SE Asia for the 8th time

In 10 days I'll be headed back across the planet to Bangkok for the 8th time.  Hard to believe it's been that many times!  The first time I went, I was so naive, got suckered with all the regular farang scams in Bangkok - the temples are closed, let me take you on a tour of my cousin's gem store, or taxi drivers not putting the meter on.  Now, I feel like it is home and not much fazes me.  Mai pen rai, just take it easy, chill out and be on Thai-time.

This year is a mix of house-building and gem hunting in Cambodia and then 2 weeks of holidays on Koh Yao Noi in Thailand.  Almost 5 weeks in total and I so can't wait!!  Winter came too early and has been coming on strong ever since - it's time for some Vitamin D and warmth!

Our build team is small this year - only 5 people:  myself as team leader due to the fact that our regular fearless leaders aren't able to make it for the first time in 8 years; a member of the Tabitha Board from here in Ottawa, Thora; and friends of mine from Melbourne, Australia, Dermot, Susan and their son Rory.  Dermot is a colleague from the Melbourne Museum who got interested in Cambodia after I gave a talk about the Ratanakiri zircons to the Mineral Society of Victoria back in July.  When he mentioned a few days later that he would be interested in both the zircons and the house building, it was a pleasant surprise!  And thus the planning for this trip began.  We have a newbie build team - with the exception of myself, none of the other 4 have built before and, I suspect, are going to be slightly shocked at the reality of rural Cambodia.  I actually enjoy watching newbies in Cambodia, and Thailand for that matter.  Seeing their eyes wide open full of wonder and shock is sort of fun and reminds me of how I was the first couple of years.  And how I still am at certain times.

I'm meeting Dermot, Susan and Rory in Bangkok where we will take a few days to acclimatize.  More so for me than them as they don't have a big time change and are not coming from -30 deg C weather!  We then fly to Phnom Penh to meet Thora and do all the pre-build necessities - trips to the Killing Fields and Tuolsleng for the rest of them, meeting with a few potential donors and finalizing details with Hanuman Travel for me.  I think that we need to check out the cow-on-a spit restaurant that Andy, Ralph and I discovered in 2012 as well.  

Rockin4Tabitha 8, 2012, Koh Kong province

We're building 10 houses in Preah Vihear province, near the capital of Tbeang Meanchey.  I've never been to this area so am quite excited.  With only 5 builders and 10 houses, you can bet we're going to be exhausted after the two days.  What is also interesting about this area is that it is also a zircon-mining area during the wet season.  Which leads nicely into the next part of the trip - gem hunting.

After we exhaust ourselves building 10 houses, Votha, our guide from 2012, is going to meet us in Tbeang Meanchey where he will help us find a few gem dealers in the town prior to heading out for the wild, wild East of Ban Lung early the next morning.  We're once again staying at the amazing Treetop Eco Lodge where the beer was always cold, the spiders were as big as small cats, and the gibbons sang all night long, competing with the Khmer karaoke down the road. 

Bungalow at the Treetop EcoLodge, Ban Lung, Ratanakiri province, Cambodia

Downtown Ban Lung - taxi service, pets allowed.

Baddeleyite dendrites on zircon crystal

Heat-treated, faceted and rough zircons, Ratanakiri province

My objective on this trip is to find (1) xenocrysts in matrix, and (2) accessory xenocrysts, hopefully attached together.  This might be a mineralogical pipe-dream, but right now, a clump of xenocrysts in association with a nice big zircon would be the icing on top of the cake for our study.  Unfortunately, everything is so weathered in the region that loose grains are all that seem possible.  It might mean scouring the countryside, looking at outcrop a bit more in key areas to find places where the correct basalt layers are exposed.  Or it could mean sitting myself down in the middle of a pile of dirt and hand-sorting through the lateritic mess along with the miners.  If I can convince them that it's not the zircons I want but everything else, they might allow me to do this.

Negative feldspar (?) xtal in zircon, 1 cm

Cathodoluminescence image of sector-zoned zircon crystal, Ratanakiri province, Cambodia

After hunting zircons, we head back to Phnom Penh and then part ways the following morning.  I get to head to Bangkok and then down to Phuket on a fast Air Asia flight, only to find my way to the pier to grab a ferry over to Koh Yao Noi.

There isn't much on the island except fishing villages, a few resorts, a lot of white beach, karst sandstone formations, and one Muay Thai gym - Koh Yao Noi Muay Thai.  The plan is to train, sleep, eat, sit on the beach, dive, and relax.  The mainland is only a short ferry ride away, and my friends over at Oceanic Dive Centre will be more than happy to welcome me on a few dives after this many years.  The question right now is how much diving equipment to pack, if any.  Maybe just my mask.  It's been ages since I have been back to this part of the world - 2008 actually, my first trip.  Can't wait!!