Khao Sok, Rachabrapah Dam and Communism

Khao Sok, Rachabrapah Dam and Communism

In 1984 approximately 850 villagers were flooded out of their villages by the completion of Rachabrapah Dam and the beginning of Cheow Lan Reservoir. 20 to 90 meters under the surface of the lake temples, Buddhas, schools, orchards, houses still stand along what was once the banks the Pasaeng River. Over 300 families were displaced in the process of filling the reservoir. The river had many native species of fish that now live in a lake or have moved up streams. Farmable deep-water fish have been added to this massive lake that can reach 180 kilos per fish, or more. Dam construction started in 1982 under the guise of a watershed and producing electricity. At the same time large logging companies were lining up for contracts to cut the tropical hardwoods below the reservoirs’ expected elevation level and a road was established in some areas for log extraction. The road is barley visible as a cut in the side of a slope and a bamboo maze has retaken if rightful place in the forest. Many of the families argued for the right to fish the lake and were granted. Other families built floating bungalow systems and began to attract tourists to the lake borders to see the plethora of animal and plant life still surviving relatively untouched by man. Tigers are still seen periodically as well as other large mammals, birds, insects, and unique topography.

The construction of the dam seems to have a secondary agenda as well because the area flooded was also home of the communists hiding for the previous 8 years and fighting from the jungle. Most of the communists were students with 30% being female and mostly self-sufficient growing rice, raising chickens and pigs, various fruits and caught fish in the streams. Both sides struggled with Malaria and infection but there was a primitive medical facility with beds and medicine eventually found by the Thai army. The Thai Army had a seriously difficult time finding the communist camps by helicopter and later on foot due to the heavy foliage and jungle canopy over such a vast area. If the army were spotted the communists would either hide or escape through cave systems and reset elsewhere. The one thing both sides agreed on was the protection of the wildlife. For the communists it was more for security, a gun shot could give away their position followed by a helicopter attack and then foot soldiers so it was forbidden for them to hunt wild game except out of self defense and then the meat would be shared and on alert.

I entered a few of these communist caves and walked through some of their croplands that have now mostly returned to the jungle but they are still recognizable due to tree barren tracks.

I’ve seen many of the bullet holes in the limestone at some of the cave entrances along with some massive spiders and hundreds of bats on the ceiling that the communists had to live with. The floor of the caves is feet thick in bat guano, which turns out to be a very good source of nitrogen for fertilizer. The stench of ammonia can be stifling.

If you come to Thailand and miss Khao Sok, you haven’t seen Thailand.

When the reservoir began to fill the communists had to retreat and in many cases slowly return to their family homes and dissolve their cause or go underground.

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Taxis, Boats, and Buses

Taxis, Boats, and Buses

When it came time to leave Koh Tao I set myself up with the same travel agent I had used the previous two times. She smiled when I entered her office; Wandee Guesthouse and Travel. (ph#. 084-4518747). She had just returned from South Korea on a short tour. We talked about South Korea for about a half hour before settling on the fact that South Koreans are wonderful people with a rich culture.

I asked to go to Khao Sok National Park for a forth visit. The Park is nestled in the monolith limestone mountains on the Thai peninsula. These mountains continue on down and loosely join with the Malaysian peninsula mountains harboring such places as Cameron Highlands, a tea plantation area and on down to the Taman Negara National Park, a 150 million year old region in Malaysia that was not frozen over during the last ice age and so the animals in it are unique and a breed apart. I’ll get to that later.

I picked up a truck taxi in front of the travel agency just down the street from Asia Divers Resort. A group of us hopped in the back of the truck and headed for the pier where we boarded different ferries bound for various ports, some towards Bangkok, others for Krabi, and a small group of us for Surat Thani. Surat Thani is a medium size town on the east coast of the Thai peninsula and the gateway to cross over the mountains to Khao Sok and further on to the Andaman Sea and the town of Takupa on highway 401.

It’s the beginning of the rainy season but being out on the islands the rainy season seems like it happens somewhere else. On Koh Tao we had a few evening showers and a lot of lightening and thunder the joins with the sunset activity.

