A lot has happened over the last four days here in Thailand. Our travelling from Gatwick to Koh Pha Ngan was enough of a roller coaster but of course everything has been a little crazy as we’ve been settling in.
First and foremost, we are yet to start collecting data for our projects but have begun a brief sequence of dive training, finding good local shops, and scouting the jungle and rivers for sites to hunt for amphibians. Things have generally been successful - we have made contact with our marine research partner, COREsea, and all those assisting with the marine project have been on their first dive! Oskar, our terrestrial advisor, arrived a few days ago and has been assisting Jennifer with her project as well as providing interesting conversation (and music) of an evening as we relax after a home cooked meal.
Our first full day consisted of several activities that would, in time, contribute to our day to day living (mostly). Paula, Jennifer and Ashlynn went for a walk to test the data logger we intend to use for the terrestrial project and ended up meeting a guy in the jungle who pointed them to a ‘secret waterfall’ where they went swimming and looked down on the bay from a viewpoint in the hills. Laura, Dylan, William and Maren went on the hunt to rent a motorbike and drive to the other side of the island to find the ‘big shop’. There were many adventures involving the motorbikes including a bike being crashed (everyone involved, and the bike, came out the other side with only a few scratches so don’t worry - we’re all good). We were still acclimatising to the heat at this point and realised that driving and carrying shopping during the middle of the day created more sweat than it was worth. Temperatures generally have been falling between 28C and 32C so us University of Glasgow students not only make up the palest inhabitants of the island, but also the sweatiest. Our sunburns are also not helping us blend in with the locals. After a long and hot day for the majority of the team, Kerensa cooked dinner and we all cooled off in the pool with drinks late into the evening. There were fireflies buzzing over the water which was very exciting to watch.
hiking - swimming - shopping
Thursday began with Kerensa, Laura and Dylan taking the first in person meeting with COREsea. Ashlynn and William were due to meet them but had headed out for what was supposed to be a quick shopping trip. Instead, their bike broke down twice. We were eventually all reunited and Williams training in a garage certainly contributed. The rest of the team waited back at the villa to meet Oskar, our advisor for the terrestrial project, who arrived in one piece; and after a quick lunch, meeting debrief, and sun-cream application session, we returned to the beach for an afternoon swim. The water was GORGEOUS! We had been told by COREsea that the water temperature was colder than expected for this time of year (just a measly 30C rather than the expected 32C) but as you can imagine, we didn’t notice at all. We ended the day with a chicken/tofu stir fry rustled up by Kerensa and Ashlynn.
at the beach
Friday started with diving. More specificly, Ashlynn, William and Kerensa started their day with diving. They spent 66 minutes in the water, reaching a maximum depth of 11 ish meters and with a water temperature of 30C. It was truly stunning. Kerensa and William had only ever dived in Scotland prior and several comments were made both while they set up their warm water equipment and after the dive along the lines of:
”I’m never going back!”
Arter the dive, the entire team met in the classroom at COREsea to listen to a fish identification presentation naming and listing the local fish and how to distinguish them. Jennifer had spent the morning scouting research sites with Oskar in the jungle before running through the terrestrial equipment so that Kerensa and Ashlynn, could join them on a hike through the jungle at sunset. The hunt for amohibians was successful and Jennifer got very excited at each and every one that we saw, so much so she earned the title of:
“a pioneer woman in science”
If you want to know why exactly, keep an eye out for our terrestrial project update blog. A notable mention must, at this point, go to Peanutbutter. Peanutbutter is the name we have given the dog that was sleeping on our driveway when we arrived and who has not left us alone since. She followed the evening terrestrial team up into the jungle and, when they began to scramble up a small river valley, she appeared at intervals watching them through the trees. She is not aggressive and gets very excited whenever she sees us leaving or returning to the villa. Dinner on Friday was thrown together by Dylan and William who made a chicken/tofu curry with rice and peas. A special mention must go out to them as the food was delicious!
a toad - a frog - the jungle team ready for action
We started Saturday once again in the water, this time with Paula, Maren, and Dylan diving and the rest of the team (including Oskar) snorkelling on the swallower parts of the reef. Ashlynn brought her dive camera with her to test it and the snorkel team had a bit of a photo shoot as they floated about, leaving the divers to explore the deeper water. They dived for 67 minutes with a max depth of 12m. The water was 31C - our new normal! After diving we found local restaurants to eat lunch in before either heading back to the villa for a relaxed evening, going to a local dive shop to organise training sessions, or grabbing a drink in a bar on the beach front. As a result dinner was a bit late, but Jennfier made mackerel, rice, broccoli and avocado.
The snorkel team having a photoshoot
How did we start our day on Sunday? Unfortunately, you would be wrong if you guessed diving. Laura, Dylan, Jennifer, and Oskar went for a sunrise hike on the hunt for amphibians, accompanied by Peanutbutter as always. They had gone and come back by the time the divers woke up to meet at COREsea for 9am. William, Kerensa, Ashlynn and Paula completed a working buoyancy dive, learning how to control their underwater movements entirely with their fins in order to free up their hands for data collection. Once again, the team ate lunch at a selection of local restaurants before retuning for an afternoon spent in the pool with drinks in hand. Sunday is the night market here in Chaloklum so, as I write this, the team are preparing to go and have an explore. The sun is setting and everything is feeling very chill. I hope you can picture the scene...
If you cannot picture the scene, don’t panic! We have upcoming blogs about Koh Pha Ngan (the island) and Chaloklum (the town), as well as updates from our project leaders and day-in-the-life style accounts from various members of the team. We will also have an in-depth run down of all the wildlife we have seen so far so any nerds out there, we’ve got you covered. We have taken a little while to settle in and haven’t quite worked out our routine just yet so blog writing oportunities are few and far between but just you wait, there is so much more to come!
All the best, from a sunburnt and sweaty,
Thailand Team
If you have yet to join out mailing list, send an email to expeditionthailandgu@gmail.com with the subject ‘mailing list’. We won’t email you about anything else, we promise :)
Comments