(Details on the black star sapphire ring of the Khao Ploy Waen mine owner: The stone was reported to have been mine here. Photo: V. Pardieu / GIA Laboratory Bangkok, 2009)

After visiting Khao Ploy Waen we left to Bo Rai. There we started to enquiry about any remaining gem mining area, local people told us to go near the Cambodian border, there may be we could find something. We drove on the road Richard took several years ago while searching for the last ruby mine of Thailand at a time when, along the Thai-Cambodian border, the "Khmer rouge" were still fighting the Cambodian government and its Vietnamese allies. Richard was then stopped by the Thai military and could not see the gem mining there. This time if we saw and passed many military check points, nobody stopped us to go further to the border. Driving on dirt roads through the mountainous jungle we saw many signals warning us about mines... A bamboo cutter, who lost his leg in the area, confirmed to us that these signals were not here for decoration or to warn "travel addicted gemologists" visiting the area about ruby mines: They were here to warn about land mines which are still numerous in the area.

(My travel buddy Richard W. Hughes and one of the red "danger mines" signals we saw all along the dirt road cutting through the Thai jungle near the Cambodian border... If ruby mines are not dangerous, land mines on the other hand are with malaria one of the nasty threads of the area.
Photo: V. Pardieu / GIA Laboratory Bangkok, 2009)

Finally as the mountain road was too steep, we had to abandon our "songteaw", the typical small pick up we hired in Chanthaburi to take us around. We continued then walking to the border where we met few friendly soldiers who gave us some useful information for our quest: There was nearby one place where people were probably still searching for gems: A place called "Pai Khwai". Asking regularly our way to different groups of local people cutting bamboo in the forest we found our way to "Pai Khwai" which turned to be a cashew nut plantation. There we stopped as there was no way to go further and we started to speak with the people working at the plantation. Two guys got immediately excited and told us that they were indeed searching for rubies each day. Sadly it was already late in the afternoon and they had finished their day. The good point was that we could see and buy their production and that we will be able to come back one of these week end to get more samples directly from the mines for our studies at GIA. They were very friendly and were working here for 5 years going once or twice a month to Bo Rai in order to sell their gems. They were working using very simple hand tools: An iron stick and a hand made sieve... Ruby mining was for them a good way not to loose their time, a way to get an additional income as we commonly saw in many parts of Asia and Africa, and a way to have a chance to find some good stone and to eventually become rich! "Hope" is everywhere the gem miner's mistress... and "hard work" his daily life!

("The last ruby miners of Thailand", a Cashew nut plantation worker present us the small rubies he found that day in the area. Photo: V. Pardieu / GIA Laboratory Bangkok, 2009)

They were possibly the last ruby miners of Thailand: Richard W. Hughes was able to add and end to his old story about the last ruby mine of Thailand and I had some good samples to bring back at the GIA lab. We will have great time studying them. Great week end!

Here is a link to the story Richard W.Hughes put online on his website after that visit near the Thai Cambodian border to searching for the last ruby miners of Thailand. "Red Sky at Dusk: Hunting the Last Siamese Ruby Miner" . Hoping that you will enjoy it as much as I did!