DISCOVERY
Phu Kradeung Part 3
Excerpts taken from Naked Farang: Four Weddings and a Coup
We got up bright and early the next day to see the thick mist settled in the hollows of the plateau. It was cold, but there was no wind, so it wasn't cold like, "Jesus H Christ," cold. It was more like, "Oooh, that's a nice sweater," cold. I guess it was about 4 or 5 degrees Celsius.
After the beautiful sunrise we walked around the campsite and had breakfast and coffee at one of the wooden restaurants. It was while drinking a coffee that we had our next call with nature. Pim pointed out an animal wandering between the tents and eating from bins. I couldn't see the animal's head as it was obscured behind a tent. What was it? It was big. Was it a water buffalo? How the hell did a water buffalo get up here? And why would it want to be here instead of wallowing in warm mud back down in the tropics? I asked Pim in Thai if it was a buffalo, but she said it was a gwaang. Oh, a gwaang was it.
"That's nice", I said. "Is it a buffalo then?"
I walked over for a closer look. It was a large deer. I mean it was LARGE. It had no antlers, and because I've watched the Discovery Channel a lot, I knew that meant it was a doe, or a female deer for those of you without cable. There were a few other deer scattered around the campsite, and they appeared semi-tame. They wander into the campsite from the surrounding woods each morning on the lookout for a free meal. I managed to get right up to the doe and stroked it without it trying to head butt me or eat my sweater. There was also a nastier looking buck (you need to watch Discovery) with big scary antlers. I thought he was probably getting ready to attack me for chatting up his girlfriend, but no. It turned out he was just a big softy scrounging his breakfast, too.
After breakfast we had another look around the supplies stores. Some of them sold postcards with pictures of the flora and fauna of Phu Kradeung. Sure enough, there were pictures of wolves. Now to me, this was a big thing. I mean WOLVES for crying out loud. Wolves are wild animals in the most literal form of the word. They might look nice on Discovery or in a zoo, but put them in an unnatural setting, like “the wild,” and they are liable to dress up as your grandmother, hide in her bed and try to eat you. When I pointed to the postcards and proudly told the vendor that I had seen one, she just said “dog.” No, no, no! I’m not buying your postcards. I went to another vendor and tried again. Maa jing jock, he said. That must mean wolf, I thought.
“Yes,” I said. “I saw one.”
He looked extremely unimpressed. What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know about Little Red Riding Hood? I gave up and left without buying a postcard. To make matters worse, I later found out that maa jing jock means fox. These weren’t foxes! Foxes are small with stubby little legs and bushy tails. They make barking noises. What Pim and I had seen was much bigger, with longer legs and no bushy tail. It howled. It was a wolf.
There were a surprising number of people camping up there. We later found out from the visitors' centre that there were about 900. It was a busy time as it was just before the New Year. Most of the campers were university students, and it seemed that most of them had guitars. The campsite itself was OK. It was in a picturesque setting spread out over a large field surrounded by woods. The facilities were good with basic but reasonably priced and well-equipped restaurants and supplies stores. There were also a few shower blocks with water hovering just above freezing point, but at least they were clean.
We had planned to stay for just one night, but we now decided to stay an extra night and spend a day wandering around the plateau, exploring the sights and relaxing. We went on a couple of easy walks to cliff tops, dried up waterfalls and Buddhist shrines. The flora is quite different to tropical Thailand 1,500 metres below. The landscape was a strange mix of The North Yorkshire Moors, where I grew up in England, and New Zealand’s North Island. It really was beautiful and peaceful up there. During the day the temperature rose to the low-mid twenties. Strangely, however, the water temperature in the showers didn't. I did manage to take one shower that afternoon, but it wasn't pretty, and it reminded me of that Japanese game show Endurance where the contestants try to kill themselves for money.
We took another early night with freezing cans of Chang Beer drowning out the guitar players to help us sleep. I'm not sure why but, as is the Thai custom in warmer parts of the country, they insisted on giving us ice with our beer even though the beer was almost frozen solid. Still, if it makes them happy I suppose.
The next morning we were up early again. Pim had her favourite breakfast of khao tom, rice soup, and I settled for coffee with pa tongho, Thai style doughnuts. After breakfast we packed our bags and handed in our camping gear. Now I may be daft, but I ain’t stupid. This time I ignored my macho ego and joined Pim in handing in my bag for the porters to carry. I knew from experience that descending a mountain is, in many ways, physically harder than climbing one, especially a steep one like Phu Kradeung. While the climb is hard on the lungs and calf muscles, the descent is hard on the calf muscles, the thigh muscles and the knees as you try to keep some control over your descent. It’s no fun falling down a mountain! The descent is also both more rewarding and more frightening – rewarding in that you get to see the amazing views ahead of you more often, but frightening in that you get to see the amazing drops ahead of you more often.
The descent took three and a half hours. It’s funny but on the way up we’d met people coming down, and they were all full of smiles and tales of the trail ahead. I had tried to avoid making eye contact with them as I huffed and puffed along. Now, I was looking everyone right in the face and secretly taking an almost sadistic pleasure in their looks of distress and despair. It was almost as if they were pleading with me through their eyes.
“Please tell me that the top is just around the next corner.”
I remembered how on the way up it always looked like the top was just at the crest of the section we were climbing, only to find that there was another section concealed beyond that, and another, and another, and another……… That is what they were going through now. To my credit, I did make some comments of encouragement, but I don’t think they believed me. I know that I wouldn’t have believed me either. No pain, no gain, I thought. When you finally get to the top, it will all be worth it. Just watch out for wolves.
Paul Snowdon - Excerpts taken from Naked Farang: Four Weddings and a Coup
Related article – Run to the Hills: Phu Kradeung Part 1
Related article – Who Let the Dogs Out?: Phu Kradeung Part 2
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