We’ve spent less time in Asia than in other major regions of the world, so this was the year to get better acquainted. Thailand is a country with a very rich history and very diverse natural areas. It has about 72 million residents who speak 51 indigenous and 24 non-indigenous languages. The official language, Central Thai, has the further challenge for us that it uses an entirely different script.

The area that is now Thailand has had human settlement since the Pleistocene (500,000 to 1 million years ago). It has had waves of settlement from all directions – India, Myanmar (formerly Burma), China, Laos, Vietnam and others and has had centuries of rule by many different dynasties. It was part of the “Maritime Jade Road” trading route for about 3,000 years beginning in about 2000 BC. Buddhism came to Thailand from India during this time; there are many sects, and have been lots of wars between them during the dynasties that have ruled Thailand since then.

During the era of European colonization, the areas adjacent to Thailand on the west were largely British colonies, while those on the east were French. We were told that Thailand is very proud that it’s the only major country in the region that was never a colony. Thais view their role during these centuries as being a ‘buffer’ between the British and the French.

Thailand is somewhat larger than California and about ¾ the size of Texas, but it has over 1,150 species of birds (compared to roughly 1,000 in the whole continental United States). We spent about a month there, beginning in early January.

We flew from Dallas to Bangkok by way of Tokyo. We arrived in Bangkok at around midnight, so it was the only time the drive from the airport to our hotel was quick! We used the Rama Gardens, a nice modern hotel, as our base for most of the travel in and out of Bangkok.

Malay Peninsula

For the first week, we did a solo trip with Uthai Treesuchon, who is the top birding guide in the country and the author of the recently-released “Birds of Thailand”. He is really a Zen birdmaster!

We had a very fancy van for our trip. Our driver’s name was Chiwat, which means ‘rat’.

We traveled with Uthai to the Malay Peninsula, which is the southernmost part of Thailand. We visited several beautiful national parks and additional protected areas.  There is almost no natural habitat remaining outside these protected areas – most of the land is used to grow rice, rubber or coconut, and areas that had remained natural until recently are now being destroyed for palm oil plantations.

The first national park, Khao Luang, had a wide variety of habitats and interesting creatures. Our longest hike there was a steep one, all day on the Krung Ching Waterfall Trail. The pictures below show a few highlights.

In Ao Phang-Nga National Park, an extensive boardwalk system through a large mangrove area allowed us to enjoy some colorful and engaging birds.

We both slipped on creek crossings along the Ton Deng Waterfall Trail (the name means “bouncy waterfall”) in Si Phang-Nga National Park. But we also got to see endangered White-handed (or Lar) Gibbon, a Lesser Fish Eagle chick in its nest and the Blyth’s Frogmouth.

Field Guides Tour

The three of us flew back to Bangkok, where we joined the other members of our group tour. We traveled with Field Guides, International; Uthai continued with us as the in-country guide while Jay Vandergaast (who we first met in Costa Rica in 1994) was the tour leader from Field Guides. Of the ten other tour participants, we had traveled with two before and were happy to see them again. It was a good group, with a somewhat surprising mix – five (including us) from Texas and three from Michigan. In addition to the birding expertise of Jay and Uthai, the tour’s success relied on a six-person driving and cooking crew led by Wat. These were among the most complex and delicious roadside meals we’ve ever had!

The birding tour concentrated on three general areas, shown below.

Outside Bangkok

The area outside Bangkok included one of the most unique and rare birds in this part of the world – the Spoon-billed Sandpiper (known as ‘Spoonie’). It took several tries and lots of looking through the scope to find this unusual creature among all the other shorebirds at Pak Thale Nature Reserve. Our driver Jiang was the one who spotted it first.

A second unexpected experience was not so fun – Terry took a fall along a beach strewn with driftwood and bamboo. This led to bloodshed, pain, and a limited ability to raise his binoculars for the rest of the trip. See “Unexpected Medical Encounters” for the outcome.

A final very unexpected and amazing encounter was at the Upper Camp in Kaeng Krachen National Park. After bouncing up the trail in 4WD trucks, we were enjoying a delicious Thai lunch when suddenly a Malayan Sun Bear was sighted in the forest next to our picnic tables! He was completely oblivious to us. We watched as he foraged, rolled on the ground and ‘danced’ to scratch his back! It was unbelievable!

