Khao Yai: Escaping to Nature
Traveling out of Bangkok is always liberating when the chaotic energy of the city becomes overbearing and stifling. I hadn’t visited Khao Yai in fifteen years. It is approximately 150km (94miles) from Bangkok, traveling northeast. We opted to stay at Athena glamping resort in dome-shaped tents, complete with air-conditioning, proper beds, refrigerators, and other comforts.
We quickly made a friend in a local stray dog, who was sporting several battle scars. After we fed him some beef jerky, and made a makeshift water bowl out of a cardboard lid (see below), we appeared to have commanded his loyalty for the duration of our stay. He ‘guarded’ our tents as we slept. Sometimes his ears would prick up, as he sprinted off into the wilderness at some imperceptible sign of danger - perhaps a snake or other creature of the night, encroaching on our immediate vicinity. He was a friendly chap, and surprisingly tame. You do not always get so lucky with the stray dogs of Thailand.
Khao Yai is a strange place during the monsoon season, in that the nightscape brings out a clear starry night of ephemeral beauty, amidst the constant threat of a looming thunderstorm in the distance. Supernova-bright flashes of lightning painted the sky in pastels of effervescence, yet the sound of thunder never reached us, and the rains never came.
We visited the Bonanza Exotic Zoo - the animals seemed well looked after, for the most part. Although, compared to my enthusiasm for zoos as a child, I now often find myself conflicted and pitiful towards many of the animals. The lions, for example, looked entirely miserable. Their enclosure is too small, pure concrete; I guess they never get to interact with nature itself, with the fauna and flora, the earth, the trees, and any sense of topographical awareness. They shouldn’t be there.
Relative to their size, the giraffes had the best enclosure - a huge open plot to roam around in. We fed them all. Giraffes, alpacas, monkeys, rabbits, goats, wild birds, and much more.
Khao Yai national park is an enchanted, magical place. I had forgotten how huuuge that place is. Miles and miles of protected land. It takes hours to drive through the place. There are so many magnificent viewpoints and waterfalls to scale. We put a real shift in, from mid-morning to late afternoon.
We got lost wandering off one of the trail paths, wondering if we would ever be seen again. We stumbled across a dirt bike, then followed the sound of water until we met these wonderful specimens dancing around in the sunlight:
Swimming was forbidden in all of the waterfalls we managed to check out. Signage explained that most of them were “volcanic in origin, with a danger of falling rocks at the mouth of the waterfall” - one is literally named “Hell waterfall” in Thai!
This is the ‘hell waterfall’ - what a force of nature it was to behold:
Around the local village, we saw monks making their morning rounds with their alms bowls, collecting food donations from the villagers.
Sadly, we also encountered a few monks wearing orange face-masks, matching the colour of their robes. We stopped at the side of the road and gave one of them a bottle of water. I said to him, as I always do, in Thai:
There is no need for you to wear a mask. The secret to existence is freedom from fear.
[ไม่ต้องใส่หน้ากาก เคล็ดลับของชีวิต คือการเป็นอิสระจากความกลัว]
He smiled with his eyes…
The end of our trip found us driving to the Double-eyed cave [ไม่ต้องใส่หน้ากาก เคล็ดลับของชีวิต คือการเป็นอิสระจากความกลัว].
We had wanted to meet Ajarn Sumano Bikkhu - An American-turned monk who had lived in the cave for years. I read his book, which is brilliant and highly recommended:
The cave looked like it had not been lived in for a long time. It smelled musty from the bat-droppings - hundreds of them hanging upside down inside the cavernous dwelling - sorry, left phones and cameras in the car, so no photos taken.
We carefully descended the stone-stair-welled-haphazard path from the mountainous cave entrance, back down to ground level. Eventually, after some poking around, we found a small house at the back of the site - a place of Buddhist worship called ‘Goo-dit’ [กุฏิพระ]. Inside was a Thai monk. His name was “Phraa Pla-Gob” [พระประกอบ].
