Howie-n-Karen: Asia

[It is wonderful reading your comments, good friends. Thank you.]
On our way to the largest park in Thailand, we stopped in Ban Pak Thale to find the spoon-billed sandpiper. Once again we were trudging on mud dikes between salt pond shallows. Many shorebirds were feeding in the area so it was a matter of looking at everything that might be THE sandpiper. Dow, Sam’s driver, was a big help in getting us to the right area and he was spared the hot sun and went off in search of lunch. After spotting the bird we walked around some more and saw a couple more of the sbsps and I tried taking photos of them, to no avail, alas. By the time we to to KKNP, it was late afternoon.

Headquarters Campground 1/28

The deal is to buy your entrance fee and camping permits a day ahead. We weren’t sure where we wanted to be, so we paid for 2 nights at Ban Krang and one at the top, Panoen Thung. They also offer you a 1400 Baht/day pick-up to take you up to the campgrounds, which we declined. Sam had sussed it out and said we could probably share a ride up there with other campers, so we decided to try that.

Our first experience camping in Thailand was an eye-opener. Especially for me, as I forgot my earplugs. We’re used to camping in designated spots and all the usual regulations that campgrounds have, so when we got there and saw tents around the lake (there is a dam/reservoir near the headquarters), we picked a spot along the lake, not too close to the next guy. Then we went off in search of some food; we took a walk back toward the resorts, about half a mile towards the dam. When we returned the space we put between us and the other tents were taken up by more tents. It turned out that tents kept springing up all night and by morning, it looked like a different campground. The worst of it was being woken up at 4:30 by the sound of tents being taken down!

Ban Krang Campground (km 15) 1/29-30

We figured light would come at 6:30 so we packed up and took out 4 of the 6 hard boiled eggs we brought [and mistakenly put into the bottom of my daypack cracking all but one] and had them for breakfast. We walked out to the road up to the park and before I could get my egg completely bald, a car drove up and we stuck out our thumbs. I think the couple stopped because they were surprised to see farang hitchhiking. They really did not understand our English and it did not help that Howie had popped the egg into his mouth whole, just before the car stopped.

The nice couple had an air-conditioned Toyota Fortuner (4wd) and they took us all the way to the top, not realizing that we were headed only half-way up. Although we saw that we were going past our campground, we hesitated to speak up because we thought, what the heck, we’d just start our camping at the top; who knew if/when we’ll get another ride up there. But the guards, when we got there, said we could not stay. So our generous hosts took us to see the Sea of Fog and right back down the road 15 km.

We got back to km 15 by around 10:30 and the place looked deserted. We had the whole campground to choose from. Knowing from experience that our boundaries cannot really be marked because all we had was our little Moss backpacking tent, we chose a spot on the edge, by the stream. A group of 3 tents were being erected nearby, but they were nice enough not to crowd us. We went off in search of birds along the road and found several before we decided we were getting hungry and headed back to camp. It was mid-afternoon and we were just not prepared to find the place transformed!

There were about 150 tents in the campground, including a circle of 4 between us and the other early birds beside us! It was Sunday, the 29^th and Chinese New Year weekend (Happy Birthday Tracy & Kara). By the next morning there were over 200 tents. The crazy thing was, by Sunday afternoon, it was back down to 25. The college kids next door pulled up stakes before first light and talked all night. But the rest of the campground was so noisy, it didn’t matter. I must have slept because I kept waking up to folks having loud conversations. Better to remember dreams by. It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We made friends with the folks on the other side who actually stayed 2 nights and gave us water and other supplies that allowed us to camp for 6 nights instead of the 3 we had planned our store of supplies for.

The road up from Ban Krang to Panoen Thung is one-way and changes at different times. From 5 am to 8 am you can only go up. Down is from 9 – 10. Up again from 11 – noon and so on. Everything stops at 6. Once you are on the road and stopping for any reason (only birders stopped for any length of time), you are free to go or come, at your peril. Some stretches of that road are very narrow and steep, running along the ridge of several peaks. This is where we did most of our birding.

The forest/jungle on either side of the road looked rather impenetrable except where elephants crashed through the thickets. Near km 15 there were lots of elephant sign, but we did not see a pachyderm. We did see large squirrels, several monkey species and the odd mammal or two. What we are sad to have missed is the leopard that was seen on the road near km 27 where we were with a group of young Thai birders. A car came by and the couple was so excited they had to show us the digital photo they just shot of the cat lying in the shade by the road. The next shot was of it ambling away. And to think, it was not more that a km and a half away!

Panoen Thung Campground (km 30) 1/31-2/2

We had a late start getting ourselves out to hitch a ride up because we decided to try birding another side road that leads to the boyscout camp, near our campground. It was still dark when we got there and when it turned to day, we started heading out and ran into 2 birders, who asked if we saw the woodpecker. What woodpecker? We walked back with them and joined another 3 birders all staked out by the dead tree with a little head sticking out. The heart-spotted showed up to feed the immature nestling and everyone in the group started filming, taping or snapping photos. That’s were we met Tic and her husband, who gave Howie a souvenir DVD of bird tapings he made (when we ran into them 2 days later, up at km 30).

The ratchet-tailed treepie is what birders come to see; Tic said to go to km 27 for it. So, for the 3 days we camped at Panoen Thung, we walked down to about km 25 and back up and eventually saw the treepie. We also ran into a group of Field Guides birders who were rather surprised to see 2 farang birders on their own.

Other than all the new birds we sussed out, the highlight was meeting the group of young chefs from the 4 Seasons in Bangkok, who were birders and took us under their wing by giving us rides to the birding spots and feeing us 4-star meals.

Got back to Bangkok on Thursday then off for a quick trip with Sam and friends to his golf resort (Royal Hills Resort) in a little mountain valley just 2 hours north of the city, where we were pampered royally. The pool was perfect during the heat of the day. Everyone else golfed whilst Howie wandered around birding and I read and hiked and swam. Got back late Saturday night, packed and left before first light for the airport. I write this at the Conservation International office in Phnom Penh, where wireless is unsecured. By the way, Howie (and I) identified over a hundred species, over half of which he’d never seen before.

Next edition won’t have as many bird photos (no scope on the backpack trip). I’ll close with food shot. The food in Thailand is dee tee sut (the best)!

Tags: birds, camping, Thailand, Travel, Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2006 at 2:25 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.