Pattaya June July Trip, Nong Nooch II, The Giant Arapaima

After an hour of browsing and photo taking, when we were finally able to tear ourselves away from “The (amazing) Bromeliad Garden” located just to the right as one enters “The Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Gardens,” we made our way back out to the park’s main boulevard. We weren’t quite sure which way to go, but from the brochure map clutched in our thoroughly sweaty hands, it sure looked like we had plenty of possibilities. We decided to play it by ear and just follow whatever good things we saw in front of us.

Immediately to our front, out the gate upon departing from the lovely bromeliad section, we once again viewed the charming little manmade lake, in front of which we had parked our motorbikes more than an hour earlier. We soon found that this water feature was the continuation of a much larger lake system, the rest of it being across the street but hidden by thick foliage and buildings.  

No matter where one looks... 

Following the sidewalk along the main road we crossed to the other side just past the lake to our left and entered a jungly section by way of a little weather-worn wooden bridge. Seeing a foot-long lizard warming itself on the planks in front of me I paused to take a quick shot of it.

On the concrete jungle path, which now had us climbing, we followed a boulder lined stream to our left, the seemingly unmoving brown waters of which eventually ended up in the lake behind us after flowing under the road, or it would have flowed I suppose whenever a hard tropical rain caused it to. In no time we topped a rise finding the origin of the muddy colored stream. There before us was a large expanse of another much larger body of water than the one across from the bromeliad garden behind us. Looking around, now we noticed that Nong Nooch was laced with hundreds of meters of an intricate system of wide elevated walking paths interspersed with even higher viewing platforms. At that point we were only at the beginning of the paths and platforms but I could tell it was going to be amazing.

Not sure what it is, but it was displayed near the muddy stream

But before we got involved with the elevated viewing paths, we decided to go and explore what was offered at the lake. Approaching it we saw that the viewing paths extended well out into the waters. A sign displayed prominently near the entrance to the pier like pathways announced what was out there in the complex of steel poles and walkways: “Feed the Giant Arapaima!” 

Feed the Arapaima! Notice also the  few sections of floating garden, only a small bit compared to what we could spy across the lake 

Thinking about the sign as we passed by it deeper into the maze of platforms, I thought ‘Well that’s strange—I thought the arapaima was a South American fish.’ Sure enough, it IS native to South America, especially to the Amazon region. In fact, recently I saw shows on both The Discovery and on NatGeo channels detailing how the arapaima has been so successfully bred in Thailand that the largest samples on record are now probably in Thailand, some of them longer than 7 feet long weighing many hundreds of pounds. It seems that the Brazilians have eaten all the huge ones that they have available. Like I keep saying in these posts, the Thais do nothing half way.

I took a few pics of the arapaima viewing and feeding area, a square enclosure surrounded by a multi-tiered complex of vertical support poles, safety rails and walking platforms to provide as many people as possible easy access to the sight of the giant fish in the muddy waters below. We chose to stay at the top level to watch the folks below go about feeding the 6 foot plus monsters lurking in the waters below.

I’ve noticed that all Thai theme parks love to add to their revenue by offering their customers the chance to feed the animals, whether it be hungry crocodiles, elephants, horses, sheep, parrots, and of course—huge fish! It’s a pretty good racket. During my two trips I must have easily paid more than $300 in all doing it. I find it irresistible in spite of my chintzy side that is always whispering to me that I shouldn’t. I’m proud of myself that this time I chose not to feed the fish, perhaps because by keeping above it all I removed myself from the temptation. Unfortunately for my pocket book though, later on my compulsion to put food in front of animals would rear its ugly head and I would give in to it. Woe is me.

As far as feeding the arapaima, one pays a couple bucks to be given a pole with a piece of chicken tied to the end of it. We watched from above as people would dip the chicken pieces near the water above the heads of the gigantic fish, trying to tease a snapping reaction from them. From our vantage point the deep green broad backs of the fish made them appear more like fat alligators than like fish—headless alligators. More often than not the powerful fish grabbed the meat off the line before it could be jerked away. It was fun for me to vicariously enjoy the sight of someone else wasting their money for once. Suckers!

