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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Experiencing 'Dark' Places

A few memories of past road trips on the planet

A question was recently fused in the Lonely Planet's Traveller's group: 'What is the darkest place you have ever visited'?

The word dark needs to be defined in order to answer more specifically to the question. Dark may imply something a bit scary often related to death, or simply a strange feeling in reaction to an obscure, deserted place generating such a feeling. It seems to resonate with Joseph Conrad's novel, “Heart of Darkness” (1899), which is set in central Africa.

As a traveler, I have kept some memories of a few dark places I visited in the past.

One of these places was a guided tour of the Catacombs of Paris. It was not particularly scary because there was a bunch of other people in the group. But I felt really strange to see so many skulls and bones literally stocked in piles everywhere.

I was a teenager at the time. But recently, I met someone, who actually went underneath the City of Paris on a speleologist adventure. His account took a special meaning as I had been there previously. Anyhow, I was surprised to hear that this covered a vast territory of galleries under the city, even passing under the Seine River. But the eeriest part of the account was that there are actually people living there! Some are dark artists making subterranean sculptures...

The next two dark places I ever visited were prisoners' camps, one in the Czech Republic and the other in Cambodia. It is interesting to note that one was a former Nazi camp and the other a Khmer Rouge torture prison. 
As I was visiting friends in Prague, Czech Republic, I made a day trip to northern Bohemia in order
Czechia
to visit the infamous Terezin
 concentration camp (Theresienstadt). The account of all the horrors generated by the Nazis was particularly moving and you never go out of a place like this without being deeply shaken. Talk of a dark place! I was touring the museum with a Malaysian Chinese, who had no clue of what to expect. When I saw him at the end of the tour, he was pale and said that he could actually feel the weight of all the dead spirits!

A few years later, I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a few months after the Khmer Rouge genocide had ended. I was told to go to the Tool Sleng Genocide Museum, set in a former school in downtown Phnom Penh. Needless to say, it was a repeat of the awe I had in Terezin. I did see one of the Killing Field outside the capital. But ever since that time, I refuse to go to any of these dark places. While being in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), I had the opportunity to go and visit the Củ Chi tunnels (Viet Cong), but I turned the offer down.

After the Nazis, mankind thought that they were done with genocides but unfortunately, it was repeated in other places such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and even now in Myanmar!

As an expatriate, I spent a few years in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, in Borneo. As a psychological tactic, the boss of the small company I was in, had organized a staff trip to welcome the two newcomers in the group. I was one of them. 
We were a group of about ten people. The idea was to fly a small airplane into the heart of Borneo
Map of the Mahakam in Borneo
near the source of the Mahakam River, and then go down the Mahakam on a large canoe spending a few nights in forest villages. The purpose is not to relate the whole journey but rather to introduce two occasions describing a particular feeling.

One of them was the first night I spent alone in a stilt-house on the riverbank. This was really in the heart of the Borneo rainforest in the 90s. The Dayaks were formerly known as head-hunters. And indeed, most houses had a few skulls at the entrance, probably from animals. At the time, many Dayak women had still long-ears even though it had been banned by the Indonesian government. It was all very picturesque in the daytime, but slightly different at night with the forest sounds!
The island of Borneo
The second eerie experience dealt with the leeches. The upper section of the Mahakam is made of rapids, so you needed an experienced pilot at the back and a good watcher at the front to avoid rocks and boulders. At one point, we were asked to get off the boat and walk through the rainforest in order for the boat to go through a particularly dangerous area. The stifling humidity of the forest full of strange noises was impressive but although we had been warned about the leeches, I had no idea how they could possibly be found on the body. They often hang as thin threads from the branches and simply fall into a passing living body sliding invisibly anywhere on you. Well, once we reached the safer side of the river, we got rid of some of the protections only to discover that some leeches had been able to feed on our blood! The swollen dark nature of the leeches makes you see red...

The Indonesian archipelago has often been an occasion for many amazing experiences. But on one particular occasion has drawn me into the dark side of traveling. It happened on Sulawesi (the Celebes).

