Perils of mushroom picking in Thailand

Perils of mushroom picking in Thailand

One encouraging piece of news this week was the Supreme Court reducing the sentence of the Kalasin mushroom pickers accused of illegal logging from 15 years to five. But many questions remain.

The sad saga of the jailed couple has renewed debate about social status when it comes to dealing with the law. Everyone is painfully aware of high-profile cases in which little or no action has been taken against the kin of influential families for deeds considerably more dastardly than picking mushrooms.

Most readers are familiar with the mushroom case. When police raided an illegal logging gang in Kalasin's Dong Ranang National Park in July 2010, the gang escaped, but an abandoned motorbike was discovered nearby. Police traced it back to the couple, who said they had nothing to do with the loggers but had simply been mushrooming. When they learned of the police raid on the loggers, they fled in fear that they might also be arrested. Their fears proved to be spot on.

We really don't know for sure whether or not the couple were involved in illegal logging or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. As far as the police and the court were concerned, it was straightforward as the couple pleaded guilty to illegal logging and were said to be in possession of unlicensed logs.

But according to the couple, they were confused by the legal jargon and thought they were being charged with picking mushrooms in a protected park. They went along with advice by their lawyer to plead guilty, which supposedly would mean they would spend no time in prison.

They were sentenced to 15 years in jail (reduced from 30) and the story went around the world. It was not great publicity for the kingdom. "Mushroom pickers get 15 years in jail" doesn't read well, whichever way you view it.

Blame it on mum

On a lighter mushrooming note, readers may recall the story in November 2007 when a Thai army helicopter landed in a field in Kanchanaburi and its crew set off on a mushroom-hunting expedition.

There was some confusion over exactly what happened next. One story was the pilot went off to collect mushrooms to give his mother who lived in a neighbouring village. Other reports said he picked up mushrooms from his mum. What there was no dispute about is that the hed khone mushroom from Kanchanaburi is particularly tasty.

Army officials were definitely not amused. Their wrath was not so much directed at the mushroom picking but the fact the pilot and the crew abandoned the copter for more than an hour. The aircraft belonged to a search-and-rescue squad, but whether its duties covered searching for mushrooms seemed highly doubtful.

In the following weeks a number of people were transferred to inactive posts, but all the publicity prompted a big boost in the hed khone business.

Bearing up

In case you are not convinced of the hazards of mushroom picking in Thailand, there was a case in Phu Chong Na Yoi National Park in Ubon Ratchathani last July when a fungi hunter had a most unpleasant experience.

He was foraging for wild mushrooms when an Asian black bear "as big as a buffalo" fell out of the tree above him. The ferocious bear attacked the mushroom hunter, leaving a big tooth in his backside. Park officials said the bear had become intoxicated by eating mahua tree flowers used for making alcohol.

Poison Pie

The poor old mushroom tends to take bit of a beating in literature, primarily because of its many poisonous varieties. You only have to look at the names given to such mushrooms -- Dead Man's Fingers, Witch's Hat, Devil's Urn, Poison Pie, Destroying Angel and Death Cap.

For a start, they would make great names for heavy metal bands. Apparently the biggest killer of humans is Death Cap, which deceptively doesn't look particularly evil and tastes quite nice. Stay away from that one.

Perhaps the best-known fungi in literature is the giant mushroom, which plays a significant part in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Following the Caterpillar's advice, Alice discovers eating one side of the mushroom can make her taller and the other side shorter, which she puts to good use in Wonderland.

Mushrooms also regularly appear in the Harry Potter books, the fungi being ideal for assorted magic potions. Speaking of magic, there are plenty of tales about odd behaviour by tourists after consuming those special mushroom omelettes on Koh Samui.

Midsomer magic

One of my favourite episodes of the TV detective series Midsomer Murders was named after the poisonous mushroom Destroying Angel.

The series is set in the English countryside where each week Inspector Barnaby and his sidekick solve assorted murders. In this episode, a mushroom hunter's severed head is discovered in a wood and Inspector Barnaby is called in. Several gruesome murders occur, including one unfortunate fellow poisoned by Destroying Angel, which lives up to its name.

The rural setting of the series provides the opportunity for a wide spectrum of gory ends. People fall off haystacks onto pitchforks, are sliced up by tractors, burned to cinders on bonfires or bludgeoned to death with cricket bats. Then there are the lethal fungi.

I might just give mushrooms on toast a miss this week.


Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@gmail.com.

Roger Crutchley

Bangkok Post columnist

A long time popular Bangkok Post columnist. In 1994 he won the Ayumongkol Literary Award. For many years he was Sports Editor at the Bangkok Post.

Email : oldcrutch@gmail.com

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