Zelma’s Trip

I woke up early, very early infact like sunrise type early and took a local boat out across the "little ocean".  The place was absolutely beautiful and in areas there were lilies as far as the eye could see.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen before, and may not again but was a truly amazing experience.  There were white lilies with huge lotus flowers and areas with so many pink lilies that they spanned out in the distance like some carpet from the 70s.  It would have been a twitcher’s paradise as there were beautiful birds everywhere.  I would love to tell you what they all were but unfortunately I am not an expert on Thai birds (make up your own jokes here) but there were some cormorants, herons, egrets and these cool birds with an amazing azure plumage.

Later I went into Patthalung town, ate lunch and had a brief look around.  My plan of going somewhere non-touristy had worked, perhaps to a greater extent than I had hoped as there were no Westerners anywhere.  I decided to get a local train back to the guesthouse which was an experience in itself.  It was great actually with women walking down the train carrying various vegetables and seeds, some of which I recognised as I had ingested them the previous evening.  I took some photos, a couple of which inadvertently had guards in the background which they were apparently not best impressed about as they gave me some seriously dodgy looks when they went passed.  The journey was brilliant and cost me the princely sum of 3 Baht.  That’s around ten pence.

When I got back to the estuary I went and sat out on a wooden construction of pathways where there were eating areas and the King’s house (one of many in the country) jutting out over the water.  I ate the fruit I had bought in town and had a bit of a moment gazing over the expanse of water.

The following morning I got up and went into the mountains.  I was the centre of attention again and was invited to join some locals at their house.  We sat outside drinking Sang Som and then they asked if I wanted to go fishing.  I was intrigued so agreed and headed through the jungle with the fishermen.  I must say I hadn’t really planned for this when I left in the morning and wasn’t strictly suitably attired for rambling through virgin jungle and leaping through rivers.  I had huge wedges on for a start which led to me looking like a huge wuss as they leapt from rock to rock and I stood there looking confused as to how to traverse some stream without breaking my ankle.  It reminded me of trekking in Cuc Phoung National Park actually and chuckling to myself that I was probably the only person to do so in a butterfly thong and a pair of baby pink trousers.  Anyway, so I’m making a royal idiot of myself by doddering about like some English fool until one of the local offers me his shoes.  This helped greatly but I still had to totter about like a doofus to avoid dropping my camera in the various sections of river.  I was also quite concerned about the fisherman’s feet as there were millipedes and funny caterpillars a-plenty.  I also have funky pictures of a huuuuge black scorpion.  Needless to say he was fine.

I was so glad that I agreed to descend into the jungle with a random group of men I had never met before.  On one level this may not sound like my finest moment, but if I hadn’t have gone I would have truly missed out.  To be honest I had gauged the situation and had decided it wasn’t too risky.  Watching them fishing was amazing.  They would wade into the river and throw a large net out.  One of them would then wade about in certain areas to get all the fish to swim into the net.  They then carefully gathered the net up before lifting it out of the water and picking all of the fish out.  They seemed to want me to help with this part so I obliged.  I had momentary moral issues as I pulled the fish out and threw them into the bag for them to suffocate to death.  Then I thought of rescuing them all and tipping them all back into the water.  Fortunately my brain does still operate and I realised that this would probably be about the most weird and offensive thing for the fisherman and I also thought that, seeing as I eat fish, I really should be able to catch them.  Actually I am a massive advocate of this whole situation.  There was a programme before I left on television called, "catch it, cook it eat it" or something, which showed the process for meat from animals running round the fields, to the slaughterhouse, to landing on your dinner plate.  I am a firm believer that anyone who eats meat really should be aware of the process.  Okay, enough of the rant now.  So we caught these fish which were like little whitebait type fish and when we had enough (I’m not quite sure what enough was but the fishermen decided) we went back to the house and they cooked them.  They were fried up with oil, salt and fish sauce and were absolutely delicious, even with the thought of their little puffing mouths running through my head as I munched them up whole!

When we went fishing we were accompanied by a small black and white dog.  She leapt about and was generally very sweet, although one of the fishermen pushed her in when she leapt into one of the fishing nets.  When I asked her name I was informed that she was called, "Bender" and seriously struggled to hold back the laughs.  I spent the whole afternoon calling Bender and trying desperately to control myself.  Later I asked what the name Bender meant and a confused villager said, "Black and white bear in China".  I then realised that, rather than walking round shouting Bender for several hours, I actually should have been saying Panda.

In the evening one of the female villagers asked if I wanted to stay in their house for the night.  To be honest I didn’t hesitate about this for too long at this point.  I knew that there were only women and children staying there and had picked up such a positive feeling about everyone in the village that I accepted.  I was given a room and again fed way too much food.

The following morning I woke up at the villager’s farm and went outside to look at the dairy cows and chickens.  I helped feed the cows and also swept up the yard.  I thought that I needed to make myself useful and show that I wasn’t some dapsy English girl after the wedges experience previously, but all the onlookers seemed to find me doing such things utterly hilarious.

It was so wonderful to be included by the villagers.  One person who I particularly liked was a woman who they told me was "grandmother".  She was particularly intrigued by me and liked to hold my arm for some reason.  She also made this crazy stuff with powders, gum and a pestle and mortar.  She had no teeth and would put this strange brown mixture in her mouth and then do a gummy smile.  She evidently walked everywhere and had lots of cats.  See some things span the cultures i.e. the old lady with her cats, not the pensioners walking everywhere.  When she arrived at one of the houses in the mountains she had clearly walked some distance and was quite hot.  She pottered slowly around the corner and I could just see her as she picked up a bucket of water and emptied its contents over her head.  The sight of the old lady with no teeth and drenched from head to toe in water really tickled me but it also seemed like a very sensible way to cool down and I wished that I could do the same.

Having said my Goodbyes to the villagers and thanking them for their hospitality as best I could with the language gaps, I left to get a bus North.