Tana Toraja (the Toraja Land) has now become a touristic hotspot. In the 90s it was only started to be
Map of the island of Sulawesi
opened to the tourism industry. I took my parents, who were visiting, on a private tour out of Ujung Pandang (Makassar). The hotel was one of these picturesque ship-like stilt-houses rather typical of the Toraja culture. The effigies of the deceased are displayed on cliff balconies: a characteristics of this ethnic group. Seeing it on a picture is quite different from being right there! The Toraja are a group of locals, who literally live among the Dead! The tribe ancestors continue an afterlife among their descendants. Ethnologically speaking, this is interesting because the living learns not to be afraid of death. The Toraja are either Christians, Muslims or still follow former animist rites. Yet, another feature of this ethnic group is their association with the water buffaloes. Of course, they are not unique in this bull-like adoration. It is a common feature of all rural southeastern Asian countries. This is why most country houses have a gable ending with a V-shape symbolizing the bull's horns. 
Picasso's Minotaur (1933)
In all Mediterranean cultures, the bull has been a part of spirituality as an animal offered in sacrifice to the gods. As a child, Zeus was kept hidden in the Cretan mountains fed by a goat that generated the image of the Horn of Plenty. Later on, Zeus abducted Europe from the shores of Phoenicia disguised as a white bull and flew back to Crete. If you have ever wondered how to trace back the origin of the Latin bullfights, do not look any further. And Picasso had already made the connection with the Minotaur! 
Whatsoever, to come back to the Toraja, their water-buffaloes were then sacrificed to the memory of the Dead. I said, then, because I believe this practice has now been prohibited. But at the time, it was a frequent occasion to be celebrated. Dozens of buffaloes were sacrificed in a blood orgy... So, the deep feeling that pervaded when I was there was one of awe. It was antagonistic both revealing an unseen curiosity and a sense of total disgust at seeing so much blood (a symbol of life) with recomposed corpses being exhibited (a symbol of death). I do not deny this is an interesting point for an ethnologist, but it is certainly not my cup of tea! To expand this ''dark'' feeling a little more, I later read the story of a French woman, who - in the early days of aviation – went on a single flying tour of the world. At one point, her aircraft had an engine trouble and she had to land in the Celebes. While the engine was being fixed, she spent a few days in the total darkness of a Toraja family's house, who were her hosts. She kept wondering why at night when sleeping, some water kept dripping on her. One day, she found out that she had been lying under the dead body of a family member, who had recently passed away!...

One summer, when I was still an undergraduate student, I traveled by land from Merida, Yucatan all the way down to Panama City. In 1973, there weren't many backpackers yet. I managed to go by land
Belize & Guatemala
using public buses except for the crossing of Belize, which was still called British Honduras (it became independent in 1981). So, in order to travel across the country as far as the Guatemala border, I had to hitch-hike the trucks that accepted to take a few passengers. All went ok until after Belmopan, now the capital city of Belize. All truck routes stopped at the border with Guatemala. So I had no other choice but to walk across the border and get to the nearest forest village on the other side. This is the Peten area, Central America's rainforest, where the Maya site of Tikal is located. But when I arrived at this place, it was already night and I had no other alternative to stay there until the next morning when the public bus to Flores would arrive. I was lucky to find a room in the local café, but the night I spent there, alone, in the middle of the rainforest, with no electricity, was certainly one of the best illustrations for an example of a ''dark'' place!

This experience was repeated many years after at one end of the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea, near the border with Guinea-Bissau! 
Map of Guinea-Conakry
At the time, I was working in Guinea on the Atlantic coast near Boké on the western part of the country. A friend of mine had convinced me to accompany him on a tour of the highlands that we had locally hired with a vehicle having a driver and his assistant. There was absolutely nothing luxurious about this journey. Anyway, the day before being back, we had to spend the night in the hill town of Gaoual. But since there was no hotel around, we had to request the hospitality of the government guest hut. This was done in advance prior to our arrival. Each of us was then given a hut to spend the night. The place was filthy, I don't even remember if there was any water. But there was no electricity at night and I spent a night very similar to the one I had in the Peten Forest!
But the good thing is that I was not alone on that trip and we had some infrastructure to rely on. The next day, as we were on the dust track back to the south, we came across a group of barking Cynocephalus apes. We stopped the car. Then we saw a girl riding a bicycle going in the direction we were coming from! Now, you have to imagine this scene was happening in the middle of nowhere in the jungle with a group of apes nearby! Of course, we asked the girl if she needed any help because she actually had a problem with her bicycle. She was just by herself. She was an Asian girl living in Amsterdam cycling the area on her own! I would not call this situation ''dark'' but it was definitively surreal!

