– ODO- 21317-21460km
– Location- Thailand
– Weather- 25-32 showers in the afternoon
Last night I pushed and pushed through a lul in my mood. The road turned away from the sandy beaches and bay vistas back to the highway packed with pickup trucks and lorries all in a hurry to blast past on their way to somewhere. I kept my headphones in late into the evening as I headed off towards a hill into the thick palm trees set out in rigid rows for their oil (most of the trucks passing earlier that day were tankers full of it) destined for crisps and cakes.
My mood lifted drematicaly as the sun set and I pulled out of a town to find the perfect camp spot. A large flat field of palms backing into the edge of a large open cast mine, on this side surrounded by a high gravel bar. I set up in the diamond between four squat trees and set up my stove and noodles. Stripped down to my pants to cool off in the heat and set up my tent. After eating and washing I sat back in my large mosquito net to read as the insects all began to call at once as if at the flick of a switch.
Instead of reading I was treated to the ultimate nature documentary. As the insects erupted, out came a family of large bats, similar in wingspan to the common pigeon but thinner and quicker. They darted through the diamond, each time their wings whistles like a stick flicked in the air, bringing me back to a time when I was just a child with my mum. We used to throw small stones as bats passed down our country lane. The bats would catch it in their echolocation beams and dive down to try and grab the large falling insect, pulling up and screeching past just as the stone hit the floor. I’m certain that, one time, a bat flew through mums legs.
