Trip to Khao Yai National Park!

This past weekend I finally had the chance to meet up with some of my friends from the CIEE program! We planned our trip to Khao Yai National Park which is located near the city of Pak Chong. My trip started after school on Friday, and I had to rush home to quickly finish packing and hurry to the BTS station (Sky Train). I had never been on the BTS yet so I was super nervous and was really hoping I had gotten my locations of when to get off correct. The cab ride took longer than expected and what should have been a 10 min cab ride, took about 45 min. Bangkok traffic is insane!!! I was getting nervous because I had read online that the last bus to Pak Chong was at 7:00pm and it was now 5:30pm. Once I got my ticket for the BTS I jumped on a subway looking car with hundreds of people. I think it was air conditioned but I couldn't feel it because there was so many hot, sweaty people all up in my business. Well the sky train wasn't moving. A message kept repeating, "Sorry for the delay increase traffic has caused delay". So I stood like a sardine in this thing for 20 min before it started to move. After that things looked good! I was almost at my stop to get off and according to my map, the next bus station I needed to get on was right at the same station. Well I was wrong.... It was now 6:45pm and I was standing on a busy street with no idea where I was going. I started to talk to a man in uniform because I assume he could maybe speak English, well he didn't. A nice lady heard my concern and told me that I had to get on a cit bus to get to the next bus station. She told me what bus number and off I went. The city buses here are different. All open windows, crammed full of people and there is someone who works on the bus who walks around and collects your toll. So I was concerned I didn't have correct change, but then no one came around.. cool a free ride :) I was on the bus for a long time and began panicking. It was now 7:05pm and in my mind I missed my bus and now had no idea where I was going. I tried talking to the people around me and again, no one knew what I was trying to ask. I wanted to cry so bad, even with a bus full of Thai people. I was already the odd man out why not add some more attention to myself. The bus stopped and most people got off. It looked as if we were in the middle of nowhere, when a lady from the front of the bus grabbed my arm and said follow me. She spoke broken English but it was the best I had heard all day. She asked where my final destination was helped me get to the right place. We had some conversation on our walk and it turned out she was a teacher too! She kept looking at her watch, which made me think she was going to miss her next bus so when I thought I could find my own way I told her I was okay, but nope.. she wanted to make sure I got on my bus. She took me to the counter, helped me get my ticket and walked me all the way to my greyhound looking bus. The people here are so nice, I have never been more grateful. Once I got on my bus I felt a lot better. I would just ride the bus until we got to Pak Chong... well wrong again. The bus kept making stops along the way and I had no idea when I needed to get off! I was okay, I had GPS in my phone and could figure out a general time to get off... nope my phone is at 10%. Well, Mai pen rai. I'll get somewhere. The people on the bus kept to themselves. I had a younger guy sitting next to me and he ended up falling asleep on my shoulder, until his friend across the aisle slapped him awake. It was funny, we both laughed. When I had thought I was getting close I turned my phone back on to make sure this is the right city, and then the bus attendant came and told me this was my stop, again super nice people. He directed me to the location of the hotel I wanted to stay in and it took me about a 7 min walk. It was now 1:30 am. Once I got to my hotel, it seemed a bit sketchy but I just wanted a shower and a bed. The bed was harder than the floor but I was tired so I passed out quickly. In the morning I finally met up with Becky and Mary! It felt so nice to see them!! We had our complementary breakfast, which was actually good, and then our shuttle bus came to pick us up and take us to our guesthouse. When we got there they directed us to a room to leave our bags for the day as we went trekking in the park because we didn't have a room yet. Pretty sure this room didn't eve have doors and it was meters from the street, but I have had no reason to doubt Thailand yet, so I left my bag of belongings and hoped for the best. There was a group of about 40 people who were all on the guided tour. We were in the back of a truck with some other ladies who were in Thailand working at an Elephant camp. They were super nice and two were Canadians! They made us laugh all day long! We picked the right truck to get on! When we got to the National Park we were told we could see elephants, but unfortunately we did not. However, we did get to stop and get out of the truck to see monkeys, snakes and beautiful waterfalls! I would say in total we hiked about 10km. I counted the stairs to the largest waterfall and it was 200 steps down, and then back up. I have never sweat more in my life. I have avoided all stairs since. The hike was okay, not too intense and we got some breaks to check out the falls and explore. We got so close to some of the falls and got amazing pictures! It was nice too because it wasn't too crowded and we separated into out truck groups so we only had 8 of us and our guide Charlie! He was so knowledgable about the area and the animals it was interesting to listen to him talk about all of it! We had to wear leech socks during our hike because they like the wet season and we just finished the rainy season here. We thought it was a joke and we wouldn't see any.... well I saw them alright! At first I was expecting huge blood sucking looking leeches, but these ones looked like inch worms and were soooo tiny! That didn't stop them from biting. A girl in my group, Jen, got on the truck and didn't even notice we was bleeding from a bite! It was small but would not stop bleeding. Then we all panicked and were checking our clothes the whole ride home! We found a couple, but no one else was harmed, except some ear drums when one was found close to my leg :) I got scared lol That night we had dinner at the place where we stayed and it was the best pad thai I have ever eaten in my life, I almost ordered a second helping after my first bite! We went to bed pretty early because we were so tired from all the hiking. In the morning we had breakfast, eggs and toast and coffee! I love the coffee here, its so strong and when you get it iced, it's nice and sweet! We took a train home which was really cheap (about a dollar) for a 5 hour ride. People walk up and down the aisles selling pop in a bag and fruit, and so much more! It was cool, but this one Thai guy would not leave us alone and kept wanting to take pictures with me and then asked for my number. I told him I didn't know it.. which is half true lol It was an amazing weekend away and I got to see some of the beautiful sites in Thailand. I can't wait till next weekend for my next adventure!