A Day in the Life

So it started like any other day. Waking up "Whaddya wanna do today?". OK not really...but just a very slight exaggeration. We were staying in Thaleh Ban National Park which is on the border of Thailand and Malaysia. Had read about fantastic scenery and amazing wildlife. The former was warranted and if you count bugs in the room the latter would also hold true. But unfortunately there wasn't really any hiking trails. Well there might have been but since there was no map we couldn't really venture too far into the jungle. So it was nice but not wonderful and we decided to see if we could bug out a night early. But of course we decided this mid afternoon...

The day had started with us renting a scooter from one of the girls that worked at the park. The waterfalls and caves they touted as attractions were a decent way from the main gate and bungalows. It wasn't an easy transaction and it seemed to create much conversation between the 6 girls working behind the desk. But finally with 2 helmets in hand we had the key.

Kirk started her up, put her into first, and stall. D'oh. Try again. Kick the lever thingy, rev the gas, knock it into first, and 'what the heck?'. Scooters are the main form of transport here so all this starting and stalling activity was creating much giggling among the 6 girls. A guy came over and explained about the clutch. Ahhhh...the clutch...of course. The other scooters we've rented have been at least semi-automatic. OK. Quick change of drivers as I (kathryn) have driven standard cars and how different can having the clutch on your left hand instead of your left foot possibly be? A bit of a lurch and a start and we were off. With many more giggles as women driving men in this part of the world is definitely not an everyday occurence.

Visited some average falls. Realizing we've seen Niagara and Foz Du Iguazu so a bit biased in our falls viewing. Was fun sitting on a rock with the water coming down upon us. Definitely can't do that at Niagara!

*Note: Mom you might want to skip this paragraph...really we're fine :)* Had a rather sudden meeting with the muffler as we ascended one very steep dirt path. Everything was going great as I'd figured out how to downshift by this point. Until we got kinda stuck in 2nd gear when we needed first. Much like grinding it out on a road bike it was too late to change as losing any momentum would not have been good. Applied brakes but with the steepness of the hill the bike slid away a bit - until it hit my calf and left a lovely "falang tattoo" to match kirks from a previous scooter ride! Funnily enough it's the exact same spot I always get the greasy crank mark from my road bike. We were at the cold waterfall within 10 minutes and the cold water definitely helped it cool down and not blister quite as much. Kirk managed to get away not too bad on this one...I think because he'd already been initiated.

So at this point - 2:30ish we decide to see if they'll let us check out early. We're off the beaten path so there's not really any public transport. Supposedly there's a Sawgnthaew (pick up truck with bench seats in the back) that goes to and from the market but we hadn't seen it and according to our guidebook it stopped at 1pm. We weren't too sure if the park told us there'd be a Sawngthaew...language issues...but we distinctly heard we could just flag down a car going that way so we decided to go for it.

Nothing like hanging on the side of the stinkin' hot highway in Southern Thailand not sure if you're going to find a ride...lol... Didn't have to wait long before a pick up truck pulled out of the park we had been staying in. Maintenance guys? Maybe, but unlikely with such a big fancy truck. Security? maybe, but the drunken state of the front passenger would indicate otherwise. Whoever they were it was reassuring they were coming from the park and had a truck. So we dumped our bags in the back and got inside (extended cab) for the ride. One guy spoke nominal english. Enough to say "we just stop to visit my friend". Figuring it was something dodgy we kept to ourselves and held back from joining them around the table. If it was dodgy it was pretty quick as nothing seemed out of sorts and we were on our way again shortly.

And then another stop. And our new friend says "man die" and poses as if in a coffin. OK. Interesting. There's a marque tent and lots of tables and chairs set up. Maybe he means we dine? Because why would our ride bring us to a funeral? Nope, he really does mean a man has died.

Suddenly we're sitting at a plastic garden table and plates of food are being put down. The local whisky 'samsung' is being liberally poured. And everyone is smiling as our friends explain to the curious onlookers that we're from Canada.

Rose, a woman who speaks unbelievably good english joins us and we have a good chat as we eat some of the food and avoid the whiskey. She is determined to show us her house at the end of the lane so we join her for more convo in her front room. Meeting her gave us some context to what was turning into a very interesting experience as we could ask lots of questions. (We had just wanted to get the 20km down the road when we started this adventure!). It was a buddhist death and required 5 days of eating, drinking, chanting before the body was cremated. Rose is Muslim and she showed us photos of her family's Muslimm ceremonies. Being so close to the Malaysian border there is both a large Buddhist and Muslim contingent.

At one point while sitting around with others Rose asked if we were Christians. Hmmm...answering the religion question in a heavy buddhist/muslim area and having it translated for the whole table. Didn't expect this today! We jumped in with our .02 on spirituality. I think it was understood. Maybe a little?

Seems our ride wasn't taking us any further into town. Many Ka Poon Ka/Krup (thank you's) later to the pick-up truck guys and our bags were propped up against the tent. A couple hours later Rose and her friend drove us the short distance in to town, even coming in to ensure we were properly set up in a hotel. This was after we declined house stays with both of them. Was great meeting them but convo was running dry and we really needed a shower. Would have loved to hear the chanting but it didn't happen until after we'd left. On our way out we paid our respects to the wife and another family member of the deceased. Hands clasped and a bow of the head is how people show respect here so we did that and thanked them. Thanking them seemed slightly odd (instead of a form of sorry) but as usual we just followed others lead.

This day is only one of many and yet it stands out for us - it's a bit more extreme than usual but so like most of our days - challenging, interesting, and completely unexpected.

p.s Quick thailand update below...

p.p.s current rummy score...kathryn - 5815 (yee haw!), kirk - 5555

k & k