The high speed catamaran sped me on to Surat Thani where a bus waited on the pier for those going into town or to another bus station. Instantly I was on the next leg of my journey. The bus left after all travellers were aboard. Due to low season and political issues in Bangkok half the seats were empty. A few hours flew by when the bus pulled over somewhat randomly and the drivers’ assistant gave me the nod to get off. He pointed across the street to a bus stop and restaurant and told me to talk to the man in the restaurant and wait for another bus. I had a quick bite to eat and a tuk tuk pulled up and waived me to him. I got in back and he drove me to a different bus station where I boarded another bus headed for Khao Sok andTakupa.

I arrived around 6 pm at the turn off for Khao Sok as the sun hid behind a jungle green limestone monolith ridge but the sun wasn’t down. The turn off was the same but more building have been erected over the last few years as they do in Thailand. My first visit to Khao Sok was 1996 and back then there was just a bamboo shelter bus stop and trucks would come from the park entrance where there was a string of guesthouses between the river and road the park entrance. The sheltered bus stop was still there but so were a lot of small shops scratching out a living off the coming and going of tourists.

A kindly gentleman named Tawee approached me with an offer for a bungalow for 300 baht but not on the park road, ‘more in the jungle’. He offered free rides to the park or into the village whenever I wanted to go use internet or take a walk into the park or for a swim in one of the many waterfall pools along the trails.

Green Mountain View Guesthouse, Bungalows and Camping. (Ph # 0066-872632481). Call him and he’ll come get you. Green Mountain View Bungalows is on the east side of a green mountain ridge buried between in a rubber tree plantation and the jungle. The bungalows are spacious and vary from 300 baht to 500 baht depending on the number of beds but all bungalows come with an outside walled bathroom open to the sky and really great when it raining. Need I remind you that its warm rain?

There is a full restaurant run by Tawee’s wife and the rest of the family members that are old enough are guides, drivers, whatever you need can be arranged for a reasonable price. There is English is good. I sat with a Swedish woman who had been staying for three weeks. There was a particular glow about her and green Mountain View as an alternative to guesthouse row at the entrance of the park which is also more expensive.

I took a day off and just enjoyed the heat of the day and a light rain in the evening. I decided I would go to ‘Limestone’ Lake, otherwise known as Cheow Lan Reservoir, the next day for an overnight in the jungle and a floating bungalow but first I have to explain some of the history of the Lake.

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Asia Divers Resort, Koh Tao, Thailand

Asia Divers Resort

I wanted to get my diving certificate for Open Water and I had already met the divers at Asia Divers Resort because I stayed here twice before but on each occasion I had a sinus ailment or worse so I wasn’t able to dive. In Bangkok where all hell is breaking loose I decided to come down to Koh Tao. Third time is the charm. Asia Divers Resort Saiee Beach, Koh Tao. 18/1 moo 1 Koh Tao, Suratthani. Tel: 007-456054-5. www.asiaresortkohtao.com. www.aisia-divers.com. There are approximately 80 rooms varying in price from 700 – 2,000 baht. Fan/Aircon/refrigerator, and of course a pool and a restaurant. For further info check their website. And the is a bantering bar/restaurant across the street that is unique and sorely missed, Banyan. Many local divers and businessmen relax and banter with smiles.

I showed up and said hello to those I know and signed up for the (OW) Open Water diving course. The first night there is 3 hours of DVD video taking students through the basics. There is a book explaining in duplicate the basics and a few questionnaires/quizzes to take and keep you thinking. Second day was in the pool getting comfortable with the gear and breathing underwater. Now that’s a new one because it just doesn’t feel natural for a swimmer/snorkeler such as myself but it is easily overcome with a bit of time and practice.

The next day we took a few tests and went out on the ocean for our first true dive. My instructor was a woman named Kate who has been diving for I think 8 years. She is a wonderful woman with a way about her that made the students very comfortable in the water.

There were only two of us in the class and that makes it very easy for the instructors and us. Our first dive was at a site called Aow Leuk and only went down about 8 meters/ 24 feet but it was a beautifully clear water day and that was worth doing the course in the first place. Lots of people with strong imaginations for some reason keep them from diving, mostly thinking sharks are going to get them. I heard it numerous times from people that come to Koh Tao for a more chilled island experience versus say Koh Phangang or Samui.