Now living in Thailand, I would like to share one more story that definitively belongs to the spheres of the ''dark'' places.
Door decoration at the
Black House
Chiang Rai is at the northernmost part of Thailand. This region belongs to the Lanna culture. A few kilometers north on the city, there is a place known as the Black House (Baandam, in Thai). This is one of the strangest place ever. Entirely designed by a contemporary Thai artist, it displays three main features all of them as bizarre, yet quite interesting, and truly intriguing. The wooden structures are Thai in style but seem to emphasize the usual proportions by becoming airier. They are filled with a collection of horns and animal skins or bones. Since all the buildings are mostly black in color, it is indeed in keeping with the name of the place. But there is a third element that puzzles visitors. Stones have been arranged to display giant designs showing a triangle, a spiral, a circle, or any other geometrical forms. There are no explanations but it looks like an obvious esoteric display. This is truly an illustration of another ''dark'' place.

Christian Sorand

A few interesting books regarding Borneo:
Almayer's Folly, by Joseph Conrad
Into the Heart of Borneo, by Redmond O'Hanlon
Stranger in the Forest, by Eric Hansen

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Thai architecture : what is a 'Sala' ?

This type of construction is fairly common in the country. A sala [ศาลา] is a four-sided open building whose purpose is to protect people from the sun or the rain. It is also used as a communal meeting place. Originally, the word comes from the Sanskrit meaning a hall or a shed.
There are three types of sala: they are often found in monasteries or near a temple [wat]; they can
Sala at the National Museum of Bangkok
also,o be found in rural communities as a place to rest or wait for a public transport; there are also royal sala, a more elaborate form of this type of building.

This particular architectural model generates a reflexion on its origin and its purpose.
Hinduism & Buddhism are beliefs that stress the importance of relationship within a community. A sala is, therefore a building that represents this primary purpose.
But then, considering that architecture often bears a symbolic meaning, it might be interesting to consider the specific shape of a sala.


It is cross-like construction horizontally longer. The cross itself indicates a sort of crossroad for all
Royal Sala at the Dusit Throne Hall
the social levels of communal society. But it is made of two axes pointing to the cardinal directions. The horizontal axis represents the fundamental course of human life, starting with the rising sun in the East, and the falling sun in the West. This symbolism is inherent to the square shape of royal cities or even temples.
This is only one side of the consideration for there exists a vertical axis that becomes more conspicuous with the roof. Asian roofs are always very elaborate. They are also bearing symbolic decorations that clearly reveals a link to the sky. This vertical axis – from Earth to Sky – appears traditionally in the Thai wats under the trilogy of two side Nagas (the water serpent) topped with an effigy of Hamsa (the swan).


                      Hamsa
                                                                Naga                   Naga 

Of course, this will only be accurate in the most elaborate forms of a sala.

The symbolic animals

-The Hamsa (a Sanskrit word) is an aquatic bird of passage, which is used as a decorative element representing a spiritual symbol.
Water → Air
-The naga (also a Sanskrit word) is a cobra and any kind of snake by extension. They are believed to live on Mount Meru with other minor deities. There are two kinds: either water-dwellers or earth-dwellers.
The image of a seven-headed naga is a representation of the mythological 7 races associated with the 7 colors of the rainbow.
Air (Mount Meru) → Earth / Water

In the Eastern World, there are 5 elements. It is interesting to relate them to the preceding description. It also implies a cycle of rebirth :
The Cycle of the Five Elements

