Ao Nang is a well-traveled beach on the Andaman Coast near Krabi. If Thailand is shaped somewhat like a tennis racket, Ao Nang is half way down the handle, on the left side. Ao Nang was once a beautiful place, with white sand beach and limestone cliffs. Today it is wall-to-wall tourist facilities. The buildings obscure the view of the cliffs and hills, and the water is so full of boats that swimming is restricted to one small area.
The pace of development in Thailand is fast and visible here. There is a mix of the original cheap guesthouses, along with several larger resorts, which are gradually replacing them. The tourists include more older or out-of-shape people than other places. The new up-scale rooms cost $15-25 (600-1000 Baht), instead of the $4-10 (150-400 Baht) typical of places earlier in their development, and are great facilities with balconies, air conditioning, TV, and other amenities.
Development is a mixed blessing. One Thai tells us that people used to grow their own food, drink rainwater, and fish the streams. Industrialization dammed and polluted the rivers and the fish are gone. Now Thai must buy things they previously could supply themselves. The cost of living is higher, but not the quality of living. People now need jobs and money, but they didn't before. The country has spent billions on large projects such as dams, and now owes the west these loans. But the debts are a huge burden, and the money must come from the people. This Thai wonders if it really is any better, after all.
There is a Wat (Buddhist monastery and temple) in Krabi, at the base of Karst (limestone) mountains. The original monastery is built into caves in the mountain, and is fascinating itself. But then there is the vertical hike... At the top of the mountain is a temple, and there is a simple staircase up to it. Well, more like a set of staircases. Actually, a whole bunch. 1274 stairs in all! And these are not just your average stairs. Many have a tread of only a few inches, with a rise of 10-12 inches! In parts it is more like climbing a ladder! It was a good test for Fran's fear of heights, and she passed with flying colors. Actually, she neither flew nor turned colors, which we considered a great success. We stayed on the top as the light passed to late afternoon, and shown in angled streaks through the clouds. It was quite impressive.
On the way up the stairs, we try to talk with a Thai Buddhist nun. Her English is limited. All she manages is "America is at war with Muslims". That is probably a common belief here. In the States, we believe that we have separated the issue of terrorism from religious persecution. I was thrilled when Bush started from day one to emphasize tolerance of Muslim people, at home and abroad. But these nuances get lost abroad. Sadly, it is likely a common impression that America is at war with Muslims, and that belief will feed into the cycle that breeds terrorism.
In this area of Thailand are some Mangrove forests along the tidal flats. The roots and the branches grow dense and intertwine, holding together tiny islands, with tiny passageways in between them. As luck would have it, we timed it wrong and were there at low tide, so it was difficult to get around in the kayak. It was beautiful nonetheless. The Mangroves are home to Macaques (monkeys), and we were fortunate to see them twice. The first monkey came down to meet us, looking for a handout. They can be quite feisty when they want your banana! The second group included a mother with a baby hanging on around her neck. We also saw Kingfishers and other birds.
We had the good fortune of a wonderful guide, Mr. Deans. He leads groups of sea kayakers, and for this trip the entire group was just him and us! Our own personal guide! Mr. Deans' family lives on an island further out, past Ko Hong. Thai culture is strong on supporting your family, so he sends his money back to his parents, and helps support the education of his younger sister. His employer gives him a free room, and $5 and meals on days that he works. Mr. Deans is a great guy --any of you who go to Thailand should get him! He is Muslim, and we had a number of interesting conversations.
Next, we headed off to the Khoa Sok National Park, which has one of the best-preserved rainforests in Southeast Asia. The forest is a transition forest, between the tropical rainforests and the monsoon (seasonal) rainforests. Tropical forests are evergreen, while the monsoon forests are deciduous. Khoa Sok includes some of each. Rod was surprised that the tropical forest is not particularly dense --there is considerably less total biomass that the forests in the northwestern US. Instead it is very diverse. In the northwestern US, a forest usually has just a 2-3 varieties of trees in a given spot. In Khoa Sok, there are 30-40 varieties interspersed together. We usually get plant id books when we hike, but they are not very useful here --there are just too many. Instead, you are satisfied being able to simply classify them as "another type of Palm", or "another bamboo".
There are many stories to the forest. The upper canopy provides the shade for many layers underneath. Overall, the forest is not tall --the whole thing is shorter than the northwestern forest. However, it is much richer. In fact many of the animals and even plants never come down to the forest floor. The soil itself is very poor. In the northwestern US forest, 80-90% of all moisture and nutrition comes from the soil, but in the tropical forest only 10-20% does --most is captured up in the canopy. There is even one type of vine that grows around a tree, slowly (20-30 years) enveloping it. Eventually, the tree dies and the vine remains as a hollow cylinder climbing up into the canopy. The vine also tangles itself into many other adjacent trees, so that it does not fall with the tree. It continually hooks rides with fast growing, new trees and stays in the canopy.
It is difficult to see wildlife in the rainforest. We could hear birds no more than 3 meters (10 feet) above us, but couldn't find them, even with binoculars. But the sounds were astonishing. Of special note were the gibbons’ calls. In the mornings, the female gibbons climb to the top of the canopy and issue their calls for about two hours, to stake their territory. We could hear quite a symphony as the gibbons called back and forth to each other on the hill just across the creek. With the birds, gibbons and cicadas, the rainforest is loud! The various species of cicada have even divided up the day to take turns with their noisemaking --some locals can tell the time of day by which type of cicada is making noise! There is also another noise that takes some getting used to --stuff crashing down! At first we thought the sounds were some large animal, but it turns out that there is a fairly constant barrage of junk falling from the sky!
We had a great hike along the stream to a waterfall and swam in the cool pool. A nice day!