My next three dives went rather rapidly and I knew I wasn’t finished and I went straight into Advanced Open Water. I did 5 more dives in 24 hours. I just wanted to achieve a certain confidence level that the first four dives didn’t give me. The deep dive of 30 meters and a navigation course are the only 2 PADI require you to take and you get to 3 of your choice. I chose, Buoyancy, Underwater Photography, and a Night dive. I’m not afraid; I embraced it and had a surreal experience.

Now it’s sunset and time to go west through Khao Sok and on to the Andaman Sea for hopefully more diving.

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Bangkok Protests To Bus Bandits

Bangkok Protests To Bus Bandits

I boarded a bus with a stack of foreigners. We all got to the bus stop various ways and different tour companies independently booking a bus, Bangkok to Chumphon and a boat from Chumphon to Koh Tao. The bus leaves at 7 pm from Bangkok. Of course you always keep your personal stuff on you at all times, that’s a given. Usually people carry their identification, passport, money, etc. in a money belt or on a strap around the neck and under the shirt. Sometimes personal belongings are in a knapsack or shoulder bag that stays with you everywhere a traveler goes. When the bus arrived we queued to drop off big bags at the luggage hold and then board the bus, pass the bathroom, climb the steep stairs where a man points to where you should sit grouping us together. The bus carries on from Chumphon to Suri Thani to drop the other foreigners off for Koh Samui and full moon parties. On our bus ride all the people going to Koh Tao were grouped together near the top of the stairway. We will be the first ones of the bus. The bus ride takes 9 hours to Chumphon. We are entertained by a couple of low level Hollywood movies or our own music on potable devices or both. After 4.5 hours the bus pulled in for a halfway break at a restaurant/market complex where everyone got off to stretch their legs, have a cigarette; grab a beer in the market or chips and a soda etc. Everybody has their personals on them. They have their money, passport, identification, credit cards and nothing is out of place.

After half an hour or so everybody gets back on the bus and takes their seat. I notice that the blinds are drawn. The bus backs out and heads down the road toward Chumphon and the lights go out. It’s around midnight and most of the passengers recline their chairs and go to sleep, I stay awake. I don’t sleep on buses. I’ve got my head phones on and my heels are firmly planted on my nap sack and my wallet in my pocket. The stairwell is behind me separated by a decorative square of sheet metal securing the stairwell and a railing. People periodically get up and use the toilet down stairs or just stand up. The stairs take a 90-degree turn about half way down ending on a platform with four doors and a curtain. As you come down stairs the exit is to your left and the bathroom to your right. There is a small sitting compartment forward of the stairs and a curtain between the stairs and the bathroom. It’s a curious place for a curtain closet.

We arrive in Tompon around 3:30 am where we switch buses for the coast. Or original bus heads down the highway towards Sura Thani. We get on the second bus as our original bus rumbles off down the road. A woman checks her stuff for some instinctive reason. She looks to her boyfriend and exclaims, “It’s gone! My money is all gone. 20,000 baht!” The others begin looking through their personals and grown out of frustration and violation for having something taken from them. I check mine and the guy sitting next to me checks his, all well there. I jump up and speak to one of the bus company reps that speak a little English and he basically doesn’t want to get involved and says talk to the Tourist Police on Koh Tao when we get there.

We sat on the two benches with our gear between our feet and talk it out. ‘Where was your bag? When was it out of sight?’ ‘Did you sleep?’ Most people said their bags were under their chair. We ran through the possible options. We double checked our belongings and found that our bags in the luggage compartment had been rifled through as well. In total 7 people had lost money. The bandits left credit cards and passports in the wallets and purses only taking untraceable cash and coin. Chargers are a hot item I’ve been told.

With the chairs up so high we figured somebody little might be able to crawl in the compartment below the chairs but stopped that train of thought due to the footrest bars limiting mobility. Trap doors below bags under chairs are more plausible. The blinds being drawn, a dark stairwell where someone could stealthily see the bags within reach and pull them to a place where the contents could be examined, lifted, and replaced in their original positions while the passengers mostly slept with the exception of myself and one of two Irish woman reading a book, she too was one of the victims. I think she lost U.S. dollars and Baht. We came to the conclusion that the walls and compartments all had false walls and someone moved through the darkness.

When the tourist police were notified they waived the victims off. When we checked on Trip Advisor there were numerous stories of this exact scenario. The tourist police didn’t want to make the report because it looks bad, they lose face and that is just not going to happen.

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Travelers Beware travelers be where.

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