The Life of GEm: Thailand

Packin' in the heat in Thailand.

Thailand was - you guessed it - a surprise. The people were lovely - smiles everywhere and really good at dealing with westerners - and it was much more expensive than we had anticipated. Another surprise was the chance to see mom and dad Styles there: our paths just happened to meet up on the island of Ko Pha-Ngan. ('Course all the pictures of the four of us are on their camera!)

Overlooking a tropical paradise on Ko Pha-Ngan on mom and dad Styles' balcony.

Of course some things about Thailand were not surprises, namely the gorgeous beaches. It was easy to understand why westerners flock here in droves: the beaches really are beautiful, and there are tons of them (beaches and westerners). It was the windy season while we were on Ko Pha-Ngan, so there was less beachfront and more clouds and rain than usual, but we got enough sun for our little white bodies.

The Classic Beach Shot.

Our time in Thailand was actually split into several parts:

first, we flew to Phuket and made our way to Ko Pha-Ngan to get our beaching in and see mom and dad Styles, stopping for a couple of days at a great beach just north of Phuket (Khao Lak / Bang Niang) and for one day at a national park to do some birding (Khao Sok);

then we boated and bussed to Bangkok and from there bussed to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and our friends from Korea, Melissa and Tabitha;

then we bussed back to Bangkok and met our Thai friend Sirya, who took us to Khao Yai national park nearby where we watched his friends do 'mist-netting' (i.e. catching birds and measuring/ringing them for study purposes);

then back to Bangkok a third time to fly to Hanoi, Vietnam. Bangkok's tourist hub (Khao San Road) began to feel really familiar, and the really funny thing is we didn't take any pictures there!

Confused? Yes, we are a bit too. Many conversations lately start with 'So where were we when...?' or 'Was that before or after...?'

Watching the mist-netting experience was an experience of a lifetime, and then they let us try! Sirya's friends (who are doing master's/phd's in the park) set up the nets and extracted the birds, but they let us hold them, measure them (weight, wing/tail length) and put rings on their legs to mark when and where they were caught. Then we let them go. So neat to hold a living bird in your hand! Especially because we've seen these same species when birdwatching and so know their names and habits. Though they really act differently when caught; like seeing how people react in different situations, we now feel like we know those specific species a little more intimately. The ringing gives the team a good idea of movement of the birds, both local residents and long-distance migrants. For example, one species, the Dusky Warbler, was caught in this same net location last year. Since then, it has flown north perhaps as far as South Korea and back - to the same place for the winter. This helps conservationists learn their habits, learn what ecosystems and environments birds need to use (and so then protect) and also learn about life spans and DNA on tough-to-identify species like the Warblers, of whom we caught 4 different species. In all a wonderful experience - thanks to Siriya and the wonderful Thai team:)