"Uh-Oh" Discovered

Throughout Thailand, we have been serenaded by an elusive creature. It usually occurs after dusk, and is a very loud and very distinct song. Something like this: It begins with a subtle clicking chatter as it warms up. Then the words are always the same....'Uh-Oh'. The 'Uh' is said in a very staccato-like fashion with an upward intonation. Followed quickly by the 'Oh' which is drawn out a little and with a downward intonation. Repeat about 5 times. The last 'Uh-Oh' is quite faded compared to the first 4 as if this creature has become weary. Then it stops as abruptly as it began. Maybe to be repeated shortly therafter, maybe it will be another half hour, maybe you won't hear it again for days.

We heard this all over in the southern part of Thailand when we were traveling with my folks. Then in Vietnam, nothing. Back in Thailand, and there it is again. What the heck is it? Someone said it was a gecko, because instead of sounding like 'Uh Oh', you could convince yourself the words are 'Geck-o'. I didn't think that was right, because the run of the mill geckos that are always on our ceiling at night just make a little, soft chirping sound. Nothing like the vibrance of this song. So I suggested some kind of insect. While the sound was maybe too big for an insect, I still thought it was possible as there are some loud insects around here.

Sometimes we would hear this thing, and it would be so loud, we would be sure that we were close enough to see it, but we could never find it. One time was up on top of that wat where we climbed 1,000 stairs. I was right next to it, but couldn't see anything...further convincing me it was some kind of bug if it can be so close and still stay hidden. Then on our motorbike ride around northern Thailand, we were again close, only to be eluded once again, as whatever it was was hiding in a gutter.

Last night, the mystery was solved. We had checked into our room in Chiang Rai. I'm lying on the bed letting the fan cool me down, Keith is hanging wet sarongs out on our back 'porch'. The song starts. And it is loud. I think about getting up to see if I can see it, but I think, 'Ah heck. It's just a cricket or something and I'm sure it's in the crack of the concrete wall or something, and this fan feels so nice....' Then Keith comes back in in a hurry, and whispers, 'Get up! And gives me the SCUBA signal to look out on the wall. And there it is, in all its beauty:



I guess it was a gecko after all....or at least in the gecko family. I would say he was about 8 inches long and 2 inches wide at his thickest, dwarfing all those plain green-brown geckos that adorn our ceiling at night! Keith said his whole body moved as he was making the sound.
Aren't you happy mom and dad, to finally know? I'm sure you're still losing sleep over it....

We spent a very lazy week in Chiang Mai. Nothing to write about as a large part of it was spent staring at a computer screen. We had one day of exercise, where we rode bikes, ran, did strength training, swam, and played tennis! OK, let me clarify. We rode 5 minutes on flat ground to get to the park, where we ran for about 13 minutes, followed that up with 20 pushups, another 5 minute ride back to the hotel, where we had floating races in the pool. Tennis was later that day after the sun went down, and while we sweated buckets, I don't think our heartrates were doing anything too dramatic. After all this....we were both so pathetically sore the next day we couldn't get up like we promised ourselves to repeat the performance. We were only able to accomplish some more floating races.

We are now about 200 km northeast of Chiang Mai in a smaller city called Chiang Rai. We spent today on motorbikes. We drove out to a small mountain village close to the Burma border that was settled largely by Chinese. Tea and coffee are the main crops there now, which are quickly replacing the once all-too lucrative opium crops that once dominated this region. It was a beautiful drive out there...very dramatic scenery, even though the haze is back.

Here's looking down on the city from a wat-on-a-hill.


We continue north tomorrow, and hopefully crossing over to the Laos border. We then spend one month in Laos, then off to Africa! Tickets are booked and it is official. A painful decision after pondering visiting Burma and/or Nepal, but Africa it is.