The Start of a New Adventure

I have been thinking about writing a blog for a while now, but never really got round to doing it. On my last trip to Alaska I thought that it would be a nice idea, but I didn’t have internet access so it was not possible. Now that I have Wi-Fi, the time and hopefully something of interest to write about I have no excuses.

This journey starts with me working for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Khao Chong Botanical Gardens, Southern Thailand. I will be living and working in the botanical gardens for three months from Mid-September through to Mid- December 2014. I will be working on a variety of research projects including long-term monitoring of the insect species present, monitoring seed predators, determining the predation rates on the seed predators and monitoring the fruit and seed density in the rainforest here.

I arrived in Bangkok on the 16^th of September. Many memories of my previous trip to Thailand came back to me as I walked the street. It is a place that is constantly busy and alive. The streets are full of stalls selling food; the smell of BBQed meat mingles with that of rotting garbage and diesel fumes. There is a continual noise of horns beeping and traffic. It is a fantastic city; one you could quite happily spend the days getting lost in the narrow streets absorbing the atmosphere.

From Bangkok I flew to Trang, where Pitoon, my supervisor, picked me up in his BMW (we later named him Herbert) and drove me to Khao Chong. I arrived in the evening and as we drove into the rainforest the sounds of the jungle enclosed us. All around we could hear insects buzzing and bird song. The air was cool but still very humid from the afternoon rain and the smell of damp soil and decomposing leaves hung in the air.

The house I will be staying and working in has the lab and office below and then bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. The kitchen and eating area is connected to the main house via a roof where the cars are parked. My room over looks the forest at the back of the house and is slowly being eaten by termites; as a result there are a number of holes in the walls, which can be used as ‘viewing’ windows to see the trees outside. I have a mattress, a desk and a chair and later I made a shelf and a hanging rail so that I had a place to keep my things off the floor and away from the bugs and mice! Pitoon also stays in the house along with Janya, who is a field assistant here.

Janya seems to do most of the cooking and he is an excellent cook. Unlike the West there is not much of distinction in terms of what is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At every mealtime there are a number of dishes such as curry with coconut and winter melon, fried fish, spicy soup and of course always rice. All of it is ‘aroy’ (delicious)! I hope to learn Thai cooking whilst I am here. Maybe I will put some recipes up on this blog as I learn.

On my first day at work I went into the field, riding on the back of one of the field assistants mopeds through the forest to the trailhead. We passed waterfalls and butterflies flew past as we rode. Once we reach the trailhead we continued on foot through the jungle. I was fully kitted out in hiking boots, leech socks and mosquito repellent – a stark contrast to the guys who were in flip flops and shorts moving confidently through the forest with much experience. As we passed the tagged trees we looked around on the jungle floor for fruits and seeds. We collected the ones that we found and recorded the location. As I was looking for fruit I saw huge spiders the size of my hand, delicately moving across the forest floor on thin, thread-like legs. There were huge millipedes that quickly scuttled away as I came near. I saw mushrooms that were translucent with a jelly-like coating making then look almost like lychees. The sounds of birds filled the air and everywhere around me was an intense green. Huge insects flew past and there were so many butterflies of different colours and sizes. The trees rose high above us and I tried to follow the vines up to the sky but my eyes failed me before they reached the tree top canopy. The air was heavy with the smell of wet earth and so hot and humid my shirt was soon clinging to my clammy skin. There was so much to take in and absorb – I just wanted to stand still and absorb it with all my senses, but we keep moving quickly though the jungle, collecting as we went. When we were finished one of the field assistant, Yoon, took me to a nearby waterfall; a beautiful cascade of water falling from the forest above, surrounded by banana palms, date palms and orange trees. We ate oranges from the trees still warm from the hot sun as huge dragonflies flew around us.

On the weekend I went with Janya to visit his family in the nearby province. We left early in the morning and as we drove through the jungle the sun was slowly dissipating the mist that hung in the dark green valleys like dry ice caught on the treetops. The air was still and cool and there were few people awake. I think this is my favourite time of the day; the moment before the world wakes and the tranquillity is broken with the heat and bustle of the day. We drove past road side stalls setting up for the day to sell fruit and water buffalo being led to rice paddy fields by farmers.

Janya’s family live in the countryside, in a beautiful house surrounded by rice paddy fields and rubber trees. They were very welcoming and friendly and although there was the language barrier we managed to communicate a little bit.

That evening we went to their rice paddy fields. We watched the sun set over the limestone mountains that rose out of the emerald green paddy fields like huge teeth, dark in the setting sun. The gold of the sky was reflected in the flooded fields. Flocks of ‘nok’ (birds) flew across the pink and crimson clouds and behind us a rainbow slowly appeared, arching across the sky.

The next day Janya took me to a nearby wildlife refuge where we watched dragonflies and birds fly over lotus flowers in the lake.