Our first weekend in Pa Do Tha - Thi Lor Su and machetes!

Days 68-69, Saturday & Sunday, 27th & 28th May 2006.

Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary & Pa Do Tha

I thought I'd write about what I did at the weekends whilst on the teaching project separately from the general reflections to stop things getting too muddled.

Shortly after we'd got to Pa Do Tha, Supat asked if we wanted to go to Thi Lor Su waterfall at the weekend. As it we didn't have anything else to do, and it included James' favourite transport, boat, we thought we'd do it. Thi Lor Su is the 6th biggest waterfall in the world, and you can see some of the larking about in the photos below.

On Saturday morning we took a short journey to the edge of the Umphang river to embark in fetching red rubber dinghy. We set off down the gently meandering Umphang river, which was chocolate brown from the heavy rainfall run-off on the fields of the valley. As we travelled James and I lapped up an ice cold lager at 9.30 in the morning, whilst the others did the hard work; I wasn't complaining. The weather was balmy and I almost dropped off to sleep before we reached the first points of interest, Thi Lor Jo and Sai Rung (Rainbow) waterfalls. There were some beautiful geographical phenomenon along the way. I would have appreciated having Dad around to remind of all the stuff I've forgotten (or never learnt) from geography A-level. As the river undercut hanging outcrops of rock and the spray mercifully moistened the air for us, we both sported big grins on our faces. We reached some hot springs, so I got in the water with nothing on but my pants on and covered myself in sulphurous mud. I love stuff like that. James looked at me in suspicion and sat down with the guides on the river bank.

After some confusion at lunch and a portion of hastily prepared veggie super noodles, we walked through the Thai jungle proper to Thi Lor Su. A concrete walkway was under construction through the thick vegetation, and the 'navvies' building it looked ill prepared for such a job; lugging huge slabs of concrete about with nothing on their feet and too old or young for manual labour. There were some cool things to look at before we even got to the waterfall, like the creeper vines and thick canopy above us. It was a jaw-dropper when we became aware of the roar of the water and the jungle cleare. I actually got quite excited. I knew I'd leg-it to the water at the first opportunity and stick my bonce right under the cascading water. I clambered over the slimy algae covered rocks and got a right cheap thrill by enjoying one of nature's showers. Needless to say we had to take photos. We are the worst sort of tourists.

On the Sunday we headed the other way on the Pa Do Tha dirt track, away from Umphang and towards to next village of Umphang Kee. We'd been told that we could help collect some bamboo to repair the home stay house. Much to our surprise, the guides handed James and I a machete each, and just let us get on with it. I wouldn't have trusted me with a machete. An act of divine intervention meant that we escaped without severed digits or accidental maiming of those around us. Hell, we even managed to cut down a fair bit of bamboo! I must admit I didn't really fee comfortable in my new vocation as a logger, but bamboo grows extremely quickly and this was far more sustainable a material than the teak forests nearby. Wielding the machete was not that easy on a very steep incline, and the humidity meant that I was dripping in sweat about 5 minutes after starting. Even the larger canes I cut down, looked pretty measily once they fell, but I got the idea in the end. After a bit of excertion, me and James managed about 6 or 7 large canes between us and took a breather. The others briefly joined us and then went off to try a different part off the forest; James and I decided to quit while we were ahead, and went off with Supat across the maize fields to help some Karen, out working from Umphang Kee.

After gingerly edging our way across a waist-deep river, we found our way into the stunning rolling fields, which had just been burnt for maize sowing. The Karen seemed not to mind us helping out, and pleased to have Laurel and Hardy stumble into their Sunday afternoon by accident. We grabbed some corn from the sack and cracked on. The individual kernels of corn were red with an applied insecticide, but I assume they are still less full of crap than the stuff I eat at home. The fields are sown by workers forming a long line across a section of a field, following someone with a hoe digging out small sods, into which you'd chuck 3 kernels after some plant food. It was not difficult work for a token half an hour (though we were still a bit cack-handed), but all day wouldn't have been as easy. No problem, we had the following weekend to figure that one out. I had a go at hoeing, which I was rubbish and soon the hillside was alive with hoots of laughter at the feeble efforts of the farang. I broke the hoe too. Eventually we retired with our cache of bamboo to Pa Do Tha and we were left musing on teaching the following day.

James has a even more preposterous photo of me in same clobber. Check his blog, I promise you it'll be up.

















Supat (left) paddles our dinghy down the Umphang river, whilst O, another of our support team looks on. Look at the colour of the water. 'Augustus! Save some for later!!'












'She'll carry on through it all...', it's Thi Lor Su waterfall.


















Get out!! I sully the pure waters of Thi Lor Su. It was pretty slippery here, and... I STUBBED MY TOE!