Like the few ancient forests that remain around the world, Thailand’s last peat swamp forest abounds in tales of mystery and imagination.

 

Local lore in Narathiwat province has it that Toh Daeng – an old Muslim woman who dabbled in black magic – rowed her sampan into the swampland. She went into the woods for couple of days and never made it back to the village. The villagers – young and old – retraced Daeng’s mosquito-infested trail into the woods. What they found wasn’t Daeng but an immense crocodile hunting for prey right by Daeng’s sampan.

 

“The crocodile was in Daeng’s clothes,” says a local guide in Narathiwat in a thick Southern dialect, as we walk into the forest.  “The villagers believed that the old woman transformed into an immense crocodile. The swamp forest gets its name from Toh Daeng – or Grandmother Daeng.”

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/visitors-to-narathiwat-are-guaranteed-to-find-serenity-in-the-sirindhorn-peat-swamp-forest/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-03-30

 

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I wonder if its like the mangrove swamps in Rayong, advertised as a tourist attraction, but littered with rubbish that nobody bothers to clear. 

to find serenity in the Sirindhorn Peat Swamp Forest

in the vicinity of an immense crocodile? no, thanks,  i find better serenity in my hotel room