Ban Lion, Koh Prathong - July 6-9

July 6 21:00

I am now on the island Koh Prathong, staying in the village Ban Lion. I am not sure the original name of the village, as it was renamed in honor of the Lion’s Club who donated the aid to rebuild after the tsunami. The entire original village was wiped out and 33 lives were lost. The children here can tell chilling stories of horrors no child should ever experience. All of the houses are rebuilt further inland in a modern style rather like detached townhouses with the sleeping rooms upstairs. There is nothing left where the old village was except bare ground and dead trees, although regrowth has started, mainly through a replanting program in the community. There are rows and rows of empty houses. Immediately following the rebuild, they were all occupied. Now they are all registered to owners but they stand empty or are holiday homes. There is a nice school built in the middle of the village, but it also remains empty. There are currently only three children going to school sand they go with the local teacher to another village’s school. There are more children than this, but they do not go to school. There is a windmill that a visiting professor installed that can power the whole village, but it is not working and only the professor knows how to fix it. So there it stands, useless until the professor returns, if ever. Sounding a bit like a ghost town? There is life, but the community is very small.

This island has no electricity. A few houses have solar panels to supply energy during the day, but this is not many at all and there is no storage. There are two generators in the village that run on gasoline and are expensive to operate. Therefore, they are only run four hours a night, between 6:00 and 10:00 pm. The villagers can opt into this resource at a cost of 400 TB a month. This is quite expensive for them and many households do not bother with electricity at all. Fortunately, my homestay hosts opt in and I can charge my camera and laptop batteries. Generators are less regular in the flow of electricity, so I need to use my converter and therefore can only charge one thing at a time. Forget about internet, I will be lucky to keep my computer going.

Today was an easy day, which started with a ride across a calm ocean in a long tail boat. The ribbons on the front are tied on each year for protection. It was wonderful and I could have done that all day! But, alas, we arrived to the flattest island I have ever seen. All around it are hilly islands, but this one is perfectly flat. On the way I saw commercial fishing boats, personal boats, jellyfish (huge ones), fish, seaweed, mangroves, lone houses on their own islands, tsunami damage, and regrowth. Our driver saw a dugong and I got all excited at the prospect of actually getting to see one of these rare creatures, but I never did see it. Speaking of the mangrove and regrowth… the people of the island never realized how important the mangrove is. However, when the wave came the mangrove took a good part of it, acting like a barrier. The wave also destroyed much of the mangrove, so the community has an organized mangrove restoration group. I could see the evidence of their efforts because the boundaries of the mangrove along the ocean have younger and smaller trees as shown here.

We were given lunch by our host and it included a wonderful green curry. I can’t remember what else; I was just totally taken with the curry. Then we met with the local guide, who was also our driver. He is a very interesting man, named Noon, that is by birth half Chinese and half Moken Sea Gypsy. He shared information about the island, village, sea turtle and mangrove programs, and the homestay program. He also shared interesting cultural stories that someone should really write down. Most sea gypsies are made to feel inferior and fall low in the social hierarchy in Thailand. Therefore he felt ashamed of his heritage and asked if we felt differently about him knowing he is Moken. I said no, that such prejudices are within the Thai culture, not ours. That foreigners coming here would see him as the same as Burmese, Thai, Chinese… all the same. I also said what his heritage meant to me was that it made him more intriguing and that I would love to hear more of his stories. Unfortunately, due to prejudices, I think that the Moken heritage will eventually be lost. Already, the language is being forgotten as the people refuse to speak it in order to assimilate into the Thai culture in order to avoid ridicule and discrimination. On a brighter note, isn’t the sunset sky fantastic?

After this wonderful talk, a group of four villagers joined us at Por, our translator’s, house for an English lesson. After introductions that made them talk about themselves in English, Andrew and I had arranged a scavenger hunt for them. We gave them a list of items using their English names and asked them to find them. They did quite well, but didn’t catch mobile phone due to my Western accent and didn’t know plate. Missing two out of seventeen items is not bad. The local guys started a futbol game while we were finishing up the English lesson and Andrew was invited to join them when we finished.

