Day 45: Chumphon beach to Khoa Sok National Park
“Have you ever not tried something?” the other American asks me during dinner as I take a (small) bite of the Wild Boar – a local specialty.
“No, I don’t think so.” I reply.
Today, was the day to put that to the test at our first rest stop. We had just passed a local market on the side street we are following along the river, and he must have spotted them and decided to stop – just for us. “Here is some shade, and, oh, try these bugs I just picked up.” Now, I know it is just a western cultural problem with these things, but even I take a pause. Now I know from my friend Mike’s son, who actually studies bugs, that they are high in protein and could actually be the answer to our food problem and over reliance on meat … but it is still a grasshopper, and what looks like a juicy fat worm of some kind.
Keeping with the adventure and our motto of just say yes, I pop one in my mouth and chew really quickly – sort of like diving into the cold pool. Yum! (?) It has been cooked to a crisp and a slight BBQ flavor. I then try the worms out and one has the consistency of a potato and the other is also just a crispy shell.
Not something I would search out for, but it isn’t that bad. Now, this is not the same for our Cambodian guide Hueng, who relishes seeing us squirm a bit as he slowly eats the cricket with the legs purposely hanging out from his lips. He then brings up the picture of the spiders we had talked about earlier – and he is right. There are three black BIG tarantula like spiders, cooked and on a take out plastic plate with dipping on the side.
I am glad there were only small bugs along the road today and no spiders.
We have now fully moved into Southern Thailand and we are trying out their foods. More seafood, like crab, squid and fish We bike by hundreds of shrimp farms next to the durian and papaya trees. For dinner tonight, they added in frog legs (it does taste like chicken) and wild boar (so spicy, couldn’t actually taste the meat).
We are now in Khao Sok National Park, a large rainforest with impressive limestone cliffs all around and which still has wild elephants. We won’t see them this time – I think they are fairly deep in the park. But, what most people are concerned about are the snakes. Unfortunately, Siri actually looked it up – there are 170 species of snakes in Thailand and 48 (!) are poisonous.
As we wake up the next morning in our glamping accommodations, we all check our shoes to make sure no snake, or scorpion, has decided to make a home in them. Whew! Nothing there today.
Siri and David Adventures 