I mentioned in an earlier post that my Thai friend Thew had promised a giant snake that responded to spoken commands.

Thew takes great pride in arranging interesting trips but his sense of time and distance is somewhat approximate so arrangements tend to change as we go along. I find it best just to "go with the flow". We communcate in a combination of his English (Basic) and my Thai (VERY Basic) so misunderstandings also play their part.

However I did ask what had happened to the snake when a days journey seemed to drawing to its close.

He replied "No time, bats at six". This was the first mention of bats so I wasn't sure what to expect.

We were in the Petchaburi region of Thailand which has spectactular limestone outcrops that rise from a flat plain. Earlier in the day we'd climbed several to visit temples pearched on top though the largest was thankfully served by a cable car.

Our taxi now drove up to a Buddhist temple nested hard against the face of a vertical limestone cliff. The temple's sign was in the shape of a huge bat and model bats topped poles that flanked the path to the the entrance.

The sun was just about to set and I suspected what was going to happen but I pretended ignorance for Thew's sake.

High above in the evening sky several hawks, of some kind, took advantage of the updraft from the cliff and hovered, waiting just like us.

The sun set and almost immediately a few bats began to appear from a cave in the cliff face. Within minutes they formed a tight snaking stream that stretched across the sky, looking like a plume of smoke. I've no idea how many there were but we watched for twenty minutes and the continuous stream showed no sign of stopping.

Occasionally one of the hawks would swoop and separate one of the bats which was then chased and caught in mid-air.

Eventually the light failed and we made our way home.

Another magical day in this beautiful country.

Jon