Tonight we had a dinner that included sautéed squid and, yes, I did try it. It didn’t have much flavor, actually, and wasn’t as chewy as calamari can be at times. I did not eat a tentacle, though. I just couldn’t do it. I mostly ate a spicy chicken and green bean dish and a glass noodle and egg tofu dish. I never heard of egg tofu before. Anyway, Andrew is watching his new favorite show, The Killers, with the family. Yes, it is in Thai and he can’t understand a word, but he gets the gust of it. And I am going to bed now because I am getting up at 5:00 am to go bird watching! Yes! I so want to see the hornbills.

Ban Lion, Koh Prathong – July 7 20:00

Happy birthday, Francie. Sorry I am late with my birthday wishes, but internet is just not an option.

I started the day at 5:00 am to go our bird watching. Holy smokes was today humid! By 7:00 am I was already dripping. I got to explore the island a bit and see some remote areas, but I didn’t really have very good bird viewing. The light seemed to be all wrong and all the birds looked black or kind of silhouetted. I didn’t really get any good pictures. I think to get good bird pictures you have to pick a likely spot for activity and remain in a stealthy surveillance mode. We were crunching our way through the grasses and trees. I scared one off because I was so danged noisy trying to get through. We heard a lot of birds and saw a lot fly away. It didn’t help that the village dogs decided to accompany us! The picture of this kite (bird of prey) was taken on July 9.

After bird watching we all went to work on tie-dye. They use all natural materials, like the soap group of Ban Talae Nok. They are newer at it, though, and only started within the year. One of our jobs is to help them get organized and more professional. We are going to help set up a tie-dye museum in the community center building. We used turmeric for the yellow, almond leaves for the green, and mangrove tree bark for brown. They showed us some patterns and I showed them a couple. It was a nice exchange. I did the spiral technique and the crunching up into a ball. They liked the spiral, but I am not so sure about the crunching. I liked their rope tie pattern and daisy pattern.

So the steps for tie-dye their way (skip paragraph if not interested) as I can best remember it are: put water on to boil and cut up the bark and leaves and grind the turmeric root. When the water is boiling, add one plan to each pot. While the color boils out of the plants, rinse the starch out of the fabric and squeeze out the water. Pick your pattern and manipulate the fabric, then bind it with rubber bands and sticks, if necessary. After the color is ready, drop in the fabric and boil it for at least two hours. When the color looks good, remove the fabric and then rinse it in a solution with salt (to preserve color) and alkaline to darken or potassium calcitrate (?) to brighten. Give one finally rinse with fresh water and then squeeze out the water and hang to dry for at least half an hour, depending on the color. You can then remove the rubber bands, see your results and leave it hanging to dry. The color looks different once it is totally dry.

The people here are so very nice. I really like the people in the tie-dye group and think I would fit in if I could speak their language. The guys in the village kind of adopted Andrew and keep asking him to watch the world cup, but it is on at 1:30 am for us here. Ouch! So far Andrew has preferred to sleep.

There is one shop in the village (pictured here from later). Basically one person goes to the mainland and buys a bunch of groceries and supplies and resells them out of the bottom part of his house. I was hoping to go there and get a cold something, anything, today, but it was closed to make a run to the mainland for more inventory. Bummer, more warm water for me today and I am drinking tons of it. You have to here or you will dehydrate in no time. Andrew experienced that today when he helped to get the bark for the dye. Exertion + heat = feeling weird. I had that same problem last week when we were gardening. I gave him a package of Sharkies electrolytes and told him to drink water with it. He was then able to eat and started to feel better, but it left him feeling fatigued the rest of the day.

We helped with another English lesson this afternoon, concentrating on shapes, colors, and numbers. Once they seemed to get the words, we played telephone to make them use them verbally. They tried to over think it at first, but they got the hang of it by the end. We let them do some Thai phrases on us so that they could see how it works, that it doesn’t matter what you hear you just repeat it. We actually got some of the words right; score one for Andrew and I.

Tonight I helped make one of the dishes for dinner. It was a stir-fry noodle, shrimp, fish cake, kale, and soy sauce mix that was quite tasty. I get to sleep in tomorrow. We don’t meet until 9:30. I am sure I will still wake up by 7:00 at the latest, but at least I can be lazy.

Ban Lion - July 8 7:00

What a rough night, so many noises: talking, music, dogs barking… Then an early morning of noise. I don’t know what all the excitement is, maybe the world cup? But yesterday morning was not so noisy. It is a fishing village, so life starts early and 6:00 is sleeping in. Oh, yesterday I was up early and gone bird watching, so maybe it was just as noisy. The houses are all open and close together, so this is a part of life here – not much privacy.

