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Khao Yai National Park


My time living year round in Khao Yai is coming to an end and I can't imagine what my life will be like living somewhere else. Everyday now I get emotional and nostalgic about my time here, wondering how I can ever go back to living outside of the jungle. Who will watch the sunrise every morning? Who will listen to the gibbons alarm call in the distance and wonder what they saw? Who will appreciate the newborn monkey babies? Who will photograph the centipedes, and the spiders, and the squirrels in the forest? Who will videotape the water monitors and the porcupines and the deer living under my house? What will I look at when I glance up from my desk out the window and see buildings instead of trees?

It's sad. But I'm trying not to be miserable about it. Change happens. New people will come. Things move forward. I'll come back in a new role. That's the way of the world. I got to do something that few others will ever get to do. I got to see things and experience life in a way no others ever will. And I spent a long time doing it; loving every minute, until life in the jungle became so normal that I was even able for a brief time to take it for granted.

It’s so unbelievably beautiful here. This morning I road my bike around the park taking a few photos trying to capture the magnificence of it all, but I couldn’t do it justice. Because the luxury of life Under the Canopy is not something so easily captured in the picture frame (and I’m not a skilled photographer). To fully understand it you have to feel it; you have to listen to it; you have to taste it; you have to live it. The way the rainforest mist moistens your cheeks in the morning. The scent of the greenness in the leaves; the texture of the air as it enters your lungs; the eeriness of the solemn trees that tower over you; and the serenity amidst the chaos of birds chirping, bugs humming, monkeys hooting, and gibbons singing; the contentment and appreciation that rises from the mystery of it all, firmly rooted in the connectivity of the Universe.

But you don’t have to live here to get what life is all about. All you have to do is pay attention to the world around you and spend some time thinking about what matters most.









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Nathan said…
Beautiful pictures Jackie! It really is amazing that you've been able to be a part of the community and environment of Khao Yai. Your description of the surroundings almost allows me to imagine being there! Have a safe trip back to Canada!
April 30, 2011 at 12:29 AM
Jessie (montessorimom22.blogspot.com) said…
You have me and Noah to look at now, lol!! just kidding (no really i'm not). On a serious note, you will be fine and everything happens for a reason and you will be back there. xo
April 30, 2011 at 9:10 AM
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