Thailand Khao Sam Roi Yot Park
February 19, 1999
A couple of hour’s drive south of Bangkok, we decided to splurge. We stayed at a near-plush hotel on the beach for 2000 Baht (about $74) per night south of Cha-am. The room was OK – TV, rotary telephone, white sandy beach, swimming pool, Casuarina trees, and a comfortable bed – but it was all just too touristy for my taste. Pat did not like the smell when we first checked in. The dining room filled with beer drinking, cigarette smoking, heavy-set, heavy-eating Europeans -- maybe from Poland, Czechoslovakia or such. One couple carried on a loud conversation across the restaurant to another couple seated several tables away.
The wind blew hard from the southwest, so the sand was blowing on the beach making it a little uncomfortable for a mangy dog trying to sleep there. Fortunately, the air conditioner in our room worked, so we could cool it off and slow down mosquito activity.
A couple of young Thai men rode sailboards out on the rough waters of the Gulf of Thailand. A large European man dwarfed a small rental horse on the beach, kicking and kicking it in the flanks to get it to run. The only way it would run as if the boy who managed the horse would run ahead of the horse -- it would only trot briefly. Then it would slow to a walk only to be kicked some more and repeat the process.
After a good night’s sleep and a brief jog along the beach in the morning, we loaded our luggage in hope of finding a more agreeable place. Turning the key of our rental Honda, all I got was a slight groan from the engine. The battery was dead! The security guard and the bellboy gave us a push, the car started, and we headed south along highway four, looking for someplace that sold batteries. A worker at the local Exxon station suggested that we stop at a small shop about 2.5 meters down the highway. I stretched out my arms to indicate that the distance between my hands was about 2 meters, did she mean 2.5 kilometers? She smiled and corrected herself – it is about 250 meters. With the engine still running, I stopped in front of a small roadside shop where a large batch of auto batteries was being charged out front. I opened the hood and pointed to my battery. Then I tried to make sounds to imitate an engine trying to start when the battery is near dead. A young fellow got the idea quickly, superficially checked the electrolite level and indicated in sign language that my battery was dead. For 1,200 Baht (about $43.00) we got a new battery. In the back of the shop were rolls and rolls of copper wire. Maybe they hand wound the armatures of electric engines there. The new battery proved to be fully charged so off we went in search of another adventure.
By now we are becoming fairly good at finding our way along the poorly marked highways. Our tour guidebook suggested that we should turn at the major intersection in a town and head east. There we would find many signs in English directing us to our next destination – Khao Sam Roi Yat National Park. We found no such signs, so missed our turn and traveled about ten minutes until the road turned sharply north, which was obviously the wrong direction. We retraced our route, guessed correctly and proceeded through the coconuts and pineapple fields to the entrance of the park. Following the park map, we explored the town of Ban Bang Pu – a small fishing village surrounded by grey, steep-sided, limestone hills. We drove to the end of town and found maybe the place we had been searching for -- the Bayview Laguna Resort. Bungalows overlook the lagoon from the shade of many Casuarina trees. The gardens are full of tropical plants such as pandanus, coconuts, palms, and frangipani. It was fairly hot and humid, so the air conditioner felt good when we checked into the room. We watched birds from the open-air dining area beside the lagoon while we lunched on soup, rice, and grilled squid. Now, this was my kind of place! No TV, no telephone and they turn off the water pump at night and back on at about seven in the morning. One night cost only 800 Baht as compared to the 2000 Baht at the “luxury” hotel the previous night.
Khao Sam Roi Yot means “mountain of 300 peaks.” This national park is known for its marshes, migrating birds and mosquitoes. Some birds from China overwinter here and Australian birds also migrate through. Thought I heard a bird in the night but it proved to be what our Australian neighbors called at “Cteuk khae.” It is a fairly large, lizard-like critter that found its way into the walls of our bungalow. During the night it serenaded us from time to time with a knock, knock, knock sound its suction feet make while walking, followed by a series of five loud COO-COOS. I lay awake much of the night waiting for the next coo-coo.
At 5 am the sound of the outboard engines on the long-tailed, wooden fishing boats woke me as they headed out across the lagoon toward the open gulf. A near steady stream of them continued for almost an hour. We feasted on the products of their labors last night. Fresh, grilled bass, steamed rice, and assorted vegetables produced one of the most satisfying meals we have had in Thailand. However, they are fishing at an unsustainable rate, so every day they go out, they catch fewer and fewer fish.
Wishing to hear the outside sounds, I got up and turned off the air conditioner. I glanced outside and could see that it had begun to rain. Then I heard rain falling hard and heavy on the thatched roof. Next, I heard it splashing on the floor of our bungalow. Pat heard it too and quickly arose to move our luggage to areas where the rain was not coming through the roof. It ran down the curtains, came directly through the ceiling, splashed on the tile floor, into the cabinets and finally began to flow across the floor. Fortunately, it did not drip down onto the bed. The bathroom, with a drain in the middle of the floor, was one of the few places where the roof did not leak. Luckily the rain stopped before the floor was completely flooded. By now we were hungry, so we went to the dining area for breakfast. The plates and dishes from last night’s meal remained on the tables, but some animals has scattered food and napkins all over the floor. No one greeted us, so we found some cereal in the trunk of our car and ate while watching birds in the lagoon.
Driving through the park, we were rewarded with the sight of a white-bellied sea eagle. Also saw several different and very colorful kingfishers and a troop of dusky-leafed langurs (monkeys) with very long tails. Viewing wildlife has been very good in Thailand.
Somebody once said, “If you can’t find anything good to say, then say nothing.” In the interest of accurate reporting, I have decided to ignore that advice. However, it is not my intent to be critical of the Thai culture and their country. The Thais are generally very friendly and honest folks. We are really enjoying their country immensely. Even Heaven must occasionally exhibit a little bit of Hell.
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