22:00

What a day! I loved today! It has been rather oppressively hot and humid the whole time we’ve been here and today was no exception. It did try to rain a little bit, but the island does not get the rain that the Phang Nga province gets. Weather aside, it was an eventful day and I feel we may actually accomplish something here. First, we started the day going to the house that was donated to the village for a museum. The house right next to it is already a museum for the sea turtle and mangrove projects, Naucrates. This museum will be dedicated to the tie-dye group and our job was to decorate it, set it up. After a bit of communication confusion, we got a plan laid out and got it set up in at least a temporary layout until they got more pieces done. The part we did is actually the museum store, where they will sell their completed pieces.

In the middle of setting up the store, a call came in about a deer that was attacked by dogs. The people here are very sensitive to the local wildlife, so a rescue mission was quickly organized and we were able to take part. It was an incredible experience. We hurried through the mangrove and came out into the ocean where the village guide came and picked us up. We learned that the deer was attacked in the water and chased out to sea. The worry was that the deer would drown if it tired out too much. When we came in the boat we tried to steer it toward the shore. It took a little while but we finally got it to go on land. It was a female deer about 2 years old, by the locals’ estimates. It had sustained some injuries from the dogs, but they felt that none of them were too severe. Therefore, they did not chase down the deer to try to treat the wounds. Evidently, deer that have been injured will eat herbs and things that have a medicinal effect and help them heal. If it had been a young one, it might not have made it, but they felt confident this older one had a good chance. The people in this village are very proud of their deer and feel very protective over them. These are conservation-minded people that I can relate to in their outlook on nature. The last picture is the rescue crew, Noon is behind me driving the boat.

We finished the tie-dye museum store after the rescue. We are working on helping the tie-dye group get organized in the running of their business and I feel I have a lot I could contribute, but I probably need a minimum of a month here to accomplish anything substantial. I have expressed an interest in helping the group after I return home and Por, our translator, felt that could be possible with today’s technological advantages. She does not live on the island full-time and will keep in touch with me. We also wrote out the steps to making the tie-dye and started on creating a poster to display them but it did not get finished. Hopefully tomorrow we can finish up that and I also wrote out a product/price list for them for custom orders that I hope to get typed up tomorrow. We have a lot to do and leave tomorrow at 3:00 pm, so I don’t know if we will get everything done. By the way, the middle yellow one is the spiral design I showed them.

Around sunset this evening, we took the guide’s long tail boat out to where the old village used to be before the tsunami. Oh... My… Goodness… what a beautiful spot! The sunset was fantastic, the fine white sand was so soft, the water was comfortable, the view was beautiful, and there was not a person around but us. It was so calm, peaceful, and beautiful. If I lived here I would take a picnic meal or BBQ on the beach every night to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, my camera did not even come close to capturing the beauty of the moment. I loved it!!! I wish we had done that every evening. I told them that a sunset picnic on that beach is something that visitors would pay for. Make it a tour for the homestay guests! There were at least three different crab species all over the beach. Hornbills, kites, and other birds flew overhead. Basically, I was in heaven!

We came back to an awesome dinner and great conversation with Por. We talked about customs in Thailand. She shared experiences working as a translator, facilitator, and sometimes mediator. We swapped business ideas for the tie-dye group. I don’t know what all. After a couple beers and a few hours, we realized it was getting pretty late and parted ways.

There are some rough things about coming here: the mosquitoes are worse here than the other places we have been, there is practically no electricity, there is not the convenient running water in sinks nor a western toilet, it is hot, the humidity is the worst we have experienced, there has not been any of the cooling rainfall, and cold drinks are a rarity. However, I think this has been my favorite part so far. I seem to relate to the people more. I like the quiet remote village life. I like being on an island and using boats to get around – the boat ride over to Koh Prathong was like a tour I would gladly pay for. I like the tie-dye activity and the assistance we have offered, including the English lessons. I love the beach, the sunsets, the soft sand, and the ocean. And most of all, I like the villagers’ attitudes towards nature, conservation, and animal rights/protection. I would love to come back to work on the sea turtle project. I meant to ask about that, but we never got there in our conversation. The picture is noon with a mangrove seed.

