Only in Thailand...

Work is in full swing for me now, and today was my second day off since I've gotten here. The past few days our conservation team has been combing reefs for trash and other debris that can harm fragile coral ecosystems. Just yesterday, we found an area of no more than ten square meters littered with old fishing nets that had devastated that reef.

Working with my gloves and sea snips I meticulously began removing the one gigantic net while remaining cognizant of the reef on which it was lodged. As I was stuffing the net in my salvage bag, I noticed a badly damaged Moorish Idol (a beautiful black, white, and yellow fish in the Bannerfish family, from which the Angelfish hails) swimming furiously in my bag. I quickly cut the fish free, and it swam away slowly and painfully, although it was visibly apparent that its efforts to break free from the fishing net over the previous few days had caused some significant damage to its body and fins.

Yesterday afternoon, a few volunteers and I climbed on motos for a 30-minute ride to a 7.4km trail that a local had recommended to us. After a fairly grueling ascent, made more strenuous by the sweltering afternoon heat, we emerged on a rocky face overlooking the better part of Krabi province. We estimated visibility at around 50km or so, and the view was spectacular, with a broad expanse of ocean and tropical islands cutting away to the west and Krabi's fabled limestone karsts dominating the east.

Also at the top, we encountered a group of six young Thai guys who had hiked up to camp for the night. As I approached their campsite, the first two things I saw were three rifles leaned up against an adjacent rock and a Thai man furiously swinging a cleaver at what appeared to have once been a chicken, blood flying everywhere. Typical of Thai people, these guys were almost disconcertingly (for an American, at least) friendly, and didn't hesitate to offer me some of the chicken and rice they were cooking over banana leaves. I helped them set up their tent and chatted with them for a while, before continuing on down the trail, inhaling the gorgeous views off of each side of the ridge.

Today we had the day off, and some friends and I took the 20-minute longtail ride to a small village called Railay (alternately spelled Rai Leh), rendered accesible only by boat as a result of behemoth limestone rock formations that immure the small huts and beautiful beach. We rock climbed all morning, and the climbing was excellent, although the view from the craggy top was even more spectacular. In the afternoon we headed back to Ao Nang where we took a Thai cooking lesson in which we prepared (and ultimately ate, of course) a seven-course Thai meal. And all in a day's work.