Advertisement
Published: June 17th 2006
blog by Bronia "Sawadeeka/krap" ("hello") from Thailand - formerly known as Siam.
Well we are fully into Thailand and the Thai culture now. Our guide Lucky recently gave us Thai names for fun - Bronia's is
"Pai Lin" meaning a "Thai red ruby" and Dave's is
"Ma-nop" which means... wait for it.... "handsome one/good angel" - don't know what went wrong there !!
Our last blog left you in the north of Thailand in
Umphang where we had taken you on a whirlwind tour of our first two weeks with our
Real Gap volunteer group.
Taking a 12hr overnight bus to from
Mae Sot to
Bangkok's main bus station and arriving bleary eyed and shattered at the bus station at 4:30am we got back into our standard group touring vans (see pic) to take us the remaining 4 hours to
Dolphin Bay Resort, a fabulous beach front hotel within the boundaries of
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park a 98 square kilometre coastal park that was formed in 1966 to preserve the marshlands and surrounding mountain wildlife.
To lie in a normal bed again and not on a hard school room floor or outdoors (see last
blog for details) and have the chance of catching up on much needed laundry was bliss.
Dolphin Bay Resort was a great little hotel which despite being quite isolated from main towns had everything you needed: Pool, restaurant, shop etc. on site.
Using
Dolphin Bay Resort as a base for the next three days our group was taken to visit the
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park jungle where we saw Macaque and Dusky Langur monkeys as well as taking a boat trip along the canals of the mangrove forest which lay in the shadow of tall limestone cliffs and mountain ridges. There we saw mud-skippers (fascinating fish with legs that can walk on mud - very prehistoric looking), monitor lizards, water snakes, crabs and birds such as egrets and kingfishers along the mangrove banks. The mangrove forest canals then ended by widening into a large tidal estuary where we passed local Thai fishing villages built on stilts on the banks of the canal with squid fishing boats moored up waiting for dusk to make their journey out to the ocean for their nightly haul.
It was also here - during one leisurely morning at
Dolphin Bay -
when I (Bronia) decided that perhaps an aspect of the Thai cultural and social structure hadn't been incorporated into the trip's Agenda: a Thai hospital. Lying on a sunbed after breakfast one morning chatting with the girls about the afternoon Wild Elephant Safari that we were all going on I suddenly started to get chest pains which even a dose of antacids and meds supplied by our group didn't help. It started to get concerning when 40 minutes into it, the chest pain didn't look like it was easing and I was having trouble breathing. Enter the group guide Lucky who carted me off to hospital for an ECG, an IV drip and two hours lying on my back in a gown on a ward insisting that I was
"fine" and wanted to go on with the trip.
The diagnosis by two attending doctors was uncertain - we know it wasn't my heart and they think that prolonged use of the Doxycycline (our anti-malarial drug) which we have been on since January this year and which is known for all sorts of side-effects caused excess acid production and my esophagus to go into spasm causing the pain. So, armed
Dusky Langur monkeys
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Thailandwith some medication for future re-occurances and a full report of what fantastic service the Thai hospitals have, I rejoined the group for our afternoon's activity of hunting for wild Thai elephants
The hunt didn't go that well. We were bundled into the back of pickup trucks with rough benches for us to sit on and as you can see from the pic of Andy, Rachael & Dave, it poured with rain requiring ponchos and much squinting into the driving rain to see what lay ahead. A telescope was set up at a high ridge in the jungle and we did manage to see the swish of some trees on a distant mountain and a small speck of grey which we were told by our guide were the bums of elephants moving into the jungle canopy to escape the rain. That was it.
The most eventful part of that Wild Elephant Safari was when the pickup that some of us were in slid off the wet dirt track into the ditch throwing all on the benches in the back of the pickup forward and nearly over the cab of the truck (see pic).
Leaving
Dolphin Bay we
Boat trip through mangrove forest and mud flats
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Thailand headed towards
Amphoe Amphawa where we were to pass a night in Traditional Thai houses with Thai families. On the way we stopped at a traditional
Floating Market where women sit in low canoes selling fruits and vegetables, some with stoves on board to cook whatever food they have right there (see pics). Tourist stalls of crafts line the banks and we spend some time wandering before moving on to the Thai village for the night.
Amphoe Amphawa is an ordinary Thai village that lies within a dizzying network of hand-dug canals. Most of the villagers are farmers, growing tropical fruits and veg on little islands that are then loaded into their boats and navigated to market along the canals. Some years ago, to bring more income into the village, they started to allow tourists to stay in some of their Thai houses to get a taste of traditional life.
Our group spent a quiet afternoon chilling under shelter as we were subjected to another downpour but by the evening the skies had cleared enough for us to take a riverboat trip along the canals to see the fireflies out in force.
It was incredible - we
Mangrove forest surrounded by limestone cliffs
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Thailand passed tree after tree along the canal that sparkled and twinkled as though it was lit by hundreds of white fairy xmas lights. Sitting in a boat that sat low enough in the water to dip your fingers in the murky black water we turned left, then right, then right, then left along canal after canal passing village houses lit up and people sitting on their balconies, patios, lounging in the humid open air to gain whatever fresh breeze might pass.
