Best jungle hike to date, happy birthday to me.

** Photos from this story will be uploaded this weekend because I'm still on the road. Check back again for some sweet photos.

I knew Julia was supposed to show up at my house early, but I still didn't put an alarm or even bothered to pack. I was glad she was patient enough to let my bed head shower and pack. Still, we rolled out of Bangkok early.

The GPS spitted out proper directions and soon enough we were on our way to Khao Yai National Park. This trip was started by me complaining about wanting to go on a hike on Facebook. Julia followed up and even if it was her last few days in Thailand, she was fooled into thinking that I knew my way around hiking in Thailand.

Back in our car, the radio was off and no one noticed,  we talked and talked about the most random subjects. She was always asking about Thailand, I was busy making fun of Germans, and we carried on her tendency to physically hit the person she was talking with. I remember writing that I enjoyed it because it made me feel like we've been friends for a long time. She almost reminds me of Sandra.

We made one quick stop for breakfast. After about two hours of driving we reached our destination.

Julia had to pay 400 baht because she was a foreigner. If I had known I might have hidden her in my trunk.

We first visited Haew Suwat waterfalls. It had nice stairs and was very quick from the parking lot. This is the waterfall that was in the movie The Beach. It was high and tall. Pretty awesome.

On the other side of the parking lot was a hiking path to Pha Gluey Mai waterfall. The sign said 2.3 km. We came here to hike so we went on the trail.

Before I forget I have to mention that there are an amazing amount of butterflies here with myriads of colors. Blue, green, yellow, red, and the rest of the palette. We ran into many.

The very first part of the trail we had to jump into the creek, I was kinda hesitant about getting my shoes wet. I didn't want to walk in wet socks the rest of the day. Wanting to appear macho, I walked in anyway. Afterward we realized it was the wrong entry into the trail. Oh well. 

We hiked for awhile and ran into a group of people. Their guide said that there was a crocodile ahead. We were thrilled. The people had on these goofy socks over their pants. They said it was for the leeches. We thought they looked so stupid, until I looked down and our legs were covered in leeches. We spent a considerable time pulling them off.

No crocodile was spotted. For some reason the trail become bad but we kept walking, even into some heavily wooded area. It was a good thing I brought a leatherman knife with me ... in the car... oh woops. It was too far to go back. We had to walk most of the time in the creek/river because some parts were really inaccessible.

We kept hearing waterfalls ahead and kept at it. We came across this huge log in the middle and decided we needed to go right. We kinda made a terrible decision to follow a trail-looking trail. It wasn't a trail and we ended up climbing up over a hill. We finally spotted the waterfall that we were supposed to go to, but it was about 20 meters off this cliff we ended up on.

Julia and I climbed down, pretty much bouldering the whole way using tree roots and whatever else was there. This could have ended badly.

Like most things, it didn't end badly. We were extra careful.

The waterfall wasn't that big. We took off our packs and sat down to relax a bit. I sat on the rocks and washed my shoes while Julia picked off more leeches. Those things were vicious and both of us had some pretty nasty blood path running down our legs.

We found a different trail back and it was much easier. Then I turned around and realized it was the log again. The waterfall was just behind the log and we took an extreme longcut.

We laughed about that awhile and started heading back. On our way back we saw these actual trail we were supposed to go on. It was still early and even though it was drilling, we decided to go on it. After a few minutes with me leading the way, we ran into a crocodile on the trail. It was a real holy shit moment. I jumped and the crocodile ran away. Julia was disappointed she didn't get to see it. Couple this with the cool Tarzanesque branches, logs we needed to crawl under, and exotic gibbon noises in the jungle, and I felt like Dr. Indiana Jones.

It got nicer and the trail became much easier. We saw many cool waterfalls and kept going up a higher level. We laid on these rocks to take it all in. I told Julia, in these very words ( close your eyes if you're sensitive), "You know it's either the best place or the worst place when you have to ask yourself 'Where the fuck am I?'"  We were both perplexed by the beauty of this place.

We realized the trail didn't loop but it ended up onto a different side of the park. It was going to rain pretty bad so we needed to go on the street and hitchhike Bach to our car. It was awhile till there was a car passing by. We thankfully hopped in, seeing even the hill in front of us climbed and climbed. 

We got back to our car and I had not wanted a Coke more in my life (we only brought one bottle of water thinking it was a quick hike). Luckily the shopowner was convinced to reopen her shop. We each downed a Coke and another bottle of non-Coke. It was amazing.

We cleaned up and drove to find a place to sleep for the night. Found somewhere reasonable, showered and gone out to fetch some food and beer (with a German here...). We feasted.

Laid in our beds while talking. We were so exhausted. It kinda felt like a sleepover. We told each other our secrets and mostly embarrassing stuff about ourselves. I told her some of my deepest thoughts.  We must have talked for almost four hours. It was time for bed and I dozed off.

We woke up and asked if each other snore. She said she saw me almost falling off my bed. I slept well. We started our way back with a plan to visit another spot on our way back.

The place is called Jed Sow Noi waterfall, or literally seven little  ladies. It wasn't as huge as yesterday but there was a swimming area. We jumped into the fifth level and swam around the waterfalls for hours. There were so many sports to explore. I'm glad to be able to use my waterfall photography tricks I've been wanting to try on this trip. Trust me it's a bit more complicated than you think.

There were no other tourists the whole time we were there. It was so peaceful. I decided to sit by this tree and let its roots engulf me. It was the most comfortable feeling in the world, with sound of water rushing downstream in my ears. I can't describe the feeling I had. I decided to take a moment and really remember what this felt like so I can come back to it when I feel down and out.

The friendship bracelet Sandra gave me over a year ago looked like it was going to break. I decided to rip it and hid it away nearby in the rocks. One day she will visit me and I'll bring her here to find the bracelet.

Before we drove home, I sat there on the ledge of the waterfall reflecting on the past year. Tomorrow I will turn 23. So much has happened this year. A lot of adventures, new friends, a heartbreak, old friends to the rescue, and countless lessons about myself made up this year. Thank you family, Lee, Simon, Cortni, Alberto, Sandra, Luck, Yo, Chris, Amber, Kimberly, Hayden, Sue, Rouchelle, Ani, Natalie, Beatriz, Mercedes, FADs, Finlays, Lamberts, Olsens, Lori, Tater Tott, Tyler, Dan, Jamie, Yomi, May, U-Maraj, Julia, Anna, Teri, NPR, film crew, VS crew, Kaelee, Cosima, Whitney, Jaclyn, Tartar, Kyoko, Mini, Miyuki, Taisuke, Crumps, Cailie, Prasertsits, Laprays, etc.

Those mentioned and those I fail to recall your name please know I'm sitting in a car on the way somewhere for 8 hours. Forgive me and don't hate me for it.

Anyone reading this please leave a little comment so I know you are there. Love you all, seriously.

Pete Pithai Smithsuth.