By There is a primal rhythm to Had Yao, Krabi, echoing the deep, ancient song of earth and moon, sea and sun. It starts quietly before sunrise, awakened by the haunting hoots of the crow pheasant, the incessant crescendo whistles of the Asian Koel, and the gentler melodies of red-whiskered bulbul songbirds, raised by the locals for their beautiful calls. Grazing cows bellow with long, melancholic moans between mother and calf, playful goats bleat in staccato beats. Fishermen rise early, preparing their nets and lines for a morning’s catch, the pattering chug chug of their longtail boats drifting across the water glimmering in fiery reds and oranges of the rising sun. The extended sonorous notes of the morning call to prayer reverberate through the air, adding a human voice to the earthsong, signaling that another day has begun.
A little further from the shore, the rubber plantation workers have already greeted the dawn, perhaps since 2 am, scoring the bark of their trees in order to slowly, drop by drop, yield precious milky sap. After a rest, they must return to their daily task, gathering the cups of rubber milk. In the shady lane protected by rubber and palm oil trees from the rapidly heating sunlight, a young bare-chested man clad in a sarong and slippers leads his fighting bull along for daily conditioning.
The moon rules the days and months here, the sun and sea command the seasons. The mysterious power of the lunar orb conducts the rhythm of the tides, alternately exposing the shore’s shellfish bounty for gathering, and renewing the beach and mangrove forests with its daily flood of nutrients. Even human events are ruled by earth’s natural satellite, determining the Muslim, Chinese, and Thai Buddhist calendars. The rural darkness of the evenings makes everyone aware of the moon’s phases in a way lost to those surrounded by bright cityscapes. In the same way, locals are all aware of the rising and lowering of the tide. Here, there is a raw, unfiltered connection to nature unfelt by those ensconced in their modern technical bubbles.
