Tham Nakha (Naga Cave), which was unveiled as a new attraction in Phu Langka National Park in Bung Kan province two months ago, was closed indefinitely last week by an order of the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa.
He was upset by the inappropriate behaviour of some tourists who did not respect the law or the natural treasure. Apparently, someone had carved a rude word on a giant sandstone dating back 70 million years. The rock is shaped like the head of a serpent king, so many tourists frequented the site to pay homage by lighting incense sticks, offering flower garlands, and rubbing the naga-head rock with their hands and applying baby powder with the hope that the spirit of the naga would bless them with winning lottery numbers.
Thais like to gamble. About 29 million out of 52 million citizens 15 years and above gambled last year, according to a report by the Research Centre for Social and Business Development. The lottery is the No.1 outlet for most people and about 22 million bought lottery tickets. The Government Lottery Office (GLO) was the top state enterprise, contributing 41.9 billion baht of revenue to government coffers last year.
People want to get rich and a shortcut comes every 15 days. The first prize for the winning numbers is 6 million baht and the highest prize ever was 180 million baht three years ago. In search of good fortune, people look for numbers anywhere, from burnt incense ash in well-known temples, drops of candles in a bowl of holy water, a weird-shaped rock, large takhian (ironwood) trees, birthdays or ages of prominent politicians and even from license plates of vehicles involved in car accidents.
A couple of years ago, my car was hit while parking in a market parking lot. It left a blue mark with long scratches on my right back door. An old blue pick-up truck had parked right next to me and I saw the grey colour of my car on his front bumper. An announcement asking the owner to return to his car was made several times, however, after waiting for 30 minutes, no one showed up.
No longer wanting to wait, I called my insurance and left a note on the truck's windscreen asking the driver to call me about the minor accident. My agent arrived. He took pictures of the incident and told me to report the case to the police. After learning about the accident, the policewoman checked for the owner of the car. She informed me that the owner said her parents drove the pick-up truck to see a doctor. She couldn't contact them because they did not have a mobile phone. The officer advised me to ask for CCTV footage and gave me the contact number of the car's owner.
I went back to the parking lot and found that the old blue banger was still there. I wondered why the couple parked the car instead of driving it to the hospital, which was about 10km away.
A couple of hours passed by and the sun was about to set when my phone rang. The voice of an old woman was on the other line. I told her to wait where they were. I called my insurance agent to help me settle the claim.
I arrived at the parking lot before my agent. I saw an old woman in her 60s with her husband who appeared thin and frail. I showed them the visible damage and he slowly walked to my car and then to his. I didn't hear what the man said because his voice was too soft, however, his wife said that her husband wasn't aware of the accident. It may have happened while he was trying to park.
His wife said they drove from their house to see a doctor but her husband was too weak to drive further. They decided to park the pick-up truck and take a taxi to the hospital instead. They apologised and told me that they did not have any car insurance.
I felt sorry for them and asked them to quickly leave before my insurance agent arrived. I also informed my insurance about what happened and told him that I wanted to cancel the claim. I also called the daughter of the elders to let her know that thing was sorted out.
At night, she sent me a message with a thank you note and reminded me that the next day was when people would get rich. She wished me good luck.
When the lottery results came the next day, I was surprised to see the last three figures of my registration plate among the first three-digits of the winning number. If you want to know whether I won the prize, the answer is no because I rarely make a contribution to the GLO. But I hope the family may have luck. Recently, when my sister told me that her car was also hit in a parking lot, I asked her what her registration plate number was and wished for better luck this time.
Karnjana Karnjanatawe is a travel writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.