Men worked on their boats, a young teen in a window was on a mobile phone chatting away, an thin old man in a loin cloth flashed us a toothless grin as he washed himself in the water as we cruised pass. A secret window into Thai life and one we won't forget.
The next day, May 19, we were back in the vans and heading east of Bangkok driving all day to reach
Khao Yai National Park. We arrive just before dusk and with enough time to see a small waterfall
Haew Narok within the park boundaries.
Khao Yai National Park is Thailand's oldest and most reverred national park. Spanning four provinces, this 2,000km square
park contains more than 70 mammal species including wild tigers and elephants, as well as over 320 varieties of birds. It has been declared an ASEAN National heritage site and is on the list for the United Nations too. Like many parks, it is continually under threat from poachers stripping the forest of its plant and animal fauna and we came here to do some trekking with a expert guide to learn about the ecosystem and what is within this magnificient piece of nature.
Our first "up close" experience with the park's wildlife was not so magnificient - Being naive British tourists who are not used to the wide array of night-flying-insect life within a national park we failed to close our windows and doors of the lodge where we were staying after dusk. If I said it was like a snowstorm of flying bugs within every bedroom and lounge of our lodge I don't know it that would be doing it justice.
White-winged termites had hatched at dusk and attracted by our lights through open windows flew in in their hundreds to hover around our lights, fly into hair, mouths, and get crunched underfoot as they landed
Our travel vans to transport our Volunteer Group
Outside Dolphin Bay hotel - Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Thailand on the ground to explore. Termites we have learned have a habit of flying around happily for a couple of hours, then shedding their wings, falling to the ground and then spending the next couple of hours wandering around like ants chasing each other trying to mate.
With 10 un-termite-friendly Brits many of them did not live long as a combination of 20 stomping feet, Andy & Rachael's electronic mosquito rackets (yes, mosquito rackets with an electrical charge that you swing to zap the flying bug - most satisfying) books, and even kitchen spatulas (I kid you not) came out for a war that waged until we fell into bed just before midnight. IF you had been a fly on the wall, and IF you had survived, it would have been a scene to video tape for sure. We laughed about it for days after.
The next morning was our trekking day. Armed with leech socks, shirts tucked in, trousers tucked into socks, shoes tightly laced and hats we looked the height of fashion! (see pic).
We hiked two trails with a guide in the park that day. The first one was the
"Nong Phakehi" trail which
Floating Market at Du Mneom Saduak
This was on route back towards Bangkok area was three hours through leech infested territory, and I mean infested. Leeches move like slinky's and at the slightest movement of your foot they start to gravitate towards you slinking along and heading for whatever part of you they can grab onto.
If you stop you've had it - they climb on board freely and you then spend the next few minutes dancing around and flicking, pulling and squishing them off your shoes, trousers, shirt etc. But the incredible thing about leeches is: it doesn't matter how quick you are, how careful you are, how much you hop and dance around avoiding them, they have an incredible capacity for grabbing on to any part of you that swishes past them and before you know it they are trying to burrow through your clothing or climb up your legs looking for an 'in' anywhere to feed. Truly they are vile and although they are no bigger than a pin (before they have fed on you) they are an absolute nuisance!
Despite this however we had a great first trek learning about plants that give pure drinking water, plants for leukema, for rashes, for headaches and following tracks and evidence
of bear, tiger, elepant, wild boar. We emerged into some open grassland with a wooden observatory over watering hole to watch the jungle on high.
Only Dean got a leech sucking from his forearm which he had actually 'allowed' to have a suck which he claimed was a 'social experiment' on how big did they actually get before they dropped off. It took two hours but it eventually had had enough of Dean's blood and dropped off the size of a small slug. None of the rest of us were keen to have a go preferring instead to starve the critters from feeding.
In the afternoon we had another 3hr hike, this time along
"Mo Singto" trail where again more leeches lay in wait. Andy had a leech on his thumb which had bit in before he got the chance to remove it - he removed it with some DEET spray shortly thereafter (salt or a lighted cigarette also works). We came out of the jungle into the parking lot and sat on the tarmac picking the last of the little blood-sucking critters from our clothing and going back to the lodge proud that we were leaving the
Staying at Traditonal Thai houses overnight in Playpongpang
It was from here that we took our night boat ride to watch fireflies hover over the water in the village of canals forest leech-free.
Back at the cabin, Dave removed his dirty shirt with the triumphant words
"well I'm leech free!" until he spun round and we spotted a fat leech sucking happily on his back by his waistline that had obviously dropped from a tree leaf (which they do after heavy rains) and inconspicuously set up home on his back. We removed it immediately but as they inject an anti-coagulant into the bite site he didn't stop bleeding for three hours!
Our last experience before leaving the park was a night safari which again happened in the pouring rain. Here we saw deer, civet cats, jackals, honey badgers and lots of evidence of wild elephants. Unfortunately the rain curtailed the safari but what we saw was worth the drenching.
