thai jungle
Photo Journal
September 2016
“Look!” he said, bursting with excitement. Then, like a magician preparing for the show, he plucked a large leaf from a bush, broke the petiole in two pieces and started blowing on it. We stared at each other perplexed in finding that nothing had happened and we looked back at him expectant. He laughed bashfully and blew again. This time to our great surprise the trick succeeded and bubbles appeared floating in the air. As we clapped, a grin crossed his face from ear to ear, then he turned around briskly and hit the path again.
Lek was in charge of leading us safely from his village to the next one through the intricate Thai jungle. That morning we had been so lucky that the group of people, who should have come with us, decided to abort the strenuous mission, leaving us alone with our private guide. We couldn’t have asked for more. Nimble and swift, Lek was gamboling through the jungle with his worn out flip-flops, stopping out of the blue to introduce us the magic of his land: he showed us the leaf used as a weft for bracelets and even rooftops, the one used to whistle birdsongs, the other with healing properties.
We were ecstatic, in admiration of such knowledge, when he started to show off his skills too: he took a small handmade sling from his pocket, and, in a blink, a squirrel, which would have later been his lunch, fell from a tree next to us. Put the little animal in his satchel, we continued towards the village and, just before emerging from the tangle of branches into the terraced rice fields, he diverted towards a bamboo forest, unleashed a machete and chopped one down. What he would have done with the bamboo remained a secret until lunchtime, when, while the water was boiling, he started carving the wood with the same terrifying machete and soon enough we all could use brand new chopsticks to eat our boiled rice.
But the best was yet to come. As no meal can end without a dessert, Lek disappeared for some minutes and came back holding a lavish booty: a frog, a grasshopper, and two crickets. Skewered on sticks, the delicacies were put to roast on the fire until the moment of truth arrived. It would have been then or never so we closed our eyes and swallowed. Who could have ever imagined that crickets would taste like shrimps?
September 2016
“Look!” he said, bursting with excitement. Then, like a magician preparing for the show, he plucked a large leaf from a bush, broke the petiole in two pieces and started blowing on it. We stared at each other perplexed in finding that nothing had happened and we looked back at him expectant. He laughed bashfully and blew again. This time to our great surprise the trick succeeded and bubbles appeared floating in the air. As we clapped, a grin crossed his face from ear to ear, then he turned around briskly and hit the path again.
Lek was in charge of leading us safely from his village to the next one through the intricate Thai jungle. That morning we had been so lucky that the group of people, who should have come with us, decided to abort the strenuous mission, leaving us alone with our private guide. We couldn’t have asked for more. Nimble and swift, Lek was gamboling through the jungle with his worn out flip-flops, stopping out of the blue to introduce us the magic of his land: he showed us the leaf used as a weft for bracelets and even rooftops, the one used to whistle birdsongs, the other with healing properties.
We were ecstatic, in admiration of such knowledge, when he started to show off his skills too: he took a small handmade sling from his pocket, and, in a blink, a squirrel, which would have later been his lunch, fell from a tree next to us. Put the little animal in his satchel, we continued towards the village and, just before emerging from the tangle of branches into the terraced rice fields, he diverted towards a bamboo forest, unleashed a machete and chopped one down. What he would have done with the bamboo remained a secret until lunchtime, when, while the water was boiling, he started carving the wood with the same terrifying machete and soon enough we all could use brand new chopsticks to eat our boiled rice.
But the best was yet to come. As no meal can end without a dessert, Lek disappeared for some minutes and came back holding a lavish booty: a frog, a grasshopper, and two crickets. Skewered on sticks, the delicacies were put to roast on the fire until the moment of truth arrived. It would have been then or never so we closed our eyes and swallowed. Who could have ever imagined that crickets would taste like shrimps?