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Published: September 27th 2014
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The tranquility of
Nakhon Si Thammarat hits you the moment you step off the plane and onto the runway. The mighty peak of Khao Luang (namesake of the national park) looms in the distance overlooking all and sundry in a kind of serene benevolence from a height of over 1,800 meters. Birds large and small chatter in the bushes on the side of the runway, and they are the only sound one hears aside from fellow passengers talking on their phones. Speaking of those passengers, I counted just two other
farang on the flight down.
My plan was to hop in a taxi and go straight to the village of Ban Khiriwong in the foothills of
Khao Luang National Park . In hindsight it would have been more fun to take a
songthaew for 25 baht and enjoy the scenery while riding with the locals, but I had this idea that I wanted to pull up to my bungalow while the gibbons were still singing in mountains and jump in the river.
We pulled off the highway and into a leafy neighborhood and stopped at Ban Khiriwong Community Center. Large shady trees overhang the center, and next door is an old white temple with
monks ambling about. Village residents come here to sell produce and handicrafts and the general impression I got was that everyone in Ban Khiriwong were happy neighbors who farmed delicious fruits and vegetables. We got directions to the resort that I wanted to stay at –Mr. Nui’s, though I’m not sure if that is what it is called or even if that’s where I ended up. What I know is that I liked what I saw the instant I stepped out of the cab.
Six wooden bungalows sit astride a river that flows out of Khao Luang. I was given keys to bungalow #4, took one look inside, tossed my bag in, then headed around back to see the river. Each dig has a small patio overlooking the river, and a short walk down the embankment leads to crystal clear water with a sandy bottom. I changed into my swimming shorts and jumped in. Several large boulders add to the scenic beauty, and I floated on my back in a little piece of nirvana.
The spicy Malay-influenced cuisine of Southern Thailand is so incredibly delicious that I am willing to eat a full meal at any time of
the day. So, at about 10:45am I wandered down to the restaurant and ordered a dish of shrimp in red curry sauce and a tall bottle of Singha. Fruit trees dot the grounds of the resort, and from my table I could look down and see river carp swimming in the current below.
I met a lovely British-American(Rob and Karla) couple in the restaurant who happened to be “foodies” and they were wowed by the dishes the waitress brought out. We decided to hike up through the community farm plots to a waterfall together. (By the way, check out
Karla's great Thai food web site here ).
A local guide took us up the road past the resort until it narrows and finally disappears as you enter mixed-orchard plantations. One almost gets the feeling of being in the jungle here because the rule here is polycropping, meaning no monoculture plantations. We learned that virtually any village resident can carve out a plantation so long as they follow the mixed-crop rule. This helps to stabilize the soil with complex root systems, it’s a hedge against diseases that could wipe out one type of crop, and it creates a layered tree canopy that defends against rain
and wind, meaning it protects against erosion. So in one plot you can see jackfruit, mango, durian, fig, banana, and betel nut trees, sponge gourd and bitter gourd vines, pumpkins, and fruit I cannot name. It all looks and feels like some kind of tropical agrarian paradise and all of the farmers I saw were ebullient.
We hiked on, stopping to pick up and unpeel some very sour rattan vine fruit, and later we plucked a fig fruit off a tree and relished in that. We arrived at the falls and had a look around. Some trails in this area lead to very swimmable pools of the falls with splendid views of the lowlands, and I strongly recommend taking the time to do this.
On the way back down I was stunned to see a
farang coming uphill with a hoe in one hand a sickle in the other. He was decked out in rubber boots and local farmer gear and his gorgeous Thai wife, similarly attired, followed behind him. His smile showed that he understood how surprised we were to see him, and he stopped for a chat. He was an American and he said
that he and his wife plan to open some simple bungalows on their farm plot for tourists and that they also plan to grow crops year-round to export to Europe and the USA. We made our way back to our own bungalows, and I remarked that I was amazed to learn that a foreigner had carved out a life as a local farmer in this obscure corner of southern Thailand. Rob, my British walking partner, quipped “There’s a
farang in every bush.” I left Ban Khiriwong three days later wishing that I lived in this charming and quiet little corner of the Earth.
On a final note, I'd like to mention that I was originally inspired to come down to visit Nakhkon Si Thammarat after reading Hans Morgenthaler's little-known classic
Impressions of the Siamese-Malayan Junge: A Tin-Prospector's Adventures in Southern Thailand . There aren't that many books about Southern Thailand, and, as someone who loves to spend time in the forests of Southeast Asia, I found this book to be a real treat. There were no roads connecting the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea at that time (1917), and tigers, leopards, elephants, and crocodiles were all common.
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