On our last day within
Khao Yai National Park we visited
"Nam Tok Haew Suwat" waterfall (see pic) which made its fame in the movie
'The Beach' with Leonardo Dicaprio as he jumps off it in search of a lost paradise he has heard of. As we'd been having so much rain over the previous few days it was too dangerous to swim or jump so we sat by
The Group - all kitted up and ready to hike in leech infested jungle
Khao Yai National Park - thailand
L to R: Lucky (guide), Dave, Nikki, Simon, Dean, Clare, Anita, Sally, Bronia, Rachel, Andy some rock pools and took pictures.
On May 21 our group then headed to the Island of
Ko Chang which was to be a beach week and our first break for 21 days. Saying goodbye to our guides we all checked into to
Cookies Hotel on the beautiful
White Sands Beach Ko Chang is currently undergoing alot of development for tourism. Bars, restaurants, hotels and shops are springing up everywhere. The development of this island is much later than some of it's counterparts based on the southern tip of Thailand such as
Phuket, Phi Phi, Ko Tao due to its proximity to the Cambodian border and Vietnam.
During the 1970's the Vietnam war and in the 1980's the Khmer Rouge activity prevented tourism from developing in this region of Thailand and so it is still a relatively poor and quite 'traditionally Thai' island. This is set to change however as developers have their eyes set on this piece of prime real estate as being the new 'luxury' island to visit. Another five years and it'll be a completely different island to visit as they are still completing a road system to go around the island (formerly you
had to reach the villages by boat).
The week simply flew by as beach days often do. Despite
Ko Chang being hit severel times by gusty winds, torrential monsoon downpours and grey clouds, we did get enough sun time to hang out on the beach talking, reading, playing ball and endlessly bartering with beach sales people for bracelets, necklaces and fishermens trousers (a kind of loose baggy trouser that is secured round your waist by a tie-string and has a comfortably hippy look). I think Rachael took 1st prize with the purchase of approximately 10 pairs of these fishermans trousers with her but we all caved to the comfort of these wrap-around-trousers with their funky colours and purchased several pairs.
In the evenings we would meet up with those interested in going out for the night and head to a beach restaurant for food, drink and good chats. We tried to vary our choice of restaurant but it soon became apparent that we all had a favourite that we nicknamed 'the usual' (used in sentences such as
"shall we go to the usual tonight?" and
"oooh - i already know what I'm going to have at the usual End of our 3hr leech trek & checking for last of leeches on our bodies.
Dave thinks he's clear of leeches but doesn't realise one is still happily sucking away on his back in this picture.
Khao Yai National Park - Thailand tonight").
The usual was infact called
"15 Palms" and managed by a lovely British guy from
Leigh-on-Sea in
Essex, UK (coincidentally where Dave's sister & her boyfriend have just bought a house) and with a menu that can be only described as home-from-home cooking.
For us travelling for four weeks and sampling Thai breakfast, lunch and dinner every day - this was a bit of home that we all missed. Steak & Ale pie with mashed potato and peas, baked beans on toast, fish and chips, cheeseburgers, lasagna and spaghetti.... well - it was divine.
Other bars like the
"Rasta Bar" were sampled where live reggae music was played by a band in their 60's who looked like they'd arrived in the '70's and never left. We sat on cushions on the floor and swayed in time to the music whilst consuming rice pudding with raisins and banana pancakes.
On one of the days Dave and I hired a pickup to take us back on to the mainland and through
Trat to the Cambodian border to renew our visas. Thailand only gives you an automatic 30 day visa and to extend it the easiest thing for
us to do was to cross into
Cambodia, pay to get a Cambodian visa, then cross back into Thailand and that automatically renews your stay in Thailand for a further 30 days.
It was an interesting trip as we passed through Thai territory that used to be used by the US army bases during the
Vietnam war. There were also whole stretches of flat fields that we passed along the coast that our driver said used to be the site of a Cambodian refugee camp in excess of 500,000 people during the
Khmer Rouge reign.
One of our most memorable days on
Ko Chang was when 8 of the 10 of us decided to go snorkeling. Nikki, Claire, Sally, Rachael, Andy, Anita, Dave & I were picked up in the morning and taken to
'Lonely Beach' which is a small coastal village on the bay that has shops, homes and restaurents built on piers over the tidal bay.
Our trip was on a big wooden boat with a massive sundeck which we all promptly set up camp on. The day involved sailing to four different islands, jumping off the boat, snorkeling round each island for about an
hour and then climbing aboard to move on. It was an exhausting but exhilerating day and we saw some amazing fish and coral which was only inches from our faces.
May 28 was our last day on
Ko Chang and our last official day as a complete group of 10. From that point on some would be flying home to the UK, some continuing travel through
Thailand on their own and some moving on to either the
Elephant Protection or the
Dusky Langur Conservation projects.
And that is where we will leave you for now as we continue with several of our group to the 'work' section of our project....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0154s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kerry
non-member comment
Tours
Was the tour up to scratch? Do Mannings Tours have need to be worried about Apple and Lucky Tours bargin in on their patch? Keep us informed Kerry and Sid