My Final Day At Work

When writing on here I usually take extracts from my diary, editing it so that it is not so personal. However my time in Khao Chong means a lot to me and so I am not going to edit this post. I shall simply transcribe what I have written in my diary.

Friday the 28th of November 2015 – my last day of work here in Khao Chong. Where have the last two and a half month gone?! I feel like the time has passed so quickly and yet I consider this place now my home.

I sit at my seat at the table eating breakfast, absorbing all that was around me. In front of me is the forest, this is the view I have had for the last few months – if I close my eyes I can recall where each trees is and the way the light falls on the canopy. It is an image that is stamped in my memory.

The view from where I sit at the table

Janya has already eaten and we exchanged ‘good mornings’ as always. He is in the kitchen cooking something. Pitoon is sat in his spot at the table drinking his coffee. He tells me that he turned down a job interview for a government job in Bangkok. He thinks being a farmer would make him happier. I admire him for following is heart and I hope that I can follow his example in life.

Soon Yung turns up and then Bell. I say good morning to them both. They get themselves little cups of super sweet instant coffee and lean against the table smoking. I take the whole scene in, noting all the details. I am going to miss the way Bell smiles at me, how his eyes crinkle and his body shakes as he laughs. Even though we don’t really talk much due to the language barrier we have spent a lot of time together and I feel like we have an understanding.

Bell

I am going to miss the way Pitoon cocks his head to the side and squints his eyes in deep concentration when I ask him a question. We are very honest and blunt with each other and when I ask him something – like should be maybe do it this way – he will think about it for a minute and then say ‘no’ and we will continue with what we were doing in the way that we were doing it. There is no harm meant in the bluntness, but a complete honestly that I really like.

Pitoon and Phon

I will miss my times in the field with Yung, how we spend the whole time joking, laughing and having fun. As we walk through the forest he teaches he Thai, saying ‘wait here a moment’ in Thai, I stop and then he goes ahead calling ‘Mani, Mani’ (this way, this way). I then proceed along the path following him. He clicks his neck and joints as we walk, making me squirm, laughing at the expression on my face. In the lab I catch this man covered in tattoos singing along to Thai love ballads, his voice husky from years of smoking despite being only 26. Sol and I caught him once enthralled in a live performance on YouTube of  the Titanic theme song – my heart will go on – and singing along with Celine Dion. There seems to be an innocence here, sweet and pure that we have lost in the West. I wonder how long before it too is lost here and the vulgar sexuality and in your face attitude of the West makes its way to this beautiful country.

Yung and his girlfriend Phon

In nearly three months I have hardly spoken two words to Jean. He is so shy, sitting there smoking his cigarettes with a look of contentment about everything in life – he is so super chilled. I am going to miss how Jo laughs at me when I ask he if two moths that look identical are the same. He will point out some minute detail showing that they are different species and shake his head, giggling at my untrained eyes. When I ask Tae to watch what I am doing or to follow me so that I can show him something in the other room he will nod and say okay, going back to his work staying exactly where he is. I then have to call to him and almost lead him to my desk so that he knows where I have put the important paperwork he needs. Pitoon says that he can understand English, but from these exchanges I am not so sure.

Jean

I will no longer have Janya waking me up at 6 am by singing in the shower next to my room. He says ‘yes’ to everything, even when he means ‘no’. I will even miss the smell of my molding mattress, the stink of sweaty field clothes and how everything here grows fungi due to the humidity. All of these are little sensations that are unique to this place and my time here and I will not find anywhere else.

That afternoon we went to the market, getting food for the party we were to have that night. By the time we got back a few people had arrived and Pitoon had already started cooking; the BBQ was in full swing. We tucked into a feast of fern salad, BBQ’ed chicken, stuffed pumpkin, salsa, guacamole and a number of amazing curries. Everyone from the lab was there: Tim, Joe, Jean, Tae, Bell, Yung, and his Girlfriend, and Pitoon as well as many other people from the Botanical Gardens: Janya, Phon, Nam, Mr Noy, and some other people who I didn’t know. We passed the night eating amazing food, drinking gin and tonic, smoking Thai cigarettes and listening to Alt-J. I was the perfect end to I think the best two and a half months of my life so far. As people left I said goodbye, trying hard not to cry. I didn’t really succeed and the guys tried to make me laugh.

Mr Noy

Me and Tae

Me, Tae and Jean

Mr Noy

Me and Sol

Here are a few photos of the wonderful people I have met and worked with over the last three months.

Tim and Mot

Joe, Yung, Janya, Tim, Phon and Mot

Sofia, Janya, Pitoon and Sol

The next day I finished packing and then went downstairs for breakfast. Down by the kitchen we gave the guys the gifts we had brought them; a pan and spatula for Janya, a car freshener (to try and hide the smell of the rotting rats in Pitoons car) and some tea for Pitoon. Pitoon was very quite in a way I hadn’t seen before. On the way to the bus station I asked him if he was okay and he said he was very sad. I am going to miss this guy a lot. I hope we will stay in touch as I consider him a very close friend. Sol kept asking for sad/melancholic faces as he snapped me crying with his Gopro – it just ended up making me smile. At the station I bought my ticket and then we sat by the bus waiting. I told the guys to go – my bus wasn’t for a while and there was no point them hanging around. I hugged Janya, Pitoon and Sol and then they were walking away from me; I watch until they disappeared. Left standing there with tears running down my face I tried desperately to pull myself together.

Trang Bus Station

I have had some of the best times in my life with these guys and I found it is so, so hard to leave. Every cell in my body wanted to run back to Khao Chong and stay there. But as Pitoon said, I have to leave at some point anyway and it would be only be one or two weeks later. I told myself to be strong, to find strength in the beauty of nature around me and in the stars shinning down on me. Now is the start of a new journey. I am going to Phuket to meet a French man, Jean, who has a boat. If we get along I will sail with him down to Malaysia, taking two weeks stopping off at islands along the way.