Ohhh... a RAIN forest!

So we survived day two in the jungle and they don't call it a rain forest for nothing. We had some serious adventures today that included sheets and sheets of rain and a LOT of leeches. The day was spent trekking and riding through the forest in the back of a pick-up. We say a bunch of wildlife including two kinds of deer, gibbons, macaques, horn bills and three big monitor lizards. One of the coolest things was watching a giant black and yellow orb spider catch and then entwine a butterfly. The macaques we saw were also very bold and came right up to the back of our truck and there were even mommies with their babies clinging to their tummies. We got to see the waterfall from the movie the beach but unfortunately Leo wasn't around. And let me tell you, did it ever rain!! We ended up completely soaked as we timed our hike to a waterfall just right to catch one of many serious downpours. The not so fun part of the day were the leeches although they really were not that big of a deal. We were laughing in the morning when they gave us these leech socks that went up to our knees but boy were we happy we had them after we got back from our first hike and had leeches crawling all over our shoes and inching their way up our pants. They were quite persistent and we had fun flicking them off into the air. My dad, aunt and I all ended up getting bit but it did not really hurt. My dad didn't even realize it had happened until I pointed out that he had a big blood stain on his shirt. Apparently they just latch on until they are full and then fall off leaving a small hickey and a decent amount of blood. The day ended well though with a gorgeous sunset as we finished a rather strenuous trek. We had another delicious (and VERY spicy) dinner with tasty river shrimp and now we go to bed and prepare for our big travel day tomorrow across the Cambodian border. We are saying goodbye to Thailand for now but will be back at the end of our trip!
Jess