FILM ๐ฅ Welcome to the Jungle ๐ณ ๐ณ
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Itโs now the monsoon season in Thailand, and here on Phi Phi Island we experience storms on a daily basis, which brings heavy rain and winds followed by thunder and lightning.
A few nights ago during one of the worst storms weโve ever experienced here on the Island, Somdechโs longtail boat was struck by lightening, luckily he was not in the boat at the time, but its sadly destroyed half of his boat.
Somdechโs longtail boat is his livelihood, and without it, he cannot go fishing for his family and the people in the village, this is horrific.
We now need to rebuild his boat, and this will not be any easy task.
The local police on the island have given us permission to go into the jungle and cut down some trees, 4 in total, and from the trees we will produce timber planks to rebuild the boat.
We need to go high up into the jungle for the trees we require, which is not easy, with humidity and temperatures in excess of 45 degrees, not to mention all the mosquitos, and snakes, and theres red ants everywhere crawling all over your feet, imagine having to contend with all of this whilst stood on the edge of a mountain in the jungle cutting trees down.
The tree selection is a very important process, as it is believed that every tree has a guardian spirit, who when the tree is cut down and built into a longtail, stays and lives in the body of the boat to protect it. This Guardian spiritual goddess of boats is called โMae Ya Nangโ, or the โGrandmother of Boatsโ, by many thai fishermen.
If you would like to support us by donating towards the build of this boat, follow this link where you can read more about Somdech’s family and the history of longtail boats and why they are so important to Thailand.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helpingphipphi
You can also read the story on our website, link below
https://chrisandgabsworldcyclingtour.com/โฆ/somdechs-longtaโฆ/
Chris and Gabs World Cycling Tour 