Coming back from a trip to Roy Tawan, the local beachfront best coffee spot, we ran into the coconut harvesters, two men with monkies on motorbikes. The monkies have long leashes attached to their collars and they run up the tree trunks, sorting and testing the clustered coconuts until they find a likely one. Then they twist and twist and yank until the coconut comes free, and they toss it to the ground. After several tries, one of the monkies shook his leash, causing his little bell to ring, and scampered down the trunk. He sat right down, looking right and left, until his handler approached with a wide comb and groomed the monkey, combing out his fur, scratching his head all while the monkey sat, complacent and accepting. We were told these monkies live with these handlers from childhood, and that this is the preferred method of harvest. Later that day, huge piles of coconuts encircled the bottom of the trees awaiting the funny samlors that haul them off to be processed.
The weather has been, well, odd. Very windy, to the point where the placid Gulf of Siam kicked up some mighty waves that came clear up into the parking lot of I Talay, the little seafood restaurant on the edge of the beach. It closed down for a day and the other beachfront eateries were so windy it was hard to tell the rice from the sand. It's been too rough to swim, even for intrepid Mr. Muzzy, and a couple of days it has been chilly. We are lucky to have the pool at Palm Gardens, but yesterday it was a little too chill even for that!
Muzzy has been exploring the area on our rented motorbike. Yesterday we went to the caves near Bang Saphan Yai, Tum Marong. It is an old temple complex with a good road that leads up the side of an old karst mountain. At the top is a nice sized Buddha statue and a few steps beyond, a good stairway leads down into the wide narrow entrance. For 20 baht, the nuns at the entrance further down the hill will turn the lights on. Long strings of wire lead up through the jungle and culminate inside the cave, strung throughout to illuminate the hundreds of Buddha statues, all sizes. There is even a quite nice Reclining Buddha under a canopy off to the rear of the main entrance. It is cool and quiet, meditative. Colonies of bats hang from the ceiling, adjusting their wings, chattering and occasionally taking flight to move to another spot. The walls and floors are a maze of stalagmites and stalactites, worn smooth from centuries of seeping water, multi-colored and sparkling with the limestone bodies of dead corals. While Mr. Muzzy explored deeper and deeper, I sat out front for some time, enjoying the breeze of a mild day, waiting for butterflies to land on my hand, playing mind games to see just how relaxed I could get. A tall monk with a walking stick, accompanied by a few selected dogs, attempted to have a conversation with me. We quickly established "mai kao jai passa Thai" (I don't speak Thai) and simply smiled and shrugged at one another as he pointed out a second entrance a few yards down the path. Other than that, the wat was empty. Near the entrance are monks quarters and some huts for the caretakers, and packs of abandoned dogs. On a motorbike or with a stick, they pose no threat, and donations help with the electricity and food for the dogs. The mountain is riddled with caves, holes in the sides where light pours through and several passages that meander in and about. On the way down, the dogs bark, wander, and seem restless, but settle down eventually to do what sleeping dogs do. The clumps of giant timber bamboo on either side of the path moan and clank in the wind, and there is an air of timelessness and peace prevailing, an altogether surprising experience.
