The Land ofThe Thais

Fingers coiled around the cold wet bar,

the sound of the adventurous growl of the

engine faded into a warm hum. Trying to

balance on my tiptoes while the boat cradled

from side to side, I caught a glimpse of unusual

pink blobs in the water. Massive rubbery

creatures bobbed up and down on the surface.

Slimy strands of the gooey substance moved

along with the rhythmic movement of its head

mysteriously swirling around. “Jelly fish!”

Hours felt like minutes and minutes felt

like seconds I soon I fell back into my seat

enjoying the sun’s rays tickling my cheeks

while the wind played with my hair. Gorgeous

view; it looked just a priceless painting, the

white fluffy clouds hovering over the clear blue

water, and the islands were dressed with green

tropical trees. How come I haven’t noticed this

before? Nature is so beautiful…

Speeding to what seems to be no where,

all there was to be seen were the faint outline of

the tree tops blanketing the vast hills. “Fifteen

more minutes.” The guide screamed his voice

competing with the

roar of the engine.

Lifting my juicy

couture watch to my

face, I sighed in relief;

two cold hours had

dragged by. My eyes

desperately scanned

the valley expecting

bungalows. Three

more minutes

scratched by and tiny

lamps dotted the side of an island. A few more

minutes later the actual houses were visible and

they really were raft houses with large hills

looming over them about 50 meters away.

Exhausted eyes dropped shut, listening

to the swoosh of the water below, and the

leaves of the trees rub against each other. I

remembered how worried I was when our

instructor, Mr. Hanley mentioned: “this is

probably the furthest away you’ve been from the

city, you did notice the 2 hour long boat ride,

right?” but I snuggled deeper into my blankets and had no worries as nature seemed to

cradle me in its arms. Shows and movie

make nature seem so dangerous and

scary. Why? The thought engraved it self

in my mind as sleep silently took over.

“Today we are going to reduce

your carbon foot print,” Mr. Hanley

motioned to the sticks pocking out of the

mud filled pit. “There are seven hundred

sticks here and working together we got

to plant a mangrove tree by each stick.”

Disgust was plastered to most people’s

faces but soon mud happily washed that emotion off and left

them grinning from ear to ear. Everyone started chasing

people and sumo wrestling those who weren’t muddy yet to

the ground, causing their clothes and their skin to look like

they were dipped in chocolate. Time flew by as in between

planting the mangroves we got into mud fights and hilarious

mud wrestles.

I cannot recall a day where I wasn’t greeted with a

kind hearted “sa-wat-dee-kha”, for ladies or a “sa-wat-dee-

khrap”, for men (r is silent) but that’s only the beginning of

the hospitality the Thai people share. I would excitedly track

around Thailand knowing that a smile would be waiting.

“Sister!” The warm voice of my guide, O whirled

around in the refreshing morning breeze.

“Sawatdeekha, O.” I replied.

“Look there!”

I followed his eyes and looked at the rainforest

stretch as the sun gently woke it up. A black object jumped

from one branch to another. The mission was to scan the

tree to find the same bird, but instead of finding the same

one we found more. The curios silence was lifted as a

squawk echoed.

“You hear that?” O asked. “That’s the hornbill

calling out for love.”

Thailand truly does amaze for I was just a city girl

who was only able to view true nature threw the eyes of

technology, but to smell, feel and taste nature is a whole

different story. The city is now only my second favorite

place to be. It can never replace the beauty the world has

already given us.

Boat taken to go to raft houses

(yellow) Map of Thailand (red) Krabi, a City in Thailand

Scenery of Lake in Khao Sok National Park