Eeeekk... Doi Tao Lake Is *g O N E*..

[chanchao]

Ok, I've heard some people talking about Doi Tao lake not having so much water, but I always thought this was because it was the dry season at the time, or just a little less water compared to previous years.

Well, yesterday I went there, as I had some time to spare from a trip to Om Koi district, and in fact it's not a matter of Doi Tao lake being smaller, it is, in fact, GONE! And this is pretty much the height of the wet season!

It's quite surreal because you see this fairly recently built 'tourist area' with souvenir shops and parking for tour buses and all. All of this looks like it's been constructed quite recently, perhaps this year or last year, it looks THAT new! It's also VERY empty!

But then where the missus said the lake used to be (which is a HUGE area) there is only grassy weeds! You can still see how big it was, like miles and miles of nothing. There's even a pretty big boat there, like a two deck boat enough for over 100 people or so, that's just stuck in between the weeds. A dirt road leads to a kind of central swampy area that still has some water, but it's not even as wide as the Ping river. Some smaller long tail fishing boats are there and some remnants of rafts and floating restaurants, none of which are in serious operation anymore.

At some places you can see that it once was a lake, like a wooden mooring pier that shows the marks of ropes scraping into it, but again it's in the middle of this desert of weeds..

If anyone's looking for a desolate place for a good suicide, this is it!

I shot some video of it, maybe I can post it somewhere.

(Om Koi was awesome by the way, keep it a secret!

Cheers,

Chanchao

[davidgtr]

(Om Koi was awesome by the way, keep it a secret!

yeah yeah, a secret, you've already spilt the beans on the message board......

[chanchao]

> yeah yeah, a secret, you've already spilt the beans on

> the message board......

Consider that it could actually be an already hugely popular destination, but nobody ever manages to make it there because they get beaten up trying to pronounce the name when they ask for directions.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[chanchao]

Nice to see you on this forum, by the way!!!