On the farm, 23 February 2013

Fields plowed after cassava crop has been dug up and sold. Second pic shows the three main farm crops - sugar cane in the distance, eucalyptus trees to the right, and the bare field waiting for this year’s cassava crop to be planted.

Two photos from of the Bangkok Post’s photographer Patipat Janthong

• Tourists enjoy Pang Sida waterfall in Sa Kaeo province after tropical storm Gaemi was downgraded to a low pressure system
• A woman covers her face with a plastic bag as rain falls at Sa Kaeo’s Rong Kleu Market at Aranyaprathet before the Gaemi weather system hit the area.

Butterfly Watching season at Pang Sida National Park

The rainy season is when our forests are at their freshest and greenest, and it’s also when many different species of butterfly reach the peak of their numbers. So from June until Jul 31, Sa Kaeo attracts eco-tourists to Pang Sida National Park with the promise of “Butterfly Watching at Pang Sida.”

Visitors can take a workshop on how to photograph the winged wonders then enter their works in a most beautiful butterfly contest, peruse a trade fair and partake in a variety of other eco-tourism activities.

It’s also a great time to visit the famous Pang Sida waterfall.

The Family Farm in Sa Kaeo Province

Courtesy of Google Earth, a view of the farm, with my ‘colour coding’ added. Immediate village of about 15-200 people; a small town 3.5km east, and another 22km to Khao Chakan and the nearest ATM if that is a measure of civilisation; 20km further to the nearest supermarket.

1 Main farmhouses (2) here, plus workers homes further along the road. The main house is nearest the road.

2 Ricefields - only one crop per year here due to water shortages

3 Mushrooms

4 Reserve water supply - pond 70m x 70 and 5m deep. Doubles as the swimming pool, complete with fish

5 Sugar cane

6 Cassava

7 Eucalyptus trees grown for paper pulp

Farm Inspection

First effort each time we visit is a farm walk; we headed off with our little farm guide Game and the one-eyed farm dog Yom. Dry and dusty, though the farm still has a good reserve water storage for this time of year.

Sugarcane is re-sprouting less than a month since if was harvested/burnt off, get two annual crops from a planting then dig it up and start again. Eucalyptus trees doing well, the ones in the last pic are also re-sprouts from trees harvested a year ago, grow back with two and three stems per trunk and will be cut again in 2-3 years.

Rice fields have been ploughed and await the rain season for replanting - just one harvest per year here due to lack of water, some areas with more rainfall get 2 and 3 per year.

I had to carry Game back home, too far for those little legs.

Farm Games

In the absence of a skipping rope, after-school exercise for these kids on the farm involved jumping the bamboo stick, lots of noise, lots of fun, and lots of dust.

Sa Kaeo Science Centre For Education

In the grounds of the Education Centre, a dinosaur park.

Situated on Highway 33 about 5km from Sa Kaeo city headed east towards Aranyaprathet on the Cambodia border.

Sa Kaeo City Pillar Shrine (ศาลหลักเมือง)

Situated withing Suan Kanchanaphisek, the Golden Jubilee Park, 4km west of Sa Kaeo City on Highway 33 is the Sa Kaeo City Pillar Shrine.

The shrine is in the Khmer style and comprises an elevated main prang (a tall, finger like, carved spire), 7m wide and 19m high, which is surrounded by four small, equidistant prangs, all facing south. The five prangs are white in colour. Within the shrine stands the golden plated city pillar made of Chaiyaphruek or cassia wood, 3m high and 40cm in diameter. The interior of the shrine is richly adorned, and also contains two plaques which describe the history of the province and the shrine.

This shrine is evidence of the solidarity of the people and a symbol of the loyalty to King Rama IX, as well as a centre of spirit and unity of the people of Sa Kaeo province.

Khao Chakan Tuk-tuks

KC and Sa Kaeo city 18km away have a very old fleet of tuk-tuks, often held together with duct tape and string; they are mostly powered by 150cc motorcycles but a few have larger 3-cyclinder engines and run on LPG.

Not cheap to use - 250 baht from KC to the farm (26km), but most of their running is short local trips.

chanthaburi:

Sa Kaeo children visit Chanthaburi

A bus and three minivans of 5-6 year old school children, teachers, mothers and grandmothers visited Chanthaburi yesterday on a school trip.They came from a small rural village in Sa Kaeo province, approx 200km north/inland from here.

Included in the trip was a visit to the aquarium at Laem Sadet, followed by lunch and a swim at Chao Lao beach. it wasn’t the best day for swimming, but for many of the children this was the first time they had seen the sea; good fun in the small waves, floating on tyre tubes, or getting buried in the sand.

First, the aquarium visit.

chanthaburi:

Sa Kaeo children visit Chanthaburi

After the visit to Laem Sadet Aquarium, back on the buses and 3km down the road to Chao Lao beach for lunch and a swim.

Back to Chanthaburi province

Approx 100km from the farm and our first stop on the trip home, just across the border of Sa Kaeo and Chanthaburi provinces, at the gasoline station at Soi Dao. Food, a couple of shops and an Amazon Coffee outlet, good place to break the journey.