Ranong

I awoke early this morning and met Kevin and Amrit for a quick breakfast before we hit the road for Ranong, a 30 minute drive north. I was restless and fidgety from coffee and my poorly concealed excitement to see the villages and field site. We made a quick stop at the field office to meet and pick up several staff, including Chris, and ex-peace corps volunteer and boat captain who now works full time in the village. Chris enlivened the trip with a story about the “Rainbow Convention” – a gathering of 200 or so hippies that took place on the beach in Ranong last week. Unable to control his curiosity, Chris had tried to introduce himself by kayking up to the group with a bottle of whiskey and a chicken. The chicken was apparently a poor choice, as it greatly offended a woman who stormed away into the forest, where she remained for the rest of the evening. A japanese hippie “borrowed” the kayak for 3 hours instead of the requested one hour, which worried Chris (Who would expect a hippie to wear a watch anyway?) as he tried to decipher the convoluted linguistics of hippiespeak. Chris's recount went something like this:

“They were having a community meeting about food or something and I couldn't figure out what the f#$% they were talking about. They were all ' The magic hat is plentiful...' I'm sitting there like 'What the f@% is a magic hat?!' (Apparently the "magic hat" replaces ATMs in hippieland).

After trying to convince the well intentioned hippies that collecting firewood for several hundred people in the rainforest was not actually sustainable since it altered and depleted the local habitat, he left exasperated. Still it made for a good story.

The Ranong Water Quality field office is a fairly sophisticated sampling lab and research station.

We met with the staff and gathered feedback to prepare for this week’s training workshop. Afterward we stopped at a roadside restaurant for a typical family style Thai lunch. Everyone watched in eager anticipation of a spontaneous projectile reaction as I tasted a lumpy brown fish paste concoction. I am proud to report that I actually kind of liked the stuff even if my reaction was disappointing to everyone present. After lunch we drove to a dock on Klong Na Kha inlet,the subject of my research here.

We piled into a long, thin boat that curved gracefully upwards at the bow (I’m not sure what to call this style of boat). It was wonderful to tour the inlet and take in the surrounding mountains, lush and green with pristine rain forest. According to Kevin the number of mussel rafts and fish cages has tripled since his last field visit at the start of the project 2 years ago.

I tried to absorb as much information as possible and take advantage of this motorized opportunity. I’ve been told that I will be doing much of my sampling and ground truthing by kayak. We had a chance to speak with a few of the fishermen working out on their rafts. They were very friendly and happy to talk with us.

Kevin and Amrit had to return to the field office for a meeting, so Chris dropped them off and gave me a tour of the five villages. After leaving New England several years ago to live in this area, Chris definitely knows the ropes. With his wry sense of humor and affable demeanor, he reminds me a little of the main character from the movie “Office Space”. He isn't afraid to tell it like it is. As we pulled into one alleyway, he muttered “That's the dipshit who stole my kayak paddle..” before hopping out of the car to politely interrogate the guy in what I can only assume was flawless Thai. A National Park stretches 80 km along the beach – only a kilometer or so from my village. This is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen – pure white sand and clear water with bizarre limestone spires extending skyward along the horizon. The villages are tiny and as in many tropical areas the heat seems to slow down the pace of life. My village is nicknamed “market village” for it’s active market area. My accommodations aren’t entirely definite yet, but I had a chance to see one option – a small green house next to the market and only a 5 minute walk to the office. We are going to drive into a larger town tomorrow to buy a bike so I can get around more freely once I've settled in. As much as I've enjoyed the domestic travel since my arrival, it will be nice to establish a home base.