“Our other car is a …” scooter and we took advantage of it to do some exploring of tourist spots we’d been before on our previous visits. The impetus was to take Rik and Louisa, Belgian friends we’d met here at Ban Wassana in Trang several years back, to some places they’d not seen.  They’ve made at least 7 or 8 trips to Thailand and like us, now always include a lengthy stay in Trang.  Since we both lease scooters while in Trang we’re free to travel wherever and whenever we choose.  These automatic transmission versions are a joy to ride and they get 55 km to the liter, or 157 MPG (more than we thought after doing the math).  With 32.5 Baht to the Dollar that’s $1.00 for 33 miles, making even a Prius profligate.

Thom Le Khao Kob, a water-only accessible cave system was our destination this week. Definitely a “tourist” attraction with the requisite hawkers, photographers and predators hanging out trying to interest you

in all manner of pitches. For 300 Baht ($10) you can rent a low profile skiff with four bench seats and probably room for 8 Thai’s.  Also included in the bargain are two paddlers, one in the bow paddling like the Cuban marine officials coming to visit your boat, a couple of strokes on each side of the bow, the other paddler in the rear providing the power and steering. They work hard to get us down the canal circling the limestone karst, but once we slip under the water entrance to the cave they spend more time “walking” the skiff hand-over-hand on the cave ceiling or back. We hired a boat all to ourselves, save the fore and aft minions.

Very quickly we’re told to lie back so that our bodies don’t protrude above the gunnels. And “watch hands” or “no hands”, rings out often in the Thai English that is about 20% of

their foreign vocabulary.  Photography is more than problematic laying supine and nothing can rise above your flat profile. Peeking up garners a scolding in the tight places so snapshots are a minimum enroute. One ponders, as you see the nascent or fractured stalactites in close proximity to your proboscis, if they can operate the excursion during or after heavy rains.

We’d done this tour before so it was fun to see our friends’ reaction as we got into tight spots and then broke into lighted caverns.  Once inside it’s possible to walk a 20-minute circuit thru colored lit chambers featuring limestone drip sculptures from different eras of the past. Thai culture often deems these caves or geological architecture as scared and decorates it appropriately.  Many chambers were festooned with buddhist trappings on prominent perches.  Just down the road, that is if you don’t miss the turn like we did (thanks once again to google maps and the iPad), is another ancient cave well above

ground level, in fact it has 7 levels all accessible via crude whitewashed concrete stairs.  This Wat is famous for a past visit by the King Rama the 7th, and has concrete statuary at the various levels which would have to have been built in place, carrying sacks of cement way up into the nooks, niches and window overlooks of the cave network.

We finished the day’s outing visiting the windmill competition site I’d seem on Sunday. I had to ask about the collection I’d seen in the rice fields east of Trang near the Lost Elephant cave. This specific site is situated in the Venturi between two moderate karsts and must produce amplified wind currents to power these Rube-Golberg contraptions.  Click & wait to see & hear windmillsound

They are as colorful as they are capricious, causing the viewer to stand askew of the propellers.  It wasn’t until I’d called my Thai friend SunSern, that we learned the perpendicular tubes at the outer points of the propellers are hollowed-out bamboo tuned to impress the judges. The dangling cups complete the cacophony prized by the competitors.  I thought they were solely to keep the birds away from the ripening rice in the fields.  SunSern said, “Maybe that[‘s] how it started”.