Wood feeds Fire
Fire creates Earth (ash)
Earth bears Metal
Metal collects Water 
Water nourishes Wood
Sala standing on the bank of the Chao Phraya River in Rattanakosin (Royal section of Bangkok)
Description of the wood sala standing on the riverbank:
-a triangle: male symbol + fire
-with 3 elements: Hamsa + 2 Nagas
-Hamsa is a swan, a water bird able to fly in the air
-the Naga is a mythical serpent – identical to the Chinese dragon- associated with water and the earth
The sala roof detail
(he can live in both)
-the inverted V-shape of the roof gable has an identical function as a pyramid but is an image of Mount Meru, the mountain where the deities live, like Mount Olympus in Greece.
-the symbolic movements refer to Hamsa, the water-bird, ready to fly high in the sky and representing Spirituality [1] + the undulating Nagas [2] descending from the mountain as guardians of the spiritual world and protectors of the earth. The Nagas have scales resembling the waves and a crest on their heads figuring fire.
-there are 3 parts in the gable: the triangle, mountain symbol + a forest of volutes inside the mountain of life, symbolizing the complexity and dangers of earthly existence + a frieze of 7 prominences pointing to an empty darkness below.
-this frieze is made of 2 smaller undulating Nagas, whose crested heads are turned towards the chthonian darkness of the underworld.
-finally, the golden metal shield in the middle is like the Light / Sun, which brings Illumination.
-This is how this image represents the spirituality choice by using the 5 Asian elements.
-NUMBERS have also their importance: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and even 9 when considering the number of steps leading to the platform where the sala is built.

Traditional Thai architecture has a symbolic meaning inherited from its Hindu heritage. The Thai sala is a specific cultural feature. However, the sala also exists in various other southeastern Asian cultures due to an identical past heritage. For instance, this is also a common sight in Indonesia, particularly in the old Javanese culture.

Christian Sorand


A modest wooden Bangkok park sala
A slightly more elaborate red sala in Bangkok
Another type of resting sala on the Andaman coast near Khao Lak
A more modern version on the Gulf of Thailand coast
The royal sala at the summer palace of Bang Pa-in
Image of Hamsa on a temple roof
Royal sala at the Grand Palace in Bangkok

Monday, August 20, 2018

Dusit Zoo, Bangkok

Dusit Zoo has been an old institution in the Bangkok city-life. It has been in existence for 80 years
Hippopotamus
but it will soon close down at the end of the month. It is not only a place for animals, but a recreation park for children and adults. Yet, a royal decree has assigned the zoo to be closed and be relocated in the northern suburb of Rangsit.
I do not truly enjoy the atmosphere of a zoo, as I prefer animals to live in their natural environment. But on the other end, zoos serve as an educational center and enable people to observe animals they may never see otherwise. 
Iguana
I had postponed going to Dusit Zoo until now, but when I heard the park would soon close down, it prompted me to get there.
As it was on a Sunday, the place was full of people. It showed how popular the zoo was. What I was most interested in was the fact that a particular attention was reserved to the region wildlife and more specifically in the following areas:
-the East Asian crocodile family,
-the different species of gibbons,
-the various kinds of hornbills that can be found,
-the main families of wild cats endemic to the region,
-and the tremendous variety of snakes collected by the zoo, not only in the area but in other places as well.
Of course, this zoo offers to see many other animals like penguins, koalas, the Malaysian honey bear, penguins, turtles & tortoises, elephants, giraffes, all kinds of monkeys and birds, hippos, and a score of other animal species like foxes, cassowaries, lemurs or sloths.
Hopefully, the new zoo location will offer a better environment to all these animals and will look a bit like the S'Pore Zoo.

Bangkok Post: Dusit Zoo begins its long goodbye 

The Siamese crocodile is a smaller variety from the larger African or Australian species.
All sorts of Hornbills
The Tiger family
There are also many different types of tigers in Southeast Asia
All the different wild cats found in Thailand

Sunday, August 19, 2018

KOH CHANG [เกาะช้าง] Revisited

Aboard the ferry bound for Koh Chang
Add caption
Koh Chang is an island on the eastern seaboard of the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border. It is big and known as being the second largest island in the country. It is quite mountainous as the highest peak is at 744m above the sea level. Despite its relative development, it has kept its natural environment. A good part of the island is covered by a rainforest and there are a few scenic waterfalls to visit.
Strangely its name [ช้างchang] means 'elephant', not because there are
Map of Koh Chang
elephants. It is because the shape of the island looks like the head of an elephant. There are also elephants on the island but they have been imported as a shameful tourist attraction that should frankly be avoided! In reality, Koh Chang is the main island of an archipelago made of some 52 different islands. It is a district [อำเภอamphoe] of the Trat [ตราด] Province.

There are different ways to get there. You can of course drive or take a bus. The best option is to take the bus line from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Koh Chang. They have two departures every day: on with a minibus and a second with a coach. The other alternative is to fly Bangkok Airways from Suvarnabhumi. It is more expensive but the flight only lasts 40 minutes.

