Wan-nee Duhn ten (Exciting day)

I don't know where to begin with this post....Yesterday after lunch Mr. Tawin's family and I separated from the rest of the group and took off along the western edge of Thailand and headed south...destination Umphang. There is only one road there...it is 90 miles from the next city and to get there you have over 1,200 hairpin curves on a narrow winding road....Umphang is basically the end of the road in this part of Thailand because south of here is the National Wildlife Refuge...This refuge is huge!!!! Approximately 100 miles north to south and over 50 miles east to west with basically no roads. Took us almost 5 hours to go thoe 90 miles.

We are staying at a small resort. Buildings are beautiful teak, but it is not the Hilton or even motel 6. After a good night sleep our adventure began at 9 am when we road in the back of a pickup truck for an adventure drive to take us to the river. Two guides steered the zodiac through 3 hours of unbelievable beauty. There were caves, towering mountains, beautiful trees and wild birds and animals. Wild birds and animals are not seen here in Thailand like in Wisconsin. You have to visit a reserve like this....Why??? Most things edible are eaten, so the reserve is the place you can still see them. While we were only on the northern edge of the reserve we did see a number of small animals and even some monkeys. But the birds were great.....Tam (the bird queen) would have loved this spot. Many species with beautiful songs in the air... We floated for three hours except for two short stops and never met anyone else along this wild and remote river except two fisherwomen. One of our stops was fantastic as a hot spring flows into the river at this point. It is shallow enough to lay down in and enjoy a perfect "nature's whirlpool".

After a lunch which we brought, we hiked a trail to see the highest waterfall in Thailand. Not only did we see it, but we swam under it with no one around. We did see a few hikers in the park, however this park is remote....to give you an example....it took us over one hour to traverse a one lane road with ruts that could bury my Toyota Prius...Even the worst Chequamegon Forest Road would have been luxury....not too many people get to do this and at the end our hotel gave us certificates for this adventure.

Tomorrow we head home , experiencing those 1200 plus curves again. On Wednesday, we leave for Bangkok. It has been an unbelievable adventure.....Thank you so much to Mr. Tawin, his family, Mr. Chusak and Ms. Ratree!!!

fred