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Delivery-date: Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:11:15 -0600
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Subject: Thai Tales (take 8)
Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2003 04:11:03 -0700
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<DIV>A hundred miles of rice paddies, palm trees, water buffalo.&nbsp; 3000 limestone peaks.&nbsp; And me.&nbsp; Alone.&nbsp; At 6:30 in the morning.&nbsp; Walking down&nbsp;a deserted&nbsp;road in the back end of nowhere.&nbsp; Wondering exactly what I've gotten myself into this time.</DIV>
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<DIV>Mindful of&nbsp;my last visit to a national park in this country, I ask the&nbsp;5:30am bus driver twice if&nbsp;Khao Sam Rhoi Yod National Park is in fact on the main highway.&nbsp; He tells me in good English that it is - the headquarters are in the same place as the bus stop he says.&nbsp; Perfect!&nbsp; I happily pay my fare for the short ride up, looking forward to a morning on the move before my exit from this part of Thailand via train later in the day.&nbsp; My guide book tells me the park is an excellent place for coastal hiking and that there are easily accessible caves to explore.&nbsp;&nbsp;The day is mine.</DIV>
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<DIV>And a good thing too, since it's not the headquarters where the bus stops but instead a makeshift map station.&nbsp; Everyone there looks at me oddly and motions me down a back road behind the building when I ask about the park.&nbsp; They stare long and hard&nbsp;as I set eagerly off, maps in hand, to explore the caves I have read about.&nbsp; After half an hour without sight of another person I begin to understand why.&nbsp; I have passed two signs telling me I am on the right road, so I continue blithely on.&nbsp; Even after seeing one that looks suspiciously like a distance marker (surely that Thai scrawl couldn't have meant 26 kilometers?).&nbsp; Enjoying&nbsp;my first view of the untouched&nbsp;countryside I had previously only imagined in dreams.&nbsp; It is a peaceful morning, and breathtaking.&nbsp; I walk and walk.</DIV>
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<DIV>Eventually a pick-up bumps along the dusty road beside me, stopping for my hasty map-waving.&nbsp; The driver doesn't speak any English, but when I point to the park headquarters on the map he motions me into the box.&nbsp; It is a long, long drive.&nbsp; The farmland gives way to small but rugged mountains, hemming in the road.&nbsp; The occasional sign lets me know we are still heading in the right direction.&nbsp; Since we never see another vehicle I start to wonder how I am ever going to leave the park once I get there, but it's much too late now to stop.&nbsp; When we come to the headquarters it is almost 7.&nbsp; He lets me off, gives me a long, silent look, then spins his wheels in the dust back in the direction we came from.</DIV>
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<DIV>There is a uniformed man waiting outside the office for the warden to arrive and unlock it.&nbsp; I try to ask him some questions about the park, but he can't understand my English and doesn't seem anxious to communicate through body language.&nbsp; Just as we are both getting thoroughly frustrated by the attempt, a sleek new car pulls up driven by a hip, young couple.&nbsp; Who speak very good English.&nbsp; The woman converses with the park man for a while then, turning to me, says the caves are very far and I'd better just go along with them.&nbsp; So for the second time in half an hour, I climb into a strangers vehicle and set off into the unknown.</DIV>
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