We also traveled east from Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park, a forest reserve that holds the largest remaining herd of wild elephants in Thailand.  The reserve is heavily used on weekends, being relatively close to Bangkok.   We observed a few elephants feeding close to the highway in the early morning.  On our return, however, there were busloads of people gathered by the roadside hoping to view some elephants.  One large male obliged, making its way immediately toward the crowd, which scattered at its approach – including our group.  The elephant came very close to our vehicle, but only wanted to get from one feeding ground to another and intended no harm.

Chiang Mai

We flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for the next part of the tour. This city was founded in 1296 and is the historical center of the Lanna culture. We experienced a performance at the Chiang Mai Cultural Center featuring traditional Thai dance. It’s a very stylized form of story-telling, sometimes including knife-play and dancing with lighted candles and torches.

Most of our birding near Chiang Mai was in two national parks – Mae Ping and Doi Inthanon (‘doi’ means mountain).   These parks are in the northwestern part of Thailand, which in some places remains heavily forested.  Both also are popular with Thai tourists.  Created in the 1980s, existing communities were allowed to continue their agricultural pursuits on the condition that they did not further cut the forest.   It is doubtful this rule is strictly enforced, since we saw large, mechanized farms and flower greenhouses, some of which appeared to be expanding.  Nonetheless, these parks held a remarkable array of bird life.  At Doi Inthanon in particular, a boardwalk through a peat bog and forest afforded close views of exotically named species such as Yunnan Fulveta, Silver-eared Laughingthrush, Spectacled Barwing, Black-backed Sibia, and many more.

Chiang Rai

We drove from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, which is in the far northern part of the country. On the way, we stopped at Wat Ban Den. This has been the site of a small Buddhist temple since the 16^th century, but has been massively renovated in recent years. According to Wat (our crew leader, whose name means ‘temple’), the new renovations have been completely paid for by local believers. Even with contributions from elsewhere in Thailand, the temple’s massive buildings with elaborate and detailed designs represent an investment that seems unthinkable in comparison to the scale and quality of local homes and businesses.

Among the unique and impressive birds in the Chiang Rai area were Hume’s Pheasants and a superbly-camouflaged Hodgson’s Frogmouth. This area had by far the largest number of other tourists, many with very large cameras.

Several cultural experiences near Chiang Rai were also fascinating. One birding area, Ban Nor Lae, is a Thai Army camp on the border with Myanmar.  So in addition to the birding, we could see the border and learn some history of the two countries’ recent interactions. The adjacent Ban Nor Lae village is a settlement of Palong people, who are refugees from Myanmar. We were lucky to receive permission to go up the east slope of Doi Lang in Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park. Because of the security involved, we had to leave our passports at the check station and be accompanied by an Army reserve officer. Karen’s GPS track of our drive on a knife-edge ridge showed that we were actually in Myanmar part of the time!

Near the end of this part of the tour, we visited the “Golden Triangle” where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet along the Mekong River (a popular smuggling route in days past). From the vista point and restaurant, the contrasts between the three countries were very striking. Myanmar is very rural, Thailand is vibrant and full of tourists, and this part of Laos is a major urban business area.

The several lakes around Chiang Rai held many waterbirds and marsh-dwelling species, including a sharp-dressing raptor known as the Pied Harrier.

The Field Guides tour ended with a flight back to Bangkok. We then took a cab to the Kimpton Maa-Lai Hotel in an upscale neighborhood near Embassy Row. Our room was like a small apartment, with amazing views of the city. The hotel itself was bustling with vacationing families and young adults enjoying the food and nightlife.

We walked around the area the next morning, then took a tour of the three major temples in Bangkok in the afternoon. Our guide Pat and our driver navigated the crazy traffic and non-existent parking so we could join the throngs of sight-seers at the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha Temple and Wat Phra Chetuphon with its Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

The next morning we walked in Lumphini Park before an afternoon tour, again with Pat. This was billed as the “Twilight River Romance” tour. It included the memorable, chaotic and largely local-serving Amphawa Floating Market and a lovely ride in a long-tail boat along the Mae Klong River to a delicious and romantic dinner at Baan Amphawa restaurant.

Travel back to Dallas involved lots of waiting around after our hotel room check-out and before Japan Air Lines (JAL) opened their check-in and lounge. Our overnight flight to Tokyo was pretty uneventful, then we had lots of breakfast options in the JAL lounge. We left Tokyo about 11 a.m., had a comfortable flight, and arrived back at DFW about 7:30 a.m. the same day!

Overall, this was a fascinating and enjoyable trip. But we just scratched the surface – there are many more of the 156 national parks and 34 major birding areas left to see. It would be great to make a return trip.