Requiem for a piece of the urban jungle
You can find them all over the world and therefore also in Thailand. Pieces of land in urban areas that apparently nobody cares about. And who still know the actual vegetation, or shrubs and trees that emerge after cleaning up. Because in Thailand, the plants are usually only removed to ground level.
These areas of urban jungle are often refuges for animals that have been chased elsewhere, such as birds, snakes and monitor lizards. Ownership of the lands is not always clear. The owner is waiting for even better times for the sale or it concerns pieces of land that are left over after a sale. Often there is not even a sign that the land is for sale. And in the meantime, nature is thriving.
Until the ax falls and the animals have to make legs on the spot (if they have any at all). Trees and shrubs are grubbed with brute force, usually with the exception of the largest and oldest specimens (ghosts, you know). Next comes the infrastructure, followed by buildings. If the piece is big enough, a hotel or shopping center will be built. To make as much profit as possible, the new owners often opt for small bungalows or even terraced houses, which are called town houses in Thailand. With all the consequences that entails, because planning is not one of the strong points of the Thai government. And so problems arise with power supply and water supply, and the sewage system must also be enlarged.
Progress is unstoppable, I know that. In the vicinity of urban prayers, this is further tempered by high land prices. In my area you have to pay at least four million baht for a rai (1600 square meters?
Near me in Samorpong (Hua Hin) the next piece of urban jungle has died. When cutting away, a nice pond emerged, where a few monitor lizards celebrated Earth paradise. No idea where they are now.
When I pass by on my bike every day, I often think of a song by the Eagles, from the double CD Out of Eden.
No more walks in the woods
The trees have all been cut down
And where once they stood
Not even a wagon rut appears along the path
Low brush is taking over
Unfortunately…
I feel the same way. And it bothers me.
I am also a nature lover. Sometimes I think of buying a piece of forest (in my wife's name) just to keep the trees and enjoy them myself during my stay.
Also the way Thais maintain their bush: burning bushes. Did I already tell my wife. But there is nothing to make clear to the local residents 🙁
Dear Hans,
In 1960 we (especially my Thai wife, Pen) started covering our bare old rice fields (6 Rai) with a kind of shade, by first planting bananas, which made it possible to plant seeds of desired exotic and (older and/or or native) trees/shrubs and even flowers. When the bananas could no longer keep up (because we ate the fruits ourselves), they were replaced by fast-growing legumes (seeds from the “ketim”) trees. The consequence of this planting was followed by the involuntary innerplanting of the emerging seedlings (and some Heliconias from Corsica); with the result that we now have a completely beautiful dense (almost natural looking) jungle (full of various birds, lizards, mice, spiders and other insects etc. and even 3 different species of squirrels and all kinds of snakes); which keeps our piece of land wonderfully cool, and we (in our own built Sala) enjoy all the greenery around us, and admire the luminous insects in the evening. You could call it a real homemade paradise, located within the border of the city of Chiang Mai. So it is possible to regain some of the old (original) vegetation, if you have 'green fingers', knowledge, time and interest. . .
Here in this part of BKK also plenty of those plots - but jungle? - forget that. Usually they quickly become rubbish dumps and become dumps of everything that needs to be discarded. After the rainy season, preferably also breeding grounds for mosquitoes and annoying insects, which may be useful for the cycle, but a plague for humans.
In addition, there is also another phenomenon in this tourist area ala bekpek that deserves a nice photo report: empty hotels, sometimes completely closed off with corrugated iron, sometimes also half robbed of everything that still had some value.
It is now also noticeable that there is a lot of work for the construction workers from neighboring poor countries to do: there is a lot of repair and restoration going on. So be quick before this too is gone......
There is now legislation for the urban jungles that have come about because of land speculation in cities like BKK and possibly more where waiting can be rewarded.
The owner now has to pay taxes on this property and the smarties thought to escape by clearing the jungles and growing bananas. The bananas grown on Silom should be very expensive bananas and that has now also been stopped.
It remains a cat and mouse game and I have seen an A+ location in BKK how it is being handled now. Set up a home for an employee for 200.000 baht, who lives on a 2-hectare estate.
Another option is to organize urban farming. On Rama 9 near Unilever there is a vacant lot waiting for development and to fill the meantime it has been transformed into a city farm for the many condo residents with a nice salary there.
Inventing a nice story and asking 10.000 baht per m2 per year, which of course can never yield the proceeds of the cultivated, testifies to just wanting to earn money. These types of companies can also choose to play a role in society and actually realize urban farming for the people who need it.
You don't get the real nature in return, but maybe there are other priorities in urban areas...
https://techsauce.co/en/sustainable-focus/central-pattana-gland-develop-urban-vegetable-farm-g-garden-in-rama-9-area-as-inspiration-to-urbanites-and-to-help-generate-income-for-farmers-