I was greeted by Deaw's family when I got home from school today who gave me fruit. This was accompanied by the question "Where's Yuri?"....aaah! so the fruit isn't for me...

 Today we said goodbye to our latest guest Yuri, from San Francisco. It was a quick visit at a busy time of year, but (cowboy)hats off to him as, like our other guests this season, he fully threw himself into local Thai life and all that it has to offer. He became quite a hit in the process. In the last 3 days Yuri could be found Thai dancing at a New Year's Day party with some of the more mature ladies of Klang Dong...I include myself in that, attending a cowboy festival, visiting the waterfalls and bat caves and joining me for a day at school.

Watching the bats exit on their nightly hunt for food is always an awe-inspiring sight to me, but yesterday they were particularly spectacular. Because of a barely detectable change in wind direction, last night they exited over a different route and seemed to fly lower than usual. The result was a massive expanse of sky where you could see the bats stream off and disappear into the horizon. The bats of the Khao Yai are wrinkle-lipped bats and are the same species as the ones shown in the Planet Earth documentary. Every evening, at dusk an estimated 3 million bats exit the cave embarking on their nightly search for food. Much of the reasons for their behaviour are speculation, for example- which bat decides when it's a good time to exit the cave? For they don't exit in dribs and drabs- but in a sudden constant stream that will continue for over an hour. Some guides think the decision is based on a  change of temperature, others by the possibility that the bats are just hungry! I favour the latter and am pretty sure if I were a bat, I'd be first out of that cave. Another interesting behaviour of the bats is that the strongest, youngest bats leave the cave first, and the older or weaker bats come out last. The motives for this behaviour are thought to be quite chivalrous ones. The stronger bats leave first, as they will fly further to find their food, leaving the closer feeding grounds for the bats not able to make it so far. 

So if you have time on your visit to Thailand to witness this spectacle- we'd love to take you. If you want to see a video clip of them then check out the link in our guestbook.

And, speaking of the guestbook. Yuri, our most recent guest, not  only turned out to be immensely fun to have around, but useful too. He has shown me how to install a guest book on our website, so hitherto any guests will be able to write a note or review of their experience and post photographs.
If you have visited us within the last 12 months I would be very grateful if you could test this new addition with a review of your own and a few photos if you have them.

Thank you!

Living in and near cowboy city, the purchase of cowboy attire is a must. Having resisted any such purchases for 4 years, I was finally issued with my own cowboy shirt by my department at school...which is the same as the other 40 members, but hey ho, I will wear it with pride to any number of the cowboy events that I happen to attend in this busy season.

The Thais love to party and December is the season of festivals- the biggest being New Year. Every local town, worth it's salt will have a cowboy festival to celebrate- and no matter how many, there always seem to be enough cowboys to go around. For anyone visiting the Khao Yai at this time of year, I recommend that you seek one out. They're free to attend- just turn up, find a table or hay bale to sit on, buy a tower of beer and some food and enjoy the show- both on and off the stage. If you are a westerner and appropriately dressed (cowboy shirt at the least), then you are certain to get a lot of attention, all positive, and often in the form of offers to join another table or to accept a glass of beer or two. 

Even though the Buddhist Thais do not celebrate Christmas, they are happy to get into the spirit of things if there is a foreigner around who does celebrate it. The Christmas celebrations include dressing up as Santa Claus, or a cowboy of course, and then having the best Santa Claus competition and best Santee competition (not pictured here). I had not come across Santee until I came to Thailand...she's not your traditional Mama Claus, but more of a young, pole-dancing wayward niece of Father Christmas. 
A true indication of the lengths Thais in this area will go to, to make you feel welcome came this Christmas. Having gone around to the relatives of Deaw to give them cookies and chocolates for Christmas, I had a complete surprise on Boxing Day when his entire family tuned up at the hut to wish me a Merry Christmas. They were armed with Christmas gifts and handmade cards from the children and it really did make this festival for me.

So, if you are in Thailand in the next month or two and fancy combining a jungle trip with a taste of real Thailand, then get in touch and come and visit. At this time of year, the days are lear, dry and bright and Pakchong provides a welcome break from the heat and humidity of the rest of Thailand....the 7th best ozone in the world didn't you know?

There are also some great festivals left in the pipeline, the next one being the Muak Lek Cow's Milk (and therefore cowboy) festival in January. So saddle up and come join us :) 

Happy New Year to Everyone...and may 2013 be a great one for you.