my second cup of tea the daughter still wasn't stirring so I yelled up at her. She was still slumbering up there but I was keen to get moving and start searching for the elephants. I'll bet that she had been up into the early hours with her tablet... the bugger. She stays up later than me these days.



    I had yet another cup of tea and was soon joined by this girl to enjoy the warmth from the early morning sun.



    As luck would have it I had some fish in the fridge. The daughter had left one of her pla nin sandwiches I'd packed for the car journey... so her loss was this cat's gain.

    A friend was soon made.



    I don't reckon she'd had pla nin as good as this before!

    Last edited by Mendip; 21-01-2024 at 08:42 PM.

  10. #10
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    And a pair of black, greater racket-tailed drongos. Apologies for the Shutree-esque photo quality.


    I don't see any rackets showing in the photo, Mendip. Are you sure they were racket-tailed drongos?

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neverna View Post
    Are you sure they were racket-tailed drongos?
    Apart from all thing 'airline' and 'semi free un-guarded' stuff, Mendip also collects ...Bird Feathers

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stumpy View Post
    topped and did some laps at the GoKart track (not sure if there anymore).
    It's still there.

    Mendip is at the Watermill Resort.

    Nice enough place, but they do not sell alcohol, and the owner pushes her homemade bread in the morning, so you have to have some to be polite.

    Bogon Tip #396

    If you come out of the resort and do a right, the first shop on the main road is a wholesale booze shop. Beer is by the crate, but they have singles in the fridge at the back.

    For food, go try Midwinter at night a couple of KM's down the road or Banmai Chaynam in the day in opposite direction.

    Google Maps

    Google Maps
    Black diamonds? I shit 'em.

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat DrWilly's Avatar
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    I suspect he is home already as the weekend is over.

  14. #14
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    Looks like a nice place and trip, Mendy! That sunset pic is gorgeous, sometimes getting up that early has its advantages.
    Kids grow up and need their fathers less, friends become more important, that is part of life sadly.

  15. #15
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Where's the elephant pics Mendy?

    Did you get to ride one?

  16. #16
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    To be honest the only animal spotted was a dog in the car park.

    I would have been tempted to adopt that black pooch

  17. #17
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe 90 View Post
    I would have been tempted to adopt that black pooch

    Would you be sold at the words 'Car Park', or would it take 'dog' to seal the deal?

  18. #18
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    Would you be sold at the words 'Car Park', or would it take 'dog' to seal the deal?
    You've changes the password for Smethwick, Sunday Swingers and Slappers Session.

  19. #19
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bogon View Post
    It's still there.
    Good to know. Didn't know if it survived after Covid. Its a fun place to go zip around for a few hours with buddies.

  20. #20
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    ^ Kid friendly too.



    Quote Originally Posted by DrWilly View Post
    I suspect he is home already as the weekend is over.
    Yep, I'm a couple of days late. Please keep the Bogon Tip for future reference guys.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    The hotel in Pak Chong wasn't far off Highway 2. I wasn't expecting that and was hoping we would be staying up in the mountains closer to the Khao Yai National Park. I guess when you do these things on the spur of the moment with pretty much zero research, that's life.
    it's all about the planning!

  22. #22
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    @mendy - looks like a nice resort/ hotel and generally a good place to have a relaxing weekend. Reminds me of another member's resort - the Australian - was it Bogan in Paradise? He has a thread abt it somewhere.

    The place had good feng shui with regards to the bed, sofa & desk placements. Only thing I would change is the painting above the bed in the loft bedroom. (Feng Shui doesn't recommend paintings or stuff on open shelves above the head part of the bed. The paintings on the side wall - downstairs/ Mendy's bed - are OK.)

    Re: your sleep (or lack of), have you checked your bedroom at home for Feng Shui? Maybe you need to rearrange your furniture.


    Thnx for the pics & stories!

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neverna View Post
    I don't see any rackets showing in the photo, Mendip. Are you sure they were racket-tailed drongos?
    On reflection that bird seems to have folded it's rackets away while perched in that tree, if they can do that? There was definitely a pair of racket-tailed drongos flying around as I've never seen them before and was quite excited about it. We only get your usual black drongos around our place in Korat.

    Anyway, despite being into the sun, I was hoping that my photo would come out something like this...





    Quote Originally Posted by Bogon View Post
    It's still there.

    Mendip is at the Watermill Resort.

    Nice enough place, but they do not sell alcohol, and the owner pushes her homemade bread in the morning, so you have to have some to be polite.

    Bogon Tip #396

    If you come out of the resort and do a right, the first shop on the main road is a wholesale booze shop. Beer is by the crate, but they have singles in the fridge at the back.

    For food, go try Midwinter at night a couple of KM's down the road or Banmai Chaynam in the day in opposite direction.
    Quote Originally Posted by DrWilly View Post
    I suspect he is home already as the weekend is over.
    Yes, I am back in sunny Korat now... but thanks for the tips Bogon and I will store them for later use. To be honest I think that we'll stay somewhere else next time as I'd like a view of the mountains.

    Indeed they didn't sell alcohol but I'd suspected as much and as part of my planning I'd packed a few bottles of Leo, and seeing as it was a holiday I also spoilt myself with a couple of bottles of Mont Clair.

