Mangosteens are here!

In case you thought all we had in Thailand was snakes, I thought I'd post something about one of our unusual fruits. This is the Mangosteen, or Mangkut in Thai. Southern Thailand is the home of the Mangosteen, and its so delicious its considered the "Queen of Tropical Fruits". We have several of the trees on our property and they are producing faster than we can eat them right now. As you can see, they have a dark-red or purple skin and white fruit segments which has a sweet, slightly tart flavor. The trees start producing in May and continue through most of the rainy season, so we will be having them for a while. They are suppose to be very good for you health-wise in that they contain a very potent antioxidant. But until a few years ago you could not get them in the U.S. due to import restrictions. Now, the ban was lifted recently and I read where they have sold in gourmet shops in New York for $45 a pound. Maybe we should load up our suitcases when we come back next month!

Meet our latest visitor!

A couple days ago a Monocled Cobra showed up on the carport. Fortunately, we saw it in time and it was a small one. Cobras, as most people know, are very poisonous and dangerous. But like most snakes they are also very shy and non aggressive, so we had little problem convincing him to leave the area. Now we are just hoping, since he was a young one, that he doesn't have any siblings hanging around!

On a less exciting note, we finally got a car last week. Its a little red 2004 Honda Jazz that we picked up from the owner of a small resort of Koh Jum. We've been driving around a

bit getting use to driving on the left and having the steering wheel on the right. We haven't been too far since we didn't have insurance until yesterday, and we still don't have driver's licenses. We had heard we would get a pass on getting the Thai driver's license and not have to take a test, but that's not the case. We have to take a written test, in English at least, and a driving test with parallel parking! The parallel parking will be the tricky part since its on the left of course. We've been practicing and will give it a try next week.

Khao Phanom Bencha

We finally made it to Khao Phanom Bencha National Park last weekend and it was really good to get out of Thap Prik and see some of the gorgeous areas Thailand has to offer. The park is 50 square kilometers of forest and jungle surrounding the highest peak in Krabi, Khao Phanon Bencha. One of the big attraction of the park are the numerous waterfalls. The picture you see is of Haui To Waterfall, which has 11 tiers and at some spots falls over 70 meters down the rock face. We had a great time climbing to the top following a well marked trail. From the parking lot, the trip took no more than an hour and during the entire hike we were the only ones on the trail. Even though we were maybe just half a mile from the parking lot, as soon as you step off onto the trail you were in the jungle and it felt like it. In fact, they warn you not to leave the trails because it is easy to get lost very quickly. About a month ago, a British tourist strayed off the trail and wasn't found until almost 24 hours later. Obviously, he spent the night in the jungle. Something I wouldn't want to do without a knowledgeable guide and a good tent.

We hiked to a second smaller waterfall as well on a trail not so well marked, but decided to pass on another hike on a longer Nature Trail. That trail was overgrown, and without long pants and boots we weren't dressed for it. Although we didn't see any snakes (they are all down at our house!) we know they are out there waiting for us. All in all, it was a great day.

They also had some big trees ....

Guess what ..... more snakes!!

It was a very exciting day today because we finally got to go to Khao Phanom Bencha, but I'll have to save that story for another day because the excitement really started when we got back. Our dear friend the Golden Tree Snake is back. I had just sat down in the living room to rest after our hiking trip at Phanom Bencha and out of the corner of my eye I see this snake moving across the window sill by the front door ... and he's INSIDE. He had been sitting on a table next to the window and I guess decided it was time to move on. After yelling for my able assistant, Dusty, we set about trying to figure out a way to get the door open so that he could make his exit. With a bit of finesse we managed and he took off out the front door and across the yard to Athan and Sakorn's garden. Good riddance we thought.

But its not over. Within 15 minutes, I went into the bedroom where Dusty was curled up on the bed surfing on her laptop. I plopped down next to her hoping to finally catch a quick nap, but I look over and coming down the window is another Golden Tree Snake but at least 50% bigger. This time he was OUTSIDE thank God! We rushed outside to check him out and he was headed into the air conditioning unit. After a couple quick raps on the housing he came out and took off for the bushes.

Its about 6:30 in the evening now and we are hoping that's it for today. We need to get some dinner and its hard when you are looking over your shoulder all the time waiting to see something move!

Phanom Bencha was great. Pictures and stuff tomorrow, assuming we survive the night.

More snakes!!

This is the Golden Tree Snake and they are found in many parts of Southeast Asia but are very common in the Krabi area. This morning Dusty notice that one had spent the night between the window screen and the window wrapped around one of the frame supports. They are great climbers and can actually flatten themselves out and "fly" sort of like flying squirrels do. When we opened the window (from the outside!) to release him back into his more natural habitat, we got to see him fly. Indeed, instead of just dropping down to the ground, he flung himself (or herself?) out at a 45 degree angle and sailed out onto the lawn where he took off for the bushes. They are mildly poisonous but mostly to things they catch. Their fangs are in the back of their month and angled back so it would be hard for one to bite you unless you stuck your finger down its throat! Since he was sort of trapped between the screen and window and no threat to us, we had a good time observing and looking him up on the internet to figure out what he was before sending him on his way.

Blue Pearl has been sold!

Well, as some of you already know, we finally sold the Blue Pearl. Actually, settlement was several weeks ago now but with us being in Thailand and the boat in Virginia it took some time to get the money moved around. We were sad to see her go but we sure didn't like owning two boats! It was a great little boat and just right for us except a little too small for living aboard for more than a month at a time. Now we can just worry about Whisper which we are looking forward to getting back to before the summer is over. Our friends back at the marina tell us she is fine but I keep thinking about the stuff that needs to be done before next winter. Once we get back, its got to be haul and the bottom done. Then while its out there are other projects I want to take care of like making sure all the thru hulls are in good working order and maybe removing the ones in the head that we won't need anymore once the composting head installation is finished. Hopefully, we can get all that done in short order and get on with some sailing before the season is over. Then there is the question, what do we do for the winter? Leave it a Olverson's again, take it south down the ICW or ... we'll have to just wait and see what in store for us. Ironically, with only one boat you have more options which is a good thing.