Moving along swiftly...It was a very relaxing weekend and we literally experienced four seasons within a few hours...and to make it even more bizarre the towns / villages haven't quite come to the realisation that indoor leisure areas are a necessity especially for kiddies. Needless to say we all managed with some exploring on the road and spent time lying by the fire and taking things easy...you probably wondering what on earth this has to do with Thailand and why this blog is smack in the middle...but bear with me.
So part of why we went to that part of Wales is because my brother-in-law has friends there. I met a couple when we went to visit his friends who were doing what s known as "Work Away". It is a global platform of hosts offering full board most of the time in exchange for your work on their project. This couple had managed to travel Europe and the UK for over four months with Work Away and the projects sounded so diverse. After speaking to them about it, I knew it would be a key element in my travels...
I joined Work Away as soon as we got back to England for 23 Euros which gives me contact to all the hosts for 24 months. Bargain! I researched the available hosts in SE Asia for days and selectively applied to 10+ for projects that were somewhat out of my comfort zone unless it had to do with kiddies. I love kiddies so I was hoping to join a project involving the little dumpling midgets too.
One of the first hosts to accept my application was from an organic farm in north Thailand, just outside Chiang Mai. It was a brilliant opportunity and totally out of my comfort zone...I am quite the city girl so an opportunity like this would push me to the limits I had not yet experienced so I arranged dates with the host to stay on the farm for two weeks.
After spending a week in Chiang Mai I headed to the farm using what they call the "yellow bus" which is actually a yellow pick up with an adapted seating area. It took over two hours to get there and I looked so forward to spending this time with a local family and learning about the Lanna culture from the grain. The host was a monk for 16 years and had valuable knowledge to share about meditation, Budda philosophy, how to survive in the forest, farming and life lessons and so much more...
When I arrived at Happy Healing Home (HHH) in this remote village Pang Term I walked up a long drive way with a huge lush forest on my left and rice fields on my right. I walked past chicken pens, saw little piglets and a buffalo, flowers and trees all over, some structures I could quite make out the purpose of and bamboo huts. I didnt quite know where to go and the farm was incredibly quiet...I couldnt see anyone. After floating for a while I saw Pinan Jim (Pinan means brother / sister and all our names included pinan) appear and he gave me a hand signal to go to him. When I reached him he gave me a welcoming hug and briefed me on a few things once I read the rules and procedure of HHH.
He was very calm and softly spoken. I learnt that talking too much was not encouraged, staying in the present moment was key, past and future topics were not encouraged, I had to learn about the activities through observation, we are given two ears / eyes / nostrils etc and these senses should be used more than the mouth and so on. It was a lot to take in and I thought it seemed quite daunting. I work with instructions and then follow through but I need to hear it step by step first...and I enjoy socialising and hearing the stories of others, and what about the present moment? I spend a lot of time and energy in my head. What had I gotten myself into?
After the introduction I went to my bamboo hut, took a breather, had a slight panic attack and then organised my things for the evening (a touch of control again...YES!) The only place with a light was the communal area where we ate and did most activities). I met a few volunteers thereafter and was so aware of not talking too much I must have come across as a bit of a weirdo speaking softly and giving very to the point answers. I just didnt quite know how things ran there so I went to the extreme. I didnt feel entirely comfortable at first but as the volunteers started to slowly appear from nowhere their warmth and welcoming gave me a sense of ease.
My first activity at HHH was watering the gardens. I closed my eyes and embraced what was around me. An absolutely raw scene, everything made by hand, beautiful flower beds, ample trees, peaceful atmosphere, mountains in the distance and warm sun rays. I just knew that this would be a an important learning curve, difficult yes but necessary. That evening all the volunteers came together to help cook Lanna dishes for dinner...the dinner setting was sitting on pillows around the tables, the rice plate placed in the centre and the other dishes around it. I learnt that you never move the dishes around but lean over to reach them...very different to how I was brought up but went with it. It somehow worked without food flying everywhere due to hands or spoons clashing. This was all quite new for me so I watched as the pinans took rice using their right hand and then used their spoon in the different dishes. Without using plates I learnt that you cannot monitor how much you have eaten but simply base it on when you feel satisfied.
After dinner we cleaned up and drank pink tea that was made from various herbs and bark from the garden...different and very tasty! It was an insightful few hours at HHH with a touch of mingling and stories shared. The people were lovely, friendly and helpful and I looked forward to what was coming...
Hectic babes totally different from what you used to! Well done for giving it your all x
ReplyDelete