    The homemade bagels were indeed heavily pushed and this was the breakfast bagel, which was a bit odd to be honest. In fact I'm not really sure what a bagel is... it just seemed like a bread roll with a hole in the middle.



    On the second day I had the 'ABF', whatever that stands for. It wasn't great either and it wasn't even the proper processed ham that you expect, but some kind of spammy stuff which I pocketed and gave to the cat later.

    They also insisted on putting that disgusting sweet white mayo stuff on the salads.

    I would say that the food was very Thai and wasn't up to much, although not a problem for just two days. My first dinner was a chicken massaman curry and on the second night I had pad krapow gai with a fried egg on top. Both washed down with Mont Clair. The daughter had egg fried rice and teriyaki chicken. The dessert menu consisted of around 15 types of bagel with different toppings, and coconut ice cream (which we had both days).

    I've got to say that I think bagels are pretty shit.

    We tend to eat at 7-Elevens for lunches when on these activity holidays. I think that 7-Elevens do some good stuff these days.


    Quote Originally Posted by Joe 90 View Post
    Where's the elephant pics Mendy?

    Did you get to ride one?
    This wasn't some tourist elephant show mate, we were searching for real wild elephants. They'll trample you as soon as look at you if you try and jump on the back of one.


    Quote Originally Posted by MarilynMonroe View Post
    Looks like a nice place and trip, Mendy! That sunset pic is gorgeous, sometimes getting up that early has its advantages.
    Traditionally we call them sunrises, but you're right MM, the early morning is a wonderful time of day. I generally wake around 4am, so two to three hours before sunrise and it drives me mad but I can't seem to break the habit. I would love to miss a few sunrises by oversleeping.


    Quote Originally Posted by katie23 View Post
    The place had good feng shui with regards to the bed, sofa & desk placements. Only thing I would change is the painting above the bed in the loft bedroom. (Feng Shui doesn't recommend paintings or stuff on open shelves above the head part of the bed. The paintings on the side wall - downstairs/ Mendy's bed - are OK.)

    Re: your sleep (or lack of), have you checked your bedroom at home for Feng Shui? Maybe you need to rearrange your furniture.
    The daughter slept in both mornings so maybe that painting in the loft bedroom wasn't so bad after all, Katie ? I slept like crap in the bottom bed, the same as I do at home, so I think that debunks this Feng Shui stuff.

    I just checked my bedroom at home and it has a bed, a wardrobe and a mini fridge in the corner... how does that sound for this Feng Shui?

    I must admit that I don't believe in this stuff... the trouble I had when building this house... 'you can't put the beds that way round, (after all the electricity sockets had been installed), 'you can't put the back door in line with the front door', 'you can't have an even number of bedrooms', etc etc. It drove me mad and if I wasn't so polite I'd call it all a load of bollocks.

  24. #24
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe 90 View Post
    Where's the elephant pics Mendy?

    Did you get to ride one?


    90's tourist rides again!

  25. #25
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    After breakfast on Saturday we set out for the Khao Yai National Park and our quest to see some wild elephants.

    On the way we passed signs such as this... which seemed very positive.



    After around 30 minutes we reached the gate for Khao Yai and to my dismay I realised that the amber light on the fuel gauge had come on. It seemed a bit foolhardy to enter the national park when nearly out of diesel so I pulled over while the daughter searched on Google Maps for a petrol station, or a 'gas station' as she has taken to calling them. Bloody American teachers.

    Anyway, I had to do a U-turn and go and search for fuel.



    The road to the petrol station took as around the border of Khai Yai and there was some lovely scenery.



    I could quite happily live around here. Nice views, noticeably cooler than Korat and a lot closer to Suvanabhumi for work trips and Bangkok for passport renewals. I'd like to sell up in Korat and buy a couple of rai with a small house... although the new high speed rail link will put Pak Chong within a commute of Bangkok and sadly I think that could spoil the area, but it could never get as bad as Korat. There's even an international school there as well.

    There were a lot of real-estate signs up, so maybe the rot has started already. Maybe even people like Edmond will turn up for a villa upgrade?



    Anyway, eventually we found the petrol station, filled up, and headed back from whence we came. It was already 11am so we had missed the early morning elephant experience but hopefully a few would linger on into the afternoon?



    We passed more signs like this... so all was looking pretty good.



    A left turn at the bottom of this hill took as back to the park gate. Another nice dog ran up to greet me as I took the photo... she was full of milk so presumably had a litter of pups somewhere nearby. This got me thinking of course, as did the gang of cyclists on the other side of the road, but it was such a lovely morning that nothing would dampen my mood.



    Second time lucky... we joined the queue...



    It cost 450 Baht to enter... 30 Baht for Jess, 20 Baht for the car and 400 Baht for yours truly. I told the girl that I was half Thai as well, but she was having none of it. It does frustrate me at times but I guess so long as the money goes towards the park upkeep it's not such a bad thing.



    Within 10 minutes the inevitable happened. I held my language out of respect for the daughter but she knew exactly what I was thinking. The road is narrow, steeply sloping and full of hair pin bends as we ascended the mountains and overtaking spots were few and far between. There was a group of cyclists, Western would you believe, and it was slow going. Despite my utter disdain for these people I couldn't help but appreciate how fit the fukkers must be to cycle up that hill.


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