The initial shock of arriving at this spartan place to find a thin mattress the only concession to comfort, is soon replaced by joyful wonder at the beauty of the limestone cliffs rising from the dam, the majesty of the surrounding mountains, and the depth and purity of the serene water.
POSTED: 22 AUGUST 2010
Destination: Southern Thailand
Ann Rickard forgoes life’s little luxuries for a touch of nature in Surat Thani
None of us can see the gibbon. It’s high up in the tree and about to make a leap into a thick cluster of bamboo way below.
The trouble is that there are so many tall trees and towering clumps of bamboo. We strain our eyes and point our cameras to the tree tops hoping for the best, when all of a sudden there’s a flash of furry beige accompanied by raucous screeching and robust rustling in the thick growth. The gibbon has leapt, and only one of us — not me — has captured it on camera.
We’ve learnt that the gibbons have super speed and accuracy when swinging through trees and that their leaping mode of transport, swift though it may be, can lead to many bone fractures when branches break between leaps.
Our guide on the long boat out on the vast waters of Ratchabrapa Dam has been spotting wildlife all morning, excitedly pointing to treetops and encouraging us to look and aim cameras. Even though our untrained eyes are no match for his, the gibbons have given us a couple of leaping performances. Along with the sweet birdcalls and the lush scenery, we feel satisfied with our nature experience.
We have been staying at Putawan Raft House on the Ratchabrapa Dam in Surat Thani in southern Thailand. Accommodation is a series of flimsy bamboo huts balancing on a fragile structure floating on the water.
There is no internet or phone connection here. No hairdryers either. No electricity in the huts. But we do have mattresses. They’re thin and on the floor but we can work with that. No need to unpack as there is nowhere to hang or store anything.
And don’t even think bathrooms.
But, if we ease ourselves up off our mattresses and crawl outside to a shaky boardwalk made from what appears to be old packing cases, we can jump straight into the deep cool water of the vast dam and enjoy a freshen-up au naturel.
The initial shock of arriving at this spartan place to find a thin mattress the only concession to comfort, is soon replaced by joyful wonder at the beauty of the limestone cliffs rising from the dam, the majesty of the surrounding mountains, and the depth and purity of the serene water.
The mating songs of the gibbons quickly become a more welcome sound than the ringing of a phone; the soft rippling of the water beneath the thin bamboo of our cabin floor a much sweeter sound than the whir of a hairdryer.
Out of necessity there is a small but adequate toilet block up on the hill, and a generator kicks in every afternoon for a couple of hours, but that’s about it. Everything else is all about enjoying nature.
About two hours after our arrival we begin to love it very much. By the end of the day we have no thought for the rest of the world and all its problems and confusion.
A “bar” in the middle of the row of huts, also balancing precariously on the water, has Thai and Scotch whisky and Singha beer and that’s good enough for us. We’d only just finished our first drink when out from the unstable kitchen came a banquet: whole deep fried fish, green chicken curry, spicy omelettes, sticky rice and mango.
“How do they do in these most basic of structures?’’ we asked but already knew the answer. There is always good food in Thailand, no matter how far you may wander or how remote you may be.
The Ratchabrapa Dam is part of the Khan Sock National Park, in the west of Surat in southern Thailand. Built in 1982 for generation of hydroelectricity, the water covers an area of 165 square kilometres, and as it was filled, more than 100 islands were formed.
Towering limestone cliffs rise spectacularly from the water and in the early morning, guides in longboats will take you out to view the wildlife as they did for us early this morning.
Putawan Raft House is used mostly by backpackers and locals. Thai families will happily drive five hours from Bangkok and then take a 40-minute longboat ride to be here for a weekend.
And as we sat on the floating boardwalk the next morning, wet hair dripping down our backs from our morning ablutions, looking up to the cliffs and listening to the gibbons singing, we realised how marvellous it is was to forget about phones and laptops and personal grooming for a short time.
Disclosure: Ann Rickard was a guest of Putawan Raft House and Tourism Thailand.
