South Thailand
2- Gulf of Phang Nga
Koh Yao Yai a bit of real life
This time 20 minutes (by speedboat) east of our pier, it's Koh Yao Yai, one of the most important islands in the Gulf.
Its name means "big long island". It stretches in fact in the north-south axis over a length of 25 km.
In this region of fairly marked Muslim settlement, mainly due to the proximity of Malaysia to the south, it is explained to us that if elsewhere this culture leaves the woman on the lower steps, here on the contrary, perhaps under the influence of the Buddhist neighborhood, the Muslim woman is well emancipated, and often leads her life in a relatively autonomous manner.
We approach it from the northwest, in the channel that separates it from its "twin" Koh Yao Noi.
The archipelago they form, called Koh Yao, is located in the center of the gulf.
The access pontoon is called Khong Hia Pier.
From there, embarked on the side benches of two covered vehicles, we begin the visit of a part of this quiet and still authentic island, with a local French-speaking guide who knows his region very well and knows how to value it, much better than other non-Thai French speaking guides, whose cultural impregnation was beginner or at least too approximate.
It is true in the defense of the latter, that learning language is a real obstacle, as we will have the opportunity to see in this island precisely.
In fact, it is said that Buddhist culture has put men and women on a quasi-equal footing, after long internal tensions. And this result is still very recent.
Or one of our drivers is a chauffeur, muslim and expansive.
It seemed obvious to us that this small woman (by the size), dynamic, smiling and extroverted, relished this autonomy, which more is with a capital sympathy quite irresistible.
Southern Thailand, rubber plantations
In memory of the old cowherd keeper (cowboy would sound much better, but ... a cowboy on foot) Summers on the banks of the Garonne can be traced back to a somewhat similar but less graceful memory, that of the poplar plantations of the river, to the time when SEITA made matches. And anyway as long as we forget the clicking of Gironde leaves in the wind.
But here, for these rubber trees, the branches stretching towards the sky flare elegantly in height, darkening the undergrowth which becomes almost a tunnel.
Be careful though, we slip our guide during the visit of the plantation, of what the vegetation conceals at the foot of these trees, even when the soil has been maintained ...
Handicraft production in Thailand
Here, the farms are family-run, numerous (there are more than 1.5 million), and cover on average an area of a few hectares.
Production begins 5 to 7 years after planting has taken place, and can be practiced up to 25 or even 30 years after planting.
But today, when a piece of land at the end of production is felled, its wood is used in carpentry, whereas it was previously lost.
The almost surgical incision is made at night to prevent coagulation in daytime heat.
The "bleeders" therefore, these men-vampires of the shadow of the night whose blood is milk that they will not consume (to avoid becoming otherwise ... rubber-men), cut obliquely at 40 ° the bark on 1/3 to 1/2 turn of the circumference, this on average every two days.
It takes about 40 drops of the white latex to fill a black bowl.
Tappers are provided with a headlamp and rubber boots to avoid scorpions, poisonous snakes and other friendly animals on the lookout.
During the day, the material collected from each bowl is filled in molds, then is mixed with formic acid for better, well-controlled coagulation.
The resulting material is then passed through rudimentary rolling mills, then cut formatted in leaves, which will be dried in the sun.
The latex contains 25-45% rubber; after drying, this rate increases to 90%.
In Thailand, it is after this still very traditional process that the leaves will be sent to the world for processing.
We will not avoid the fun but well agreed cliché of monkeys of the house playing with our plump host, and cohabiting with quiet and arrogant roosters, and cats lounging.
The lower part of the posts is smooth and cemented, to prevent climbing termites (termite mounds are numerous in the thickets) and that other unpleasant insects or reptiles.
There is first of all the reason for this architecture on poles, and not that of the tide because we are largely out of reach of the latter and even of a tsunami, about 20 meters above sea level.
An old man on a motorbike who overtakes us elsewhere offers a more spontaneous spectacle with his two monkeys tied up and impassive, one in the front, the other in the back.
While groups of hilarious boy and girl scouts take a spirited step forward.
Our route then takes us south-east along the east coast of the island.
From these small heights, the panorama of the strait and Koh Yao Noi island in the north is splendid.
Going deeper into the interior paths of the island, we notice these plantations of well aligned trees, tall and thin trunks, whose foliage and the twigs sometimes form a dark, dense arch, giving an impression of freshness, quickly denied.
It's a planting rubber trees, one of the important agricultural productions at least in this part of the country, which also has no rice fields.
Rubber and latex
From the Euphorbaceae family, hevea originates from Brazil, more precisely from the state of Para in the north, on the Amazon.
It is therefore called "Yang Para" (Para latex) in Thailand.
Stupid riddle: so what is the Thai word for latex?
In 2017, Southeast Asia globally provided 90% of world production (around 12 million tonnes). Thailand is the world's leading producer with 37%, ahead of Indonesia (26%). Thailand is also the leading exporting country.
We know the importance of this production for Earth manufacturing of tires which absorb 70 to 80% of it, but also in the manufacture of many other objects of our daily life.
