Khao Yai has always held a special place in my heart - it's maybe because of it's close proximity to Bangkok makes it so accessible, or possibly because I think it's the best managed National Park, taking into account the huge number of visitors it has to control, in Thailand. It is a special place full of promise, always offering but never quite revealing itself. A place to return to - many times over to search for elusive glimpses.

I used to like to camp there but I don't camp in Khao Yai anymore - there are simply too many people in the approved camp sites doing John Denver impressions until 3 a.m in the morning. If I heard another camper's rendition of "tek mee hom cunty roads", which might actually describe

some of our roads and driving quite well, I think I would have to just head for the airport. BUT I did love the camping - it is perhaps the only park were you wake to sound of gibbons, coucals and various insects fighting it out in an Asian version of the eurovision song contest, each and every morning.

But I digress, as usual. Anyway, I was visiting Muek Lek at the weekend and decided to have a morning run into Khao Yai. My target was a simple one - insects. Saying that I have always found daytime insect life quite hard to find in Khao Yai, very hard in fact, I think it must be an elevation thing. They seem incredibly difficult to track down but you have a sense they are lurking out watching you. I stuck it out for 3 hours with no good light at all, very overcast and misty. A trek along the tip road (behind the lake) and another one at Wang Jumpie was all I managed but on the good side the temperature and humidity were down and there were no leeches at Wang Jumpie which is good news for an hopeful end of the leech season and more comfortable longer treks to come. A reminder that winter will soon be here and great camping and wildlife watching will be with us again.

In terms of insects I did not see too much but what I did see is here: