Thailand - Day 11 cont, rubber trees and Cliff and River Resort

 We drove through the magnificent scenery of southern Thailand. "Bumpy, lumpy, humpy" (we couldn't decide on the descriptor) forested mountains and fertile valleys full of palm (coconut oil) and rubber trees.

Pulled in beside this temple

 

that seemed

to be dedicated to the

Jackfruit. We have been served these a couple of times for dessert and they are delicious.

Weighing up to 453 grams per fruit, Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, native to many parts of South-East Asia, Africa and South America and is particularly notable for its consumption in Thailand. To fresh western eyes, it’s natural appearance can be a little intimidating with thick, bumping skin that needs to be peeled to reach the portions of Jackfruit fruit flesh. Fortunately though, most jackfruit is sold prepped (peeled, and portions) and packaged, ready for consumption or to use in recipes.

Like most other fruits, jackfruit is sweet and it’s flavour can be likened to a combination of banana, mango and pineapple. At its ripest state, jackfruit can be significantly sweet. So much so that it’s seeds or pits can be boiled or roasted and eaten alone to snack or used in recipes.From thaifoodonline.uk

A little further along a crematorium. I realized that I hadn't seen any cemeteries

Thai funerals usually follow Buddhist funerary rites, with variations in practice depending on the culture of the region. People of certain religious and ethnic groups also have their own specific practices. Thai Buddhist funerals generally consist of a bathing ceremony shortly after death, daily chanting by Buddhist monks, and a cremation ceremony. Cremation is practiced by most peoples throughout the country, with the major exceptions being ethnic Chinese, Muslims and Christians.  from wikipedia, no mention of cemeteries.

We walked across a river

 

on a rather wobbly suspension bridge

and were met on the other side by a gentleman who told us about the local flora and the plants harvested from this farm.

Very tall palms

and a forest of rubber trees, looking very like maples with the buckets attached to collect the sap.

Our guide showed us how the tree was cut

to make the sap flow into the bowl. It is collected twice a day. He spoke of the volatility of the market for rubber. Later, while driving, I saw a pickup truck full of these round rubber balls, presumably being taken for processing.

Thailand is the world’s largest producer of natural rubber. In 2022, the country produced more than 4.7 million tonnes of natural rubber, accounting for around one-third of global rubber production.Nearly all of Thailand’s natural rubber – 90% – is produced by smallholders: there are 1.68 million smallholders engaged in rubber production on 3.9 million hectares of plantation area. This is significant from an economic and livelihood perspective, as almost 25% of all households engaged in the agricultural sector in Thailand are producing rubber. from efi.int

 

Jackfruit, larger than a mans head.

 

We also saw a lot of large spiders with their webs strung between the trees and the shrubs. I didn't take any pictures. Mark took a lot but I can't find any of them on the WhatsApp group. Maybe he was being kind to those of us who get the creeps from spiders, and didn't share them.

How to turn a scooter into a pickup

 

In our group, Heather eats Vegan and Tim, Vegetarian, so I often sit with them when the provided lunch accommodates those diets. I have been able to stick quite closely to a vegetarian diet although have sometimes strayed to fish or shellfish.

Orchid, growing wild.

Termite hill.

Back into the vans and drove to our hotel for the next 2 nights.

This was not as luxurious as we were used to but made up for it with lush gardens,

the river,

below the restaurant and

stunning scenery (from our room).

After settling in our rooms

we all headed for the pool

for a quick dip before

getting back in the vans and going to a local farm where we learned how to wrap rice in palm leaves, put the packages in bamboo, fill with water and lean against the fire to cook.

Then we all donned head lamps and walked through the jungle. Our guide here pointed out the multitudes of spiders, some frogs and we glimpsed a few brown shapes up high in the trees (Slow Loris)

 The Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) or greater slow loris is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to Indonesia, western Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore. It measures 27 to 38 cm from head to tail and weighs between 599 and 685 g. from thainationalparks.com

Pictures of them on the internet show big dark eyes as they are nocturnal. 

Back to the farm and we ate our, now cooked, rice, and dinner out of dishes made from split bamboo.

A full, full day and I was still coughing alot at night, so I fell into bed, hoping that the mosquito netting wasn't really necessary.