We soon had our fill of watching the monster fish since we really couldn’t see much more of them than the faint outlines of their fat long bodies in the murky water. What they should do is create a viewing window that puts the viewer beneath the water line; now THAT would be cool. I'd PAY to do that.

We departed the lake by way of a different pier than the one we had entered on. It led us to a set of stairs up the steep bank, more like a hill, that took us up to a tree shaded plateau, where a mostly deserted snack and drink outdoor bistro like place awaited us. By this time we were all pretty hot and thirsty so while the girls got drinks we found a table with a nice view of the lake and settled down to rejuvenate a bit. We marveled at the beauty of the park, noticing the huge floating gardens across the way while making a mental note to make our way over to them eventually, something that we never got around to doing regrettably. Over our several trips to Nong Nooch we STILL didn’t get a chance to see it all.

Half way through my drink I absentmindedly began doing my pocket checking ritual—there’s my wallet, there’s my eyeglass case, there’s my scooter keys. Wait. Oh crap! I don’t feel my keys! What the…! Jolting to my feet I urgently emptied my pockets unto the glass of the table top. Then pulling my pockets inside out I groaned, “You’re not going to believe this folks. I LOST my scooter keys! Damn it!”

Life went from a moment of carefree relaxation to panicky dread.

Come back in a couple days and I’ll tell you what happened. (chuckle)

Pattaya June July Trip, Nong Nooch I, the adventure begins

At the entrance of "the bromeliad garden"

Last April, on our first trip to Pattaya, “the Don, “our venerable trip leader and guide,  mentioned several times that if we ever found the time that we should schedule a visit out to a botanical garden that he had passed by several times over the years on his many bike trips out into the Thai countryside. Not being much of a “plant guy,” (as he says) he never bothered to venture past the gates; however, to me he offered this phrase a time or two, “But I know how much you love nature and plants and flowers and all, so maybe you’d like to make the trip and check it out?”

The only thing about going out there that gave me any pause at all is when he mentioned that it was more than a few kilometers out (like 15 or 20); and, he continued, based on my scooter driving rate of travel (as compared to his Speedy Gonzales style) he estimated that it would take us more than 30 minutes to get out there.

Every thing there has the "wow factor!"

We never did make it out to “the gardens” in April. The logistics of having along from the Philippines one of my girls complicated scooter travel to say the least. It wouldn’t have been a problem if three on a bike was legal (although the Thais do it like crazy), but as a foreigner getting caught with the extra passenger is a sure fire fine; not a very hefty one, but who needs the hassle? Anyway, we knew we were going to return in June so we put off the botanical visit until then.

For me, chasing after “Don the bike master” on a scooter always means a heavy dose of strain on top of a full measure of anxiety. I know this to be true based on what happened last April, when after following him around Pattaya for a couple hours on our quest for Thai drivers’ licenses; we stopped in at a doctor’s office for a quickie physical. Normally, my BP is around 110/70, but not that time. I was aghast to see it up at 180/90! Being in a constant state of dread will do that to you.

I could have sat right here all day

To make it worse was speeding along after him with a passenger tucked up behind me, because now a mistake meant killing or maiming not only me, but the mother of our children as well—oh boy! And to add even more to the "oh no" pot, on one of our trips to a nearby electronics mall, we passed by the recent aftermath of a really nasty scooter crash. It was not pretty. The mangled bike lay twisted on the road in a debris field of shattered plastic pieces and splotches of blackening blood. The driver had obviously been badly hurt, if not killed, and had had already been scooped up in one of the ubiquitous baht buses and taken to the hospital. Gulp. I read somewhere that scooter accident deaths are the modern Asian plague. I believe it.