We asked Phraa Pla-Gob what had become of Ajarn Sumano. He told us that Ajarn Sumano had disappeared without a trace about 7 years ago. He had cleared out his few worldly possessions, and was in the wind. Nobody knew why he had left or where had gone. Phraa Pla-Gob speculated that Ajarn Sumano had perhaps gone back to the United States.
We had an interesting conversation with Phraa Pla-Gob. He was truly awake.
I told him how we had encountered some monks who wore facemasks. We asked him why this was. His response was very illuminating, and concurrent with our own musings. He basically said that many Thais, monks included, are still wearing masks due to a perceived societal pressure. Ergo, out of politeness towards their fellow human being. He expressed his sadness over seeing adults and their children wearing facemasks, when he received visitors at the double-eyed cave area. He said that children need to see adult faces, to learn facial expressions, to interact socially, to develop behaviorally and cognitively. He also warned of the dangers of technology and Thais being hopelessly addicted to their phones, not really being present, and in a state of perpetual distraction.
He even went as far as saying that when visitors arrive masked, he tells them:
“Please remove your face masks. If you want to wear a mask, then do not visit this place.”
Like Ajarn Sumano, I believe that this new monk - who has lived in and at the base of the cave for 9 months so far - is a “thadung monk” [พระประกอบ]. Meaning, they live a nomadic existence of solitude for the most part.
Phraa Pla-Gob also talked about his displeasure in witnessing the rise of scammers throughout Thailand taking advantage of the vulnerable. He said they will forever be looking over their shoulder, wondering when they might get caught, trying to cling onto their temporary accumulated ill-gotten-gains.
We can apply this same logic to our sociopathic misleaders worldwide, as they attempt to control us, enslave us, impoverish us, and depopulate us.
There are people that exist in this world, whose motivations are to trick, deceive, harm, control, and kill other human beings. Then there are others who exist, motivated by the necessity to defend the weak, protect the vulnerable, lead the deceived towards the truth and the light via transcended knowledge of the world, and ultimately, to learn the truth about themselves.
Phraa Pla-Gob invited us to stay at the base of the cave in a tent, or even inside the cave next time we visit. He said:
Next time you visit Khao Yai, please come and see me again so we can have another conversation. There is no need for you to waste money on accommodation. You can sleep here if you like!
We might just take him up on that offer, for the life experience, if for nothing else.
He also asked us to help direct more people to the cave, to meet him. Once again, here is the location for any curious travelers out there.
At the base of the cave, there are several quotes which presumably were erected by Ajarn Sumano Bhikku - signed off with his initials ‘ASB’.
This was our favourite - overlaid here with my audio narration in both Thai and English:
AJARN (TEACHER):
Have you woken up yet?
STUDENT:
I have woken up already.
TEACHER:
Am I to believe that my student has already woken up - really?
STUDENT:
I have already woken up.
TEACHER:
There is no need for you to believe other people.
STUDENT:
I will stop for a moment. Perhaps I have not yet truly awakened.
Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok based writer. All content is free for all readers, with nothing locked in archive that requires a paid subscription. Any support is greatly appreciated. If you are in a position to donate a virtual coffee or crypto, it would mean the world of difference.
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Thanks for this very nice piece about my 2 favourite subjects - nature and Buddhism. I have been lucky enough to visit Khao Yai a few times and had encounters with Gibbons, Elephants, Hornbills and once a green Viper. What surprised me is how cold the place is in the Thai ‘winter’ - we had ground frost at the campsite! If you are interested in the dhamma, Ajahn Sumedho from the Thai Forest Tradition continues to teach in his 90th year at Amaravati Monastery in England. Ajahn Sumedho, originally from the U.S. ordained in 1967 and was trained by the great Ajahn Chah.
I love the update from nature and will keep an eye out for this Ajarn Sumano. Regarding facemask usage and religious types, where to me the practice always seemed highly incongruent with the do not fear paradigm, I have heard a similar story. Many who wear facemasks or did so during the pandemic were roped into the idea that it showed their compassion and concern for their fellow man...