Dollars to Dong-Bahts

Plant Exploration in Northern Vietnam and Northern Thailand
8/9/2005-9/2/2005

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Monday 8/22/2005

In the morning, we were off to the north and our first stop near the town of Lop Buri. This site near a Buddhist temple was amorphophallus heaven. The monk in charge was delighted to allow us to climb the stairs to the top as well as to dig plants...a welcome invitation...if we could pry them out of the rock cracks. The steep, slick hillside was dotted with large limestone rock outcrops. Among the rocks and the kaempferias, we found Amorphophallus atroviridis, A. aesterostigmatus, A. brevispathus, and two other species that we couldn't identify. The humidity was already so high that just keeping the sweat out of our eyes was becoming difficult...almost as difficult as not slipping off the side of the cliff.

Our next stop was another nearby Buddhist temple and cemetery that yielded a new range of amorphophallus species. We found what we think are several forms of A. tenuispadix, along with more A. atroviridis, A. scutatus, and a load of unidentifiable amorphophallus and their closely allied cousins, the pseudodracontiums. This bamboo overstory and lack of much else in the herbaceous layer made us think that this site probably got much drier than anything we had visited earlier on this trip.

The final stop of the day was at the Bo Ya Cave Buddhist Temple site. It is from this site that the recently named Amorphophallus sizemoreae was first found by plant explorer, Mary Sizemore of Florida. We ascended 300'+ from the road via a set of very uneven steps, then out on the rock outcrops where we climbed above the last Buddha. Amorphophallus sizemoreae was everywhere among the rocks, <27370>growing alongside of a few green stem Amorphophallus tenuispadix. Also at the site was an array of unusual terrestrial orchids.

It was already close to 6pm, and we still had a 2-hour drive to our evening stop in the town of Tak, so back in the van we went, each holding our noses since our deodorants had worn out much earlier in the hot, humid day. At least we managed another sunny day without rain, although we were probably wetter than we would have been in the rain.

Tuesday 8/23/2005

We stopped occasionally along the road from Tak to Chiang Mai, finding Amorphophallus longituberosus and more A. macrorhizus, but it wasn't until we passed 1500' elevation that we hit the day.s jackpot. As the rain began, we carefully descended a steep bank below the highway to find a woods filled with gems. We found 4 amorphophallus species here, including A. longituberosus, A. macrorhizus, A. krausei, and an unidentified species with spiny petioles. The three 'wow' plants were a patterned hapaline, probably H. colaniae (typhonium-like aroid) with a patterned leaf that looked just like an asarum, a 2' tall silver-center Colocasia fallax, and a beautiful silver-center zingiber. The slopes were also loaded with Curcuma parviflora, globba, zingiber and much too much to list. The light rain shower made our return trip up the steep bank even slicker, but eventually we all made it back to the van, and off we went for our final hour's drive to the Diamond Hotel in Chiang Mai. If you are looking for a really cheap basic room with hot water, but no restaurant, the Diamond Hotel is for you. We dropped off our dirty clothes at the laundry across the street and said a prayer for their safe and dry return. Near our hotel was a fascinating little food court where you buy tickets and then exchange them for food at any of several dozen food vendors. As you can imagine, we had plenty to eat.

Wednesday 8/24/2005

Our target for today was a visit to the highest peak in Thailand, the Doi Inthanon Mountain, about 1 hour southwest of Chiang Mai. We arrived at the base of the mountain around 9:30am, paid our $4.55 USD per person admission, and began the drive to the top, making mental notes of interesting plants we saw along the drive to the top. By 10:30am, we had reached the end of the 20km road near the top at 8060' elevation. As we had been warned, it was very cool at this elevation, despite the heat and humidity back at the base. We walked along the main trail, past the giant gordonia, to find huge patches of Arachniodes fern...probably A. standishii, Arisaema consanguineum with cobra-patterned petioles, the beautiful yellow-flowered Impatiens longiloba, and a myriad of other ferns.

From the summit, we headed back down the mountain, making stops at every 1000' elevation drop. At 6700' elevation, we saw our first begonia...a nice, red-veined species as well as a small ophiopogon. The humidity was so high here that ferns and remusatia were growing in the moss on trees. The 10' tree ferns were amazing to see as well as amazing to get to, since they were growing in a fast-running creek. As the humidity and the cool air mixed, the fog became so thick that finding one's way back out of the jungle through the use of landmarks became quite difficult.

At 5,000' elevation, we began to see our first amorphophallus species, possibly A. corrugatus and possibly a second unidentified species. At 4200', the amorphophallus became more plentiful as we began seeing A. krausei in very large populations. Growing among the amorphophallus was an upright yellow-flowering labiatae...possibly a salvia. These were growing among beautiful, arching adiantum, similar to A. davidii and a charming yellow spotted terrestrial orchid. Hayes also found a nice 8" tall disporopsis growing among the bamboo, along with an acorus that doesn't seem to match either of the two known species. The most amazing plant at this site, however, had to be the giant 30' tall species banana with red stems. Walking among wild groves of bananas is truly an amazing feeling. This was also the elevation where temperate woody plant species began appearing alongside the tropicals. This site was filled with magnolias, osmanthus, daphniphyllum, exbucklandia, and an array of familiar plants.

As we descended further to 3500' elevation, we began seeing Amorphophallus macrorhizus and Amorphophallus puttii, growing with A. krausei. Nearby was a new arisaema with the same whorled leaf arrangement as A. consanguineum, but with white leaf backs, upright seed stalks, and finger-like projections from the tubers.

We could have easily spent an entire extra day on this wonderful mountain, especially between 3000' and 5500', where the species diversity is the richest. Amazingly, we had a dry, sunny day on a mountain that is renowned for constant showers. It was 4pm before we finally stopped for lunch at the Doi Inthanon Research station at 4,000' on the side of the mountain. This facility is composed of thousands of greenhouses dotting the mountain and a nice little mountaintop open-air restaurant. You'll never guess what we saw there... a prototypical deep south US tire planter! The only question is whether Felder Rushing got his idea from Thailand or did this technique originate in the US and make it's way there? Inquiring minds want to know. Oh well, another day in the books, so back to the hotel we go.

We passed by our laundry as we turned into our hotel and noticed a note pinned to the door. Panic set in as we had left virtually all of our clothes to be cleaned. When we walked from the hotel back to the laundry, we were relieved to find that the note only directed us to walk to the adjacent massage parlor to pick up our clean clothes. This was certainly the best job of doing laundry that we had seen during the entire trip. We were just a few blocks away from the amazing Chiang Mai night market (across the street from McDonalds), where vendors sell all kinds of crafts along the streets until well after midnight. Even a late night stroll found this area packed with foreigners. Our favorite sight was the German restaurant nearby the market with the Thai girls dressed in stereotypical German outfits.