Thursday, April 3, 2008

Phu Kradueng National Park, Thailand (17-22 Mar 2008)

My first holiday for 2008, Phu Kradueng National Park, Thailand. I took the 0630hr Tiger Airways flight from Singapore to Bangkok. Tiger Airways After we reached Bangkok, we roamed aimlessly around Bangkok city till evening where we took our over night bus at Moh Chit station, which departs at about 10pm. Most of us are really tired by this time as we did not sleep the night before and had wander around for the whole day. We could almost sleep while standing. The moment I got into the bus, I tried very hard to sleep. I failed to sleep till about 2-3am. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I was waken by the bus conductor. I thought the bus has stop for a toilet break but NO! We had reached our destination. While I was still in the state of "blurness" wondering what is going on, the bus start to moved on. My friends who had alighted from the bus yelled at the bus driver to stop as I was still in it. Phew! What a shock as the next destination is about 1-2 hours away! As it was about 4am in the morning, the few shop houses are closed and the whole road looked very deserted. With no where to go we just sat at the bus stop and wait for shops to open. I think Thailand people wakes up very early. Around half an hour later a guy from a provision shop nearby approaches us and asked if we are heading for Phu Kradueng National Park. He offered us his shop for wash up and some breakfast. I was damn hungry and ate a plate of rice, curry, a plate of dim sum and some other snacks. I regreted! After the meal, we had to squeeze into a pick up, 12 of us, at the back with all our backpack, for a half hour ride to the National Park. Luckily I did not vomit out my breakfast because my attention was destracted away by the beautiful scenery and sunrise. Rays Finally we reached Phu Kradueng National Park. There are lots and lots of wonderful plants in this park. I was very amazed. I do not know the name of the plants that I saw, just took lots of picture. Unknown Flora Natural Broom....?? The 2 plants below are very interesting. They seems to grow out from the ground, and they do not seems to have stem or leave. Anybody know what it is? Wonder Flower Wonder Plant Wonder Plant The most interesting find is this insect below. I do not know what is the name but it does looks very beautiful to me. Unknown Insect Just a note on the distance travelled and some interesting notes:
18 Mar 2008
Entrance Gate to Summit Campsite (Distance: 5.4Km Uphill and 4.2Km flat road in blasting hot sun) (Total 9.6 Km in ~7 hours)
19 Mar 2008
Campsite to NokAn cliff to see Sunrise and back (Distance: 3.9Km flat road all the way in a cooling morning) Waterfall trail (Distance: 6.7Km in ~3hours with some up and down hill in a warm day) Waterfall to LomSak Cliff to see sunset (Distance: 9Km in ~3hours with me almost died before I reached LomSak cliff as I have no more water and temperature is hot hot hot during this part of the walk) LomSak Cliff back to campsite (Distance: 10.8Km in ~2hours walking in flat sandy road with a very full bladder that almost burst by the time I reach campsite) (Bath in super icy cold water after a long day walk in the hot hot sun)
20 Mar 2008
Campsite back to main gate (Distance: 9.6Km in ~5hours with me spending lots of time taking photos.

A map I found online which shows where Phu Kradueng National Park is located:

http://www.thailand-guide.org/thailand/loei/map-big.htm