This is the option I chose this time since airfares go down during the low season.

From Bangkok to Koh Chang with BANGKOK AIRWAYS.

To avoid traffic, you may want to use the Airport Express Line either from Phaya Thai or Makkasan station. But early morning, the traffic is smooth to go from the city to the airport and taxis are cheap in this country.
Bangkok Airways F72
Bangkok Airways is a private boutique airline that has got quite a good reputation for service. First, they provide an airport lounge and then they serve a small snack on board, even for such a short hop.
Once at Trat Airport, you must still continue the journey to the island. There is a transport desk at the airport that provides this service. It costs THB500 for one way or THB900 for a return trip. This includes the minibus to the ferry, the cost of the ferry, and a dispatch/pick-up to your hotel on the island. [Trat Airport guide]

Of course, the Suvarnabhumi Airport BKK coach service is far less cheap and offers the same service.

It takes about 30 minutes for the car-ferry to cross the strait to Koh Chang. And then, depending
Ferry crossing to Koh Chang
where you stay on the island, it takes a good while to reach your destination as the only road is quite narrow at times, crosses many villages and resort areas, or is quite winding due to the mountains. It took me a good one hour and a half to get from the airport to my final destination after Lonely Beach on the western side of the island.

At the MERCURE HIDEAWAY, Bailan Beach.

There are plenty of different accommodations for all types of budgets on the island. I chose to be at the Mercure's, a mid-range
Room view at the Mercure Hideaway
resort because I had been there before and I like its relative seclusion. It has a nice, little sandy beach, a view both on the sea and the rainforest. Some more, there are a few nice Thai restaurants or convenience stores nearby, and you can also rent a motorcycle in the village (THB150/per day only). 

There are quite a few things to go to or visit on Koh Chang. But this time, I just wanted to go and see one of the main waterfalls, and then return to the fishing community of Bang Bao.

Mercure Hotel cove on Koh Chang
Reception area
The small sandy beach
Sunset view
Khlong Phlu Waterfall.
At the waterfall during the rainy season
The mountain stream
About mid-way on the west coast, there is a small road leading to the interior. It ends at a national park with many Thai eating places, a usual sight in this country. After paying an entrance fee (THB200) – of course officially higher for visitors (!) - a footpath along the mountain stream takes you to the waterfall. It is well marked and safe to go, although it requires a good physical form. It is a 30 minutes' walk across the rainforest, with a few signs in both Thai and English, explaining the life of the tropical jungle. The waterfall is truly spectacular – particularly, in the rainy season. It falls into a pond between the rocks, which many are using as a swimming hole. [Khlong Phlu waterfall]
About the 'Buttress roots' in the forest
Tree roots
Forest mushrooms
Khlong Phlu Waterfall
The stream in the rocks
A view of the rainforest
Baan Bang Bao.

At Baan Bang Bao
This picturesque fishing community is at the southernmost tip of Koh Chang. It is also a major harbor for tourist boats, scuba divers, or commuters to the other islands of the archipelago, mainly Koh Mak and Koh Kood. The term baan [เพอร์] means a 'house' or a 'village' – or simply 'home' – in the Thai language. [map]
Although it has become more commercial in the recent years, it is still an
A shell curtain
eye-catching sight. Built in a large, open bay it is a stilt-house community of fishermen. All the wooden, traditional houses connect to a long, central pier, which ends with a lighthouse. Nowadays, there are many souvenir shops, cafés, and seafood restaurants, as well as a few guest-houses. This type of community was once common but it tends to disappear, making Baan Bang Bao a sort of local oddity.
Stilt houses

Covered pier
A typical construction

Stilt path leading to a house
Fishing boats

Harbor boats














At the lighthouse at the end of the pier
As Koh Chang is a rather touristic hotspot, there are many accommodations or restaurants on the island, all located on the western coast. Koh Chang has some nice sandy beaches, but there are also many places with rocks or mangrove areas. Monkeys and birds are a common sight on the island. The sea water is clear but if you are looking for a real tropical haven, it is better to proceed to Koh Mak or Koh Kood.
Christian Sorand
Beach at sunset
Koh Chang archipelago
Leaving the island on a ferry-boat
Westernmost cape at Koh Chang
Sailing across the strait to the mainland