We talk less about the extension of rubber plantations in the world, more discreet and less demanding in terms of maintenance than those of oil palms. Yet it also strongly contributes to degrading the fragile biodiversity of the regions concerned.
Despite strong market fluctuations, the trend is not about to be reversed, due to strong demand from China and India in particular, but also because synthetic rubber obtained from petroleum is far away. to have all the qualities of natural rubber from latex.
A little about the metabolism of the rubber tree
It is not the sap and its network of channels (which distributes water, mineral salts and sugar in the tree) that the latex is extracted, but from another internal protective network which passes in particular under the surface of the bark, and which is made up of so-called "laticiferous" channels, and for good reason.
An incision cuts the latex ducts, which begin to ooze, then dry and form a protective barrier, a sort of scar; the main function of latex is for the rubber tree to ensure this sort of defense role.
In fact, latex is the fluid in cells (the cytoplasm) released by the incision, including the nucleus stays in place.
And while the leaves dry, the rest of the hammock remains welcome, for the tapper of the place.
In fact, we will only see the latex processing tools here, a few vials of chemicals, but no drying sheets of latex.
Further on the road which penetrates a little into the island, stop to present an example of a beautiful local house, on stilts like all those in the region. Surely the home of a fisherman, because of the nets which hang down and seem to dry on the edge.
A school and a hamlet
Our next stop is for a Muslim school for children, boys and girls, something like high school with us when we see the age of the students. This is the "Ban Khlong Bon School ".
Large and beautiful school, very well maintained, where you enter with the hushed discretion of visiting groups well informed by their guide.
From 2002, the literacy rate in Thailand is 98% "https://journals.openedition.org/moussons/2635".
Our guide explains the variety of shades in oral expression, where the same word, depending on the intonation, the tonic accent and other variations and verbal modulations which are imperceptible to us, means so many really different things. Misunderstanding and misunderstanding guaranteed for those who lend themselves to the game.
No syntax but a simple juxtaposition of words.
As for the Thai alphabet, if it is somewhat similar to ours by separating consonants and vowels it does with however more finesse and variety than our own alphabet (which then appears to us to be stripped down and dry).
There, we get in touch with the richness of this Thai language. We will not know if the teaching is also held in the local Malay dialect called "jawi".
On the other hand, English is the compulsory second language.
At the end of the courtyard near the entrance, the school proudly displays, with a real sense of pedagogy well illustrated, the Thai alphabet.
To avoid disrupting some lessons in progress, and perhaps also to keep disbelieving tourists at a distance, or even quickly disrespectful, we will only have access to this huge courtyard and a classroom where the children smile as soon as their picture is taken.
the very long and vast courtyard constitutes, after the rather monumental entrance, a space for courses. A veiled teacher (this type of veil which does not cover the face is called "kelubong"; we will not see other varieties of it), sitting at the edge of a table teaches what appears to be histograms to a small, attentive and diligent group, mostly serious and smiling girls, who work sitting down cross-legged on the floor.
Uniforms, even shoes for girls and boys are standardized.
The students come from the surrounding villages.
We cross during a short walk an authentic hamlet, where a group of beautiful houses on pillars date from 40 years ago.
The walls The exteriors are woven with leaves with a beautiful decorative pattern, with wooden balconies whose railings are made of worked columns. Other times partitions or walls are made of horizontal red wooden planks palisades.
The oldest, less dapper but much more venerable dates from 70 or 80 years ago. She was already trying the same type of braided decoration in using the means at hand.
We say, when the height of pillar is sufficient, that we fix hammocks under the main landing, to allow a little rest in the shade, during the day, well protected from the ground.
In the room where visits are authorized, the walls are plastered with colorful works produced by the students, based on themes proposed by the teachers, very inspired by manga and pokemon.
The route through the sparse houses of this fishing hamlet zigzags between groves, and allows you to see some powerful termite mounds and clusters of empty coconut shells.
Each of these is often reused to prepare seedlings inside the empty half-shell, the recovered fiber of which becomes the substrate, for plants and horticulture.
We find whole plots well protected in the vegetable garden from our hotel.
The next two stages are only a nice pleasure, islets or tombolo of fine sand. One of the islets is east of the southern points of the neighboring island Koh Yao Noi, and the other just on the southern coast of that same island.
They enrich the slideshow of the remarkable landscapes chapter.
Two examples opposite
Southern Thailand,
other fishermen on the water
In the last stage before the return, we approach very close to the north coast of our island the floating pontoons of a small fishing village, with its hoppers as we can see. in the northwest of Khao Lak .
But this antediluvian arthropod (for those who believe in the flood), in any case appeared around -450 million years ago, called horseshoe crab is perhaps the most remarkable .
Horseshoe crab is not a crustacean but similar to scorpions and spiders, but yes, but yes!
It is of particular interest to researchers because of the specific qualities of its blue blood which detects certain bacteria and blocks them, but also because of its ten eyes ...
The perfect monster, which has not failed to inspire creators or directors, as in the "Alien" saga.
Here we breed huge lobsters, the inevitable and swelling (deflating) diodon. You can even see a grouper there.
