The eastern part of the peninsula has been hit hard rain by the monsoon. There is no dry season in this area, but only two seasons, summer and monsoon. The climate is quite similar to that of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which I visited at the same month last year. Please see below for last year's diary.  http://seagull.stars.ne.jp/2022_NST... /NST-KVIS_Part_1.html

By the way, the car plate number you see is Malaysian. It only takes 2 hours by car to get to Malaysia, so many Malaysians come here to shop. There are many mosques in this area, and many veiled women can be seen.

After the walk, we had lunch. In the right foreground is Hisada Sensei, professor emeritus at Tsukuba University, who was our guide. On the right, Ms.Chanakan, PhD student of Chulalongkorn University, who is also a student of  Prof. Hisada. I gave her a piece of Horoman rock from Hokkaido, as a sourvenior. In this essay, I call her Ms.C.

On the way to a resort on the west coast over a peninsula ridge. We noticed a beautifully planted rubber forest, so we took a look. I was already familiar with rubber forests, but many people who had never seen one before were very impressed.

This mechanism clearly shows the process of scraping bark and extracting raw rubber. Rubber production is still one of the key industries in Thailand.

Now we will join the main excursion of the day. This is one of our guides, Prof. Punya, a geological celebrity from Chulalongkorn University. He has appeared many times in papers on the geology of Thailand. During our stay in Thailand last December, we were treated to many beers and drinks at a restaurant in Bangkok.  I had many lively conversations with him.

We now entered Khao To Ngao National Park, which is home to the Satun Geo Park. As usual, the entrance fee for foreigners is 200 baht, which is a little expensive. I found something unusual at the entrance of the park. It is a prayer room for Muslims, who are common in the area. Prof Punya laughed at me when I told him that I thought it was a toilet, so sorry for Muslims.

At low tide, the beach where many fishing boats are moored has a wide lagoon-like tidal flat. It looks a little like Isahaya Bay in Kumamoto Pref. The promenade along the beach, the purpose of this excursion, can be seen at the far right.

It is spelled "Time Traver's Bridge". This is the entrance to the boardwalk.

This is the fossil sign at the entrance. As expected of a World Geopark.

This is the main site of the tour. On the up right is the Ordovician limestone and on the left is the Cambrian red sandstone. In other words, the two age boundaries meet at a fault line. The slicken pattern of the fault plane is also carved into the boulder block.

This is a close-up. However, the fault is only one interpretation, and some of the participating experts pointed out that it might be unconformity. However, I find it difficult to imagine an unconformity where limestone overlies sandstone.

Cambrian sandstones are widely spread along the coast. Tarutao Island, famous for its Cambrian trilobite fossils, can be seen in the distance. The island was larger than I had imagined. According to Prof. Hisada, our guide, the island was first considered for the excursion, but he gave up the idea this time because the ferry is easily affected by weather conditions. It was a little disappointing.

Now, let's visit the sandstone layers on the beach. The stratigraphy is clearly visible here. prof. Hisada explained that he thinks it was deposited by a shallow sea.

The trail is built at the bottom of a very steep cliff where the limestone has been eroded by sea water. We are going back the way we came.

The dinner that night was at a restaurant near the resort hotel. 80% of the residents in this area are Muslim, and only one out of ten restaurants serve beer. This is one of the few restaurants in the area.

The dishes served were of various kinds, but this one was the best of them all. The bowl is made of the shell of a sea creature. The salad, similar to sontam, contains the eggs of this creature. Can you guess what kind of creature it is? The answer is shown in the following picture. Hint: In one habitat in Japan, it is designated as a nationall monument!

The answer to the cooking eggs and vessel I just mentioned: horseshoe crabs! Today, the 27th, we will first visit the Geopark museum. In the back of the museum, there is a rather shabby geological exhibit.

After that, we were taken to the Stegozone Fossil Museum, the more impressive building on the right, the presentation was about the "Mani", a small group of indigenous people living in this peninsula. These people have little contact with the present inhabitants of Thailand, and they lived in seclusion as forest people, so to speak.

A recent study showing that the DNA of the Mani people is similar to that of the Jomon people has suddenly attracted the interest of Japanese researchers. Our guide, Prof. Hisada, is also interested in this issue and recently appeared in a special program on NHK. At the time, I had no idea that I would meet the real "Manis" later on.

This is a Mani family I met by chance on the roadside. They look different from ordinary Thai people. They look more like the people of the Andaman Sea. But according to the museum's explanation, the Andaman Sea people are similar to the Ainu people in Japan in many ways. I suddenly felt a sudden interest in the study of anthropology. This photo was taken with their permission, of course.

They used to live deep in the forest and did not like to be contacted, but they are now gradually coming out to the public, sending their children to Thai schools and selling their goods to passers-by like this. Ms. C, a graduate student at Chula University, communicated with us in Thai. She told us that she also speaks with a slightly different accent from the southern part of Thailand. Today was a day of learning about anthropology in a new way.

This is a branch of something I bought from them for 2 baht for 2 sticks. They said that it is used as a medicine to ease the pain in the lower back if you boil it and put it on your back. It was a very nice souvenir.

After a short drive, we enter an unusual limestone cave where the river runs through the cave, which is the excursion point for this afternoon. We all put on life jackets and board the canoes. A guide is on board and paddles the canoe. 2 people are in a group, so I was in the same canoe with Ms. C, a graduate student.

This is an absurdly long limestone cave, and even though we thought we had come a long way, We were surprised to hear that it was only half of our trip. There are several places with beautiful stalactites, and this is one of them. Click to Movie.

The market is mainly composed of clothing, sundries and food products. It is typical of rural markets.

There is even a temporary amusement park. Children in the countryside, where amusements are scarce, seem to enjoy it. Click to Movie.

A music band that always plays at events was loud and blaring. After this, our van picked us up and took us back to my hotel. Click to Movie.