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When dinosaurs ruled the Northeast Let's plan a field trip that includes adventure and a bit of learning this Children's Day. It could be a perfect family trip. Assuming that you set off from Bangkok in the morning and after stopping in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) for lunch, take the road No. 207, turn right at Phol District and then drive for 20 kilometres to Khon Kaen. Further up, it meets with No. 209 which leads you to Kalasin via Maha Sarakham. Don't worry! you won't get lost, but should you do stop by the roadside and ask the local people for direction. Lam Pao is a dam in Sahatsakhan District that can be reached via route No. 227 from Kalasin city. It's scenic and peaceful with some elegant resorts ideal for overnight stay. After a restful night you wake up fresh in the morning. Most resorts are located in the vicinity of fresh water aquaculture farms worth a visit, after which you can get back on the road (No. 227). After driving for 20 minutes, during which you see road signs cautioning drivers to beware of dinosaurs in traffic-police helmet crossing the street, you will arrive at a place where one side of the road is decked with several kinds of dinosaurs. It's an open-air exhibition of sort, a "Lost World" of animals that preceded man by several millions of years at the entrance to the dinosaur museum. It's a dinosaur park the provincial administration built several years ago, a perfect place for kids to run around. Kids are advised not to climb up the animals because their backs have bristles. Otherwise, they are safe: there are cute raptors carrying rubbish bin, triceratops, brachiosaurus, sauropods, T. Rex, spinosaurus, etc, etc all heading towards the road, towards humans. The dinosaur park looks gigantic, thanks to the vacant plot of land surrounding it and its imposing mountain background. Driving further up the 227 for some 25-30 kilometres, on your right you will see a road sign pointing to Wat Sakkawan and Phu Kum Khao Mineral and Dinosaur Museum. Turn right there and drive for a kilometre to Wat Sakkawan. Before you get there you will come across a huge grey building that's still under construction. Drive past it: the temple and museum stand in the foothills of Phu Kum Khao, where dinosaur fossils were found. But it's not the first place in Thailand dinosaur fossils were found, that honour goes to Phu Wiang mountains in Khon Kaen that stunned the nation in 1976 with news of the discovery, but Phu Kum Klao boasts of the biggest collection in the country. In fact, the Isan region turned in the biggest stockpile of dinosaur fossils and footprints. Discoveries were made mainly in Mesozoic non-marine sediments of the Korat plateau. These formations range from sandstone to clay to freshwater limestone. Dinosaur fossils found in Thailand date from the late Triassic (some 200 million years) to the early Cretaceous (some 140 million years) eras. Once you set foot on Phu Kum Khao, just close your eyes and let your imagination fly. You can picture meat-eating theropod dinosaurs roaming the river for prey such as their herbivorous suaropod and ornithopod (ancestors of birds) cousins that shared the mountainous terrain. Speaking of discoveries, one name, who is a living dino encyclopedia, Mr Varavudh Suteethorn, merits mention. He is a geologist and palaeontologist with the Department of Mineral Resources, as are the French team of Eric Buffetaut and Haiyan Tong. In late 1994 the French and Thai team found more than 600 bones and fossils in the Sao Khua Formation that uncovered two types of sauropod, one that was named Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae (after Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn) and the other still awaiting a name pending further research. Also discovered here were teeth of two kinds of carnosaur - the Siamosaurus suteethorni (similar to Africa's spinosaurus) and Siamotyrannus isanensis (T. Rex's earliest ancestor). In the museum, skeleton of the Phuwaingosaurus was laid out neatly in soft red clay obtained from the Sao Khua Formation. A single laterally compressed and serrated tooth from a theropod was also found, indicating it must be scavenging on carcasses of sauropods. The museum may seem cramped for space, but nonetheless it's within convenient distance and easily accessible. In the next few years when the grey structure being built next to it is completed, it will have air-conditioning, a modern laboratory, and proper conference and exhibition facilities. It's being built at a cost of 68 million baht, said Mr Varavudh. The exhibition area will occupy 8,800 square metres, while another 3,000 square metres has been set aside for storage and other purposes. By the way, don't forget to pack snacks for your kids because you fill find literally nothing they can feed on along the route. If you are not too tired, get back on the 227 and drive until you see a road sign pointing the way to Suan Sa-On, a park from where you can see the eastern side of Lam Pao Dam which has trees typical of mangroves and other fresh water plants. Kalasin might want to label Suan Sa-On as a nature park with an open zoo whose symbol is the banteng, but I must say it still has some way to go before it can lay stake to that claim, especially when the animals on show there scream for better care and protection. Although nature itself is in pristine state, animals such as black bear, monkeys and gibbons are kept in small dilapidated cages. Birds are aplenty too, but again they must be clearly marked out based on their species. There are colourful chameleons who share the same roof as the birds. One thing kids will surely find amusing is the sight of peacocks roaming freely in the park trying to knock icecream cones or other tit bits out the hands of visitors. There was one more letdown: banteng, the park's symbol was nowhere in sight, but little did I care. It's lunch time and our stomachs were reeling from pangs of hunger. I had no choice but drive back to Sahatsakhan District and find myself and the kids a decent meal, even though the soothing fresh park breeze seemed to suggest otherwise. If time permits, drive on to the Ubolrat Dam in Khon Kaen and to Phu Wiang Natural Park which has nine sites from where dinosaur fossils were excavated, before heading back to Bangkok. Phu Kum Khao Mineral and Dinosaur Museum can be reached at 043-871-014 and 043-871-394. To contact the Department of Mineral Resources Department in Bangkok, call 02-202-3670. |