South Thailand
1- Between Khura Buri and the Laem Son archipelago, "the Virgin Islands"
For the visit of this first region, our starting point is, according to the information of our operator, Khura Buri fishing port.
In this somewhat isolated corner, the carcasses of boats rust or let their veins white, long and stretched like the skeletons of cetaceans. Next to it, two tubs in dry dock are being restored.
Like the lighting of some stadiums at night, the ends of several tilting poles carry a tray of spotlights or large light bulbs. Elsewhere, others cling in garlands along their axis.
A flotilla of fishing boats is docked.
Painted in bright colors, they take on surprising dimensions here, with a sort of high quarterdeck at the top of two or three superimposed levels, the floor of which follows the curve of the main hull, and which gives them a vague appearance of the caravels of Columbus.
Because fishing is done here at night, with these lamparots with a hundred-fold power.
On the plane, the night of our return departure from Phuket airport, everyone made an intense spot of motionless light on the Black Sea.
Koh Hin Pla,
a small island apart
Casuarinas gather in a small forest whose ground is only fine sand and carpets of pine needles.
On the coastal sand, white trunks of dead trees, waxy stumps bring their singularity to the smooth landscape against the background of a horizon drawn in a clear line. Modern and spontaneous works of art.
Opposite the casuarinas, a small promontory is dominated by a wild rocky knoll that can be climbed through trees with high roots. From there a part of the island can be seen.
After the silted estuary where sprawling and sinuous river arms are entangled like those of a kraken, from this port, we reach north, after having crossed some other islets that form the archipelago of Laem Son, a small island almost completely deserted. It is Koh Hin Pla (which on a local map from Khura Buri also seems to be called Koh Gum Tok ???).
The islet (satellite photo from Google Earth above) presents a semi-circular bay which backs up to the south against a long and soft ridge of white sand forming a gently sloping beach where our boat docks and anchors.
Unlike what one meets on hotel beaches, the branches of the trees are not decked out with stupid clusters of little bits of coral or shell charm necklaces.
Under a hazy sky, perfect moments of calm where we mark with our footsteps the sand, so fine that it seems ... mud, and that it gives way almost tenderly under the foot.
However, this visit, known as the “Virgin Islands”, turns out to be almost a small miracle of tranquility, a feeling of exclusivity and relative authenticity.
Then with regret, after having surveyed it and having swam in a water of delight, we move away from our modest paradise towards the south-east.
We cross another picturesque islet which serves as a setting for a staging, perhaps for a fashion photo, or the illustration of a pipol review. A young Asian (Thai or Chinese?) Decked out in a tail awkwardly tries to play a mermaid.
Elsewhere a small group of Chinese visitors settles down, coolers and food, on makeshift tables brought by boat, and prepares to have a heavy lunch here.
South Thailand,
to the floating fishermen
mangrove
Heading south, on the northeastern edge of the larger island of Koh Ra, after a fragile and elegant landing stage perched on its stilts, here is a fishing hamlet with some large huts on stilts.
Partitions and exterior walls are made of light planks and long, slender branches pruned into openwork.
Just what is needed to preserve visual privacy; because almost nothing retains sounds and noises, even quiet ones, nor the discreet conversations, in a meal-prep smoke.
the " all in the sewer »Pours all kinds of waste directly into the mud below.
The tide will probably cleanse and wash away all of this microcosm's modest waste, except what will remain clinging to the roots of the mangroves. We surely rely here on crabs and more or less carnivorous fish to clean up waste.
There, on rustic tables planted in the sand in the shade of tall casuarinas and other trees with heavy resinous leaves, we taste the local products concocted in the manner of the country : rice stewed in the cavity of a hollow section of bamboo, omelet with local palm oil, -pretended more digestible than that for which we cut down immensities of tropical and equatorial forests-, but in any case tasty, grilled fish on a skewer, other spicy fried foods, and to finish the inevitable and succulent slices of pineapple of the Victoria variety ; it can be found whole, fresh and on point in the markets for barely 10 baht (€ 0.25) !!
Alert! We do not disturb the meal of the hungry tourist, jealous of his skewer like a beast in his savannah ...
On the way back, here we are again at the mercy of the pilot of our boat, lost in another bend that the sea cuts through the mangroves, and which narrows as we go up it.
Its small estuary is just north of that of our starting point.
Here is a fishing village, a village floating on containers. It is rather a succession of dwellings on rafts.
Back to modern reality: we will not see the inhabitants, gone to do their shopping elsewhere, during our visit (surely by boat, but at the local supermarket ??).
Then a little digestive walk in the warm waters of the neighborhood, feet in the sand and perfect calm, along an edge mangrove trees; a starfish is offered with pleasure in the sun and takes on an astonishing blue tint, in a few centimeters of limpid water.
But perhaps, where you think you see a solar ritual, is it the agony of an echinoderm, macerating in too little hot water? Goodbye romanticism ...
In any case, everything necessary for life on the water is present here : rest rooms with hammocks, rudimentary but complete kitchen, water reserves in large plastic containers, herb gardens, flower pots… The roofs are made of sheet metal and palm leaves.
The spaces are delimited by partitions of woven palm leaves, in regular patterns, giving an impression of fragile grace. Of course also boats are docked here and there without which nothing is possible.
From one of those floating huts whose slanting walls seem to be on the verge of sagging, -but this is a construction subterfuge- a little child all smiles greets us above a brightly colored boat.
In these waters of confluence between warm and cool sea currents, marine fauna is abundant, and constitutes the basis of subsistence and trade for these seasoned populations of generations of ancestral fishermen.
In addition to the fishing boats, our absent guests have a bird of prey which they have learned to fish on their own, and which remains attached to a wooden tackle on which it perches.
But here they mostly breed and produce good-sized crabs for sale, in an impressive line of floating hoppers (see opposite). Some are in the process of molting (and not in "mutation" as our too announces young French-speaking guide from France) which leaves room for a new, still soft shell, which can be deformed with your finger. Undaunted, the crab doesn't even react, or does it feel it like a caress?
We can see disturbing moray eels alongside balloon fish, in particular the " diodon Which strives to curl up: it swells with water in a spectacular way when you tickle it, then deflates when it is left on its own.
Who has ever heard the terrible cry of the diodon? And how many cycles of swelling will he eventually succumb to make visitors ecstatic?
They are also farms of beautiful lobsters, groupers, alongside other more banal varieties of tropical fish such as "zanclus cornutus".
One of the tropical fish here, with superb poisonous fins, is probably from the so-called " lionfish », Originally from this Asian part of the Indian Ocean ; it is now called in Europe " lion fish ", Where " the ogre of the seas Since, unconsciously exported and then escaped from a Florida aquarium, it reached the Mediterranean and devoured other fish, and even crustaceans.
We will not know if these very rustic aquariums are there exclusively to seduce the curiosity of the visitor, or if they are also part of the fishing production chain of these craftsmen of the sea.
Elsewhere, in the same kind of large wooden hoppers whose opening is at the level of the bridge, they keep trapped in a net which they bring up as they please all kinds of fish, gathered according to their affinities or their cohabitation. quiet, or else exclusive of such variety as these barracudas which rush instantly with a frenzied appetite on anything that is not a sibling.
Never let a hand hang carelessly ...
other moray eel
moray eel
lion fish
zanclus cornutus
diodon
The reliability of the local detection system of movement is random: a debonair and lazy dog, which has its own doghouse on stilts under the mangroves of the muddy shore, is supposed to alert the inhabitants in the event of an intrusion.
He will bark until we leave, sated and sleepy when we arrive ...