I had no idea that bromeliad species got THIS big

Anyway, knowing that such negative thoughts can result in the fulfillment of them I always attempt to buck up, man up, and get my bravado on. Acting brave is the next best thing to being brave; that has been my way for decades. Weird thing is—it works—who’s going to know the difference?

I actually have several of these at home, but they don't look THIS good.

I can see the route now in my mind’s eye—out the hotel driveway right on the one-way 4 laner that is Second Road and soon right again on Pattaya Klang. You'll follow that busy four lane with its extra long traffic lights all the way to where it T’s into a fast moving 6 lane (8 or even 10 lanes, if you count the inner and outer shoulders) boulevard called Sukhumvit Road. We sped along that thoroughfare for a long time, long enough for me to eventually relax somewhat even—not an easy thing for me trying to keep up with Speedy Don. As we approached traffic lights I’d hope that each would turn red and force us to stop long enough for me to take my hand off the throttle to shake out the tension in a bad right wrist. If I have to go for longer than ten minutes cranking on the throttle, inevitably that forearm goes into spasms. When that happens all I can do is pull over and massage it until it passes.

Luckily we hit plenty of red lights and so my arm got plenty of rest and mostly behaved. But we did have another unscheduled stop that didn’t involve traffic at a place that Don had warned us of beforehand. For the most part the Thai police don't bother with stopping tourists tooling around on scooters within Pattaya proper, but they obviously have a policy to stop ALL foreigners on bikes outside of the city. Three or four miles down Sukhumvit we could see a traffic light in the near distance; it looked like we would easily make it through on green, but then a frantically gesturing policeman stepped out, pointing at us as if shooting lightning bolts from his index finger before raising both arms high in the international signal to STOP.

There were three policemen manning the checkpoint. One was already questioning and checking the documents of a hapless Thai biker. Don and I pulled off the shoulder to a spot right in front of the police station and let the girls off. We joked and laughed that what Don had predicted had actually happened; he wasn't exactly omniscient though; he’s been stopped at that spot countless times over the years. The cop assigned to us kept a stern demeanor, probably expecting us to not have drivers licenses. He almost seemed shocked (or disappointed perhaps) when we pulled ours out and merrily handed them over for his inspection. Once he saw we were good to go his attitude suddenly switched over to smiling friendliness. Don pulled out his tourist map and showed him where we were headed. The now affable policeman began to try to speak Thai to our ladies and he seemed surprised yet again learning that they were from the Philippines. So we got him twice in the same stop--hah! He nodded a thank you and pointed us back out to the road, dismissing us to continue our journey. We thanked all of them with Don giving them a chuckling “See you again, probably SOON!” They didn’t understand us, but we laughed at the joke just the same. We gave them a wave and a hardy hi-ho and sped away on down the road.

I have these but have never seen the flowers. Look carefully in the center.

Then again, is that tiny flower from the bromeliad, or is the bromeliad actually a host plant for the tinier plant?

I'm getting ahead of myself. During this recent stay in Pattaya (Jun-Jul '12) we ended up making more than one trip out to a special place that we were about to learn is called The Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Gardens. Now that’s a rather long, even grandiose name, but in this case, it’s definitely a place that lives up to the grandiosity of its title. Our stop at the police check point marked just past halfway to the intersection where you turn left for the final two mile drive to Nong Nooch’s entrance gate. Don hadn’t warned me how long that approach road would be; in fact, its a four lane divided boulevard that winds and S-curves into the country side interminably with almost nothing to mar the pastoral view by way of buildings or structures along the way. It feels like you are heading out into the middle of no where.

Photography is a dream in that place. No matter where you aim there is a sublime shot.

