Putterin' About

On our last Sunday before ending our time teaching, we decided to do a little birding (surprise!).

We arose with the sun and set of to a famous cave which is a nice little haven. We had tried birding here before, but our timing was off and we were smoked out. This time, we hoped not to be rained out as we went ahead with our plans with clouds looming overhead.

Our destination was within the boundaries of one of Thailand's many national parks and is a little retreat with a very small cave (as one tourist asked us..."where's the cave, I didn't see it?"), nicely manicured lawns and a short nature walk. The cave itself and the nearby stream is inhabited by many large fish who are feed by weekend visitors and guarded by an interesting Buddhist statue clothed in a leopard skin robe. Strolling around with our binoculars at first we didn't find anything. Just when we thought the day was for naught, we were overtaken by a large bird wave. In about 5 minutes we had identified about 10 species. Joyously, we decided to continue our journey a few kilometers away at the headquarters for the national park.

We had just discovered this place on a large tourist map at the cave and decided to check it out. It was out of the way and obviously not well visited as when we arrived the office staff's first question was did we mean to go to the cave instead. We meandered along a little trodden footpath through thick forest and bamboo stands. We were amazed at the forest in this area as it seemed to be real jungle, something we had not seen around these parts. Soon, the trail disappeared under the bamboo stands and so we headed back the way we came. We were trying to practice our forest birding skills, which are basically non-existent, but the occasional showers and thick forest wasn't too conducive to bird identification.

The clouds continued to threaten us and Lora was tired so we were planning on heading back to our village, but as we came to the road we decided to turn right instead of left. The road to the right looked inviting. It was a wandering length of highway nestled in a narrow valley that held a churning stream. The mountains above were thick with bamboo and the valley was highly cultivated. It was a charming spot and so we pressed on. We had no idea where we were headed, but we had the whole afternoon ahead of us to explore.

We zipped along the little highway past the lychee laden bamboo baskets ready to transport the fruit into town, through the village and under a sign that read "checkpoint for locals" or something to that affect. It was at this point we realized: we must be on a road to Burma! Since no one bothered the stop us, we decided to head straight through the quaint village and up the thickly forested mountains. Awed by the ever-increasing greenery around us we suddenly realized that we were beginning to hear birds chirping once more. This was a little odd since it was the middle of the day, usually not prime time for birding and the weather was wet, also not the best for birds. Yet, there sounds were unmistakable.

We began halting the motorbike often in search of birds in the nearby trees. We became thrilled as we realized what a wonderful place we had discovered and a bit sad that we had not stumbled across it sooner.

Let's just say that we were in heaven gawking at both birds and nature.

The road kept winding up and we with it. I can't tell you just how amazed at the scenery we were. We didn't know forest such as this existed in Mae Hong Son where everywhere else the hills looked dry and overrun by stands of bamboo. But this looked entirely different. It was green and lush and I was beginning to understand how some people could refer to it as a jungle instead of a forest. I began to imagine elephants and tigers inhabiting the steep slopes.

When we reached the top of the mountain, we realized we were not yet in Burma. Not that we thought it would be that simple to jet across the border. We did notice a large signboard on the opposite side of the hill and thought that it just may be the border crossing. We zoomed down the mountain, stopping only for some birds and came across a large sign telling us we were in the soft-zone of Thailand. We wondered what this could mean, but decided to keep going as all the buildings were deserted. Soon we noticed that the road simply led up another hill and although we are keen on adventure, it was getting late. We were just considering heading back when a truck drove by in the opposite direction and subtly motioned we should follow them and continue no further. Perhaps it was because we were a little to close to Burma for I had a feeling that the soft zone meant disputed territory along the Thai-Burma border. So, then perhaps we could say that we made a third trip to the other side :)