I don’t know exactly, just the feel, the pace and the attitude of the place really appeal to me. I don’t think Andrew is as impressed as I am. We are having very different experiences ding exactly the same things. It is quite interesting, actually. I think he did better last week and I had a harder time. This week I did better and he had a harder time. I wish Dave and I could come back here and do a homestay, but I am not sure how he feels about the primitiveness of living here. I am really sad that we are leaving tomorrow.

Ban Lion, Kuraburi – July 9 22:00

This morning I woke up a little depressed as I realized we had to pack up to leave today. They had an easy morning planned for us and I was looking forward to it, but even an easy day feels like hard work in the scorching sun. Noon picked us up around 9:15 in a tractor that was pulling a metal and wood trailer. There was one bench seat put on the trailer for Andrew and I to share and I felt like royalty because everyone else sat on the metal bars. The tractor ride was fun in the morning when the sun was not so high. They asked if either of us wanted to try driving it and Andrew really wanted to so I told him to go for it (I have driven different types of heavy equipment in Alaska, so I figured it would be more of a novelty for him). After a quick lesson, Andrew was off and running. It was funny and he did pretty well. I was only worried once, okay twice – once he came really close to a tree and the other time he was close to a drop off. We toured the savanna, which is unique for Thailand to have a grassland area. This is why Koh Prathong has a deer population. We learned about the paper bark trees that they use to make roofs and for kindling. We also learned about the island’s mineral and tin mining history and so much more. Then we headed to the beach.

The beaches on the island are fabulous. The sand is so soft, the water is so comfortable in temperature (though it is not clear during the rainy season), and the scenery is breathtaking. We learned what the mini temples are that we have been seeing all around Thailand. These are spirit houses. A family may put one out after they lose an important member for their spirit to reside in and protect their household. Koh Prathong has a red spirit house for the guardian of the island. We heard how the rescue teams were amazed when they came to the island and saw that the tsunami had wiped out and leveled everything in its path, except the guardian’s spirit house that still remained standing in place. This spirit house (the one partially obscured by the new growth tree) is located right on the beach and this humungous destructive wave went right over it and destroyed everything else for a long ways inland. Amazing! Chilling! The wave has left permanent changes in the island’s landscape. Many of the trees that only grew along the coast now grow inland after the wave carried and deposited the seeds there and where the trees met the ocean is cleared sand or morning glories growing over the sand now. Anyway, Andrew and I went swimming in the ocean and it felt so wonderful that I might have stayed in for hours. However, I saw something through the sand laden water but wasn’t sure what it was. I thought at first maybe it was a rock, but I didn’t want to take any chances after we saw all the huge jellyfish in the ocean on the way to the island. Andrew asked what I was seeing and I said I wasn’t sure and wasn’t brave enough to try and find out. He wanted to see so he came over, but couldn’t find it. I went back and looked and found it again and pointed it out. It definitely wasn’t stationary and was moving in the water. This time I could see it was fairly big, rather triangular in shape, whitish in color, and had a tail. When Andrew saw it, he freaked out and yelled, “Whoa! What the hell is that?” Then he took off running towards the shore. I started to walk back, keeping an eye on it, and the only thing I could think of like that is a skate or a stingray. I asked our guide what it could be and he said it could possibly be either one. I think, then, that it was a stingray, because all the skates I’ve seen are darker in color and most haven’t been that big. If the water had been clear, I am sure I could have identified it for certain.

After that bit of excitement, they were opening coconuts they found under the palms. I am not a fan of fresh coconut meat or milk, so I passed but Andrew tried it. He said he liked it but that it did not have the flavor of the processed coconut at home. The tractor ride going back to the village was not quite as fun as going out, because the sun was high and super hot. I put on some 100 spf sun block and still burned within half an hour. It would have been ok if I had worn my goofy gardening hat and had something to throw over my legs.

Back in the village Andrew and I finished up our projects for the tie-dye group (an org chart with photos, a custom price chart, and a poster with the steps of the tie-dye process written in English) just in time before we had to catch the boat back to Kuraburi. We saw plenty of jellyfish again but no dugong. The ride back was about an hour and way too short. Again I felt I could do that all day!

Back in Kuraburi, I showered and put on clean clothes and went out with Judith to the street market for dinner. We met up with Andrew and all the other Andaman Discoveries crew at the Internet Café. I had a soda and a little beer and my stomach rebelled, so I went to my room instead of going out to the bar. At least it let me finish writing about my week. I really enjoyed this week and I think the deer rescue was the best time I have had so far. I love love loved it!!!