I tell you what though, the Thais do NOT do things in half steps—saying that, coming to that conclusion, is even easier after having lived “here” for ten years where most public works and large endeavors are done cut-rate and left mostly looking unfinished. I have to chuckle reading what I just wrote because it reminds me how much repeating that theme at almost every turn, comparing the Philippines to Thailand (there is no comparison) eventually just irritated the heck out of my wife. “Well, if you love it here so much, why don’t you just move here!” Always easy to de-fuse, I would just shrug and in deadpan tell her, “Coz YOU’RE not here asawa; otherwise..”

Finally, we got to the end of that endless approach avenue, came to another intersection and following the sign turned right for another couple hundred meters to the actual park gate. From there, looking into the park, the place seems very understated; at that point I really wasn’t expecting much. Boy did I soon have another thing coming.

Look how they arrange the individual bromeliads to form a larger mural of plants.

Don and I have learned to have the girls—who look like Thais by the way—hang well back while the two of us pay for our tickets at the various attractions. Note: Thais always pay about a third less than foreigners at all the attractions. So, we don’t say anything, they don’t ask, and we pay the price they ask for. Usually they don’t ask since Thais don’t speak English well. We hand over some money, they hand us back our change and the tickets and the four of us go merrily on our way. But there WAS one time where a more punctilious attendant actually asked the question, which I of course honestly answered, and only then, well, you know…

We drove up the lane and into the park and soon came upon a small manmade lake on the right where we saw a dozen bikes like ours parked. We pulled in to park in line with them and thus started our adventure in Nong Nooch.

You'd never get away with this back in the states these days. Cute.

Directly across the street from the lake we spotted a charmingly quirky entrance into a garden area and in we sauntered. I was immediately impressed. No matter where you look there is something to see, no detail too small not to attend to. My camera began a workout that by the end of the day resulted in hundreds of photos loaded onto the memory card. Within moments I noticed the theme of that particular garden and announced it to my fellow site-seers, “Hey, almost all the plants in here are bromeliads, did you notice that?” Don grinned, answering half mockingly, “Okay Phil, if YOU say so.”

These look African. They look aged, as if imported. Interesting to see in Thailand.

Okay, so I’m a plant geek. But even I didn’t know a bromeliad from a commelinid until the wife happened to bring home a few potted species of them from some people who were moving to a place with a much smaller yard.  Bromeliads really are a fascinating family of plants, many of them originating from tropical jungles and rainforests of the world. The first time I saw them was on TV a few years ago where a program showed how tiny tree frogs would lay their eggs in water trapped handily in the base of certain bromeliad leaves. Awesome! Of course, I hadn't bothered to memorize the name of the plants until I happened to own a few myself. Finding out the name on the internet of this family of plants was fairly easy; I just typed tree frog plant into the search engine and there it was.

Not realizing the full extent of Nong Nooch, we browsed and enjoyed for almost an hour the relatively tiny  bromeliad garden. I say relatively tiny even although at the time I didn't think so until I saw how massive the rest of the park is--it's gigantic.

This plant is about five feet across and  three feet high. Gorgeous

I was fascinated with the way the gardeners took these hardy plants potted in tiny black plastic bags and arranged them in holders on the garden walls to form some of the most amazing mural patterns using the varying foliage colors of the various bromeliad species. I’ve never seen anything like it. Many hours later, almost a half hour after the park "officially" closed, we drove back toward the gate and I glanced over to see a sign on the frontage wall. "Bromeliad Garden," was on the sign. "See! I told you so!" I called over my shoulder to my wife, pointing at the sign as we sped past it almost out the gate.

Its in the details. Wow!

Not wanting to bore Ed Abbey, who, dollars to doughnuts, won’t even get this far, I’ll finish this post off and continue to write more about all the other remarkable exhibits at Nong Nooch in upcoming entries. Oh, and enjoy the photos. I’ll put a handful here in the post, but if you’d like to see more go to my Flickr site where I’ve placed hundreds of outstanding pics from this most outstanding Botanical theme park. Go here for the day 1 photos of Nong Nooch. 

Statuary everywhere, not just in the bromeliad garden