Advertisement
Published: June 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Cornflake
Here is Cornflake with the dutch girl just after his rescue. He was so happy to be free! 1000am. The sun bakes our anglo skin for breakfast with mosquito-bite marinade. Apply sunscreen. We're sitting at a bus station (a small patch of dry dirt) in Pai waiting for Sandot to scoop us to his farm. I'm so excited to finally meet Leigh's favorite biped that I begin to sweat with anticipation. Wait, never mind, that's just the sun turning up the heat on her stove.
1010am. John Fogherty whistles down the road and stops in front of us. In this immediate instant of meeting him, the legend of Sandot holds strong. We were told he only owns one tape (yes, I do mean cassette tape), and sure enough CCR was jammin' away through those old truck speakers. As he turned down the revival, Sandot greeted us with wide welcoming eyes and a gaping grin. His joy at meeting a couple of strangers couldn't have been more genuine. And speaking of genuine joy, you should have seen Sandot's face when we gave him the gift Leigh made for him (a tie-die framed picture of his son waving the Pai flag at sunset--a great photo).
Unfortunately, this is about as long as the legend of Sandot gets from our
Dinner Party
A perfect meal takes patience and team work. perspective, as he left Pai just a couple of hours after giving us the tour of Tacomepai (that's the name of his farm). You see, Sandot was invited to speak at a convention near Bangkok on the subject of sustainable living. And let me tell you, after just minutes of being on his farm, I can vouch that there is not a more qualified keynote in the world.
Sustainability, resourcefulness, recycling--these are the seeds that make Tacomepai grow. Virtually everything on the farm is made of bamboo. Bamboo plate, bamboo cup, bamboo spoon, even bamboo hut. Soot from the kitchen fire is used as soap to wash dishes. And whatever leftovers are tossed down the log (yes, the sink is literally a tree stump) wash straight on to a slab of grated metal where the chickens devour our discards. I'm telling you, nothing at Tacomepai is wasted! Nothing!
Learning about the "green" infrastructure of this organic sanctuary was just the beginning of our awe-inspiring Tacomepai experience. Shortly after the introductory tour (in which Sandot showed us a bungalow he built without using a single nail!), the Texas Trio collaborated with a young dutch couple to save the life
Ket
Sandot's wife practicing her violin-esque instrument. of a stranded golden retriever who'd tangled himself in a tree and was stuck for the last two days, hungry and thirsty. The dog's nervous growls of fear were no match for our bag of cornflakes and bamboo bowl of water. The dog soon gave in to our compassion and after a lengthy leg stretch--and even longer piss--the golden lass returned to camp with us. We in turn aptly named our new friend, Cornflake. Unfortunately, just like Sandot, the tale of Cornflake is also a short one, as he chased after our motorbikes on the way in to town and was never seen again at Tacomepai.
By the way, I think I forgot to mention that the farm is about 5km outside the city of Pai, so motorbikes are most efficient and most necessary for transportation. So anyway, after saving a dog's life within an hour of our arrival, I knew our stay at Tacomepai would be a special one.
At first, it was simply exciting to be living in a bamboo bungalow perched on a hill overlooking lush farmland and tree-topped mountains. But the serene simplicity of our stay would soon be accompanied by deeper experiences. We
The Kitchen Sink
Water flows from an underground reservoir through bamboo pipes and into the tree sink. Leftovers are washed below for the chickens. discovered that peace of mind is not just attained by swaying silently in a hammock with a book in hand, but also by tilling the land under an afternoon sun, sipping tea round the night's fire or cooking dinner with new-found friends.
Every night (we stayed for five) we cooked amazing meals, from crepes to curry. With the freshest ingredients too! After all, we were living on a farm. And with Sandot gone, the foreigners were left to do it all. And do it right we did! (It felt good to take complete care of ourselves in a strange land. It was as if we were legit locals. Sort of.)
Let me take a step back for a second. I forgot to mention that there were others on the farm besides the Texas Trio. Tacomepai has about five bungalows and four "dormitories" on its property, so plenty of people can stay at any given time. There were roughly eight peeps during our tenure on the farm (including us three). And what a motley crew it was! Allow me to introduce you...
Alexis and Morgan: A sister-brother duo from Minneapolis via Boulder and San Francisco respectively. She's 29,
The Living Room
This is where we all sat around, ate dinner, sang by the campfire and got eaten by mosquitoes and ants. he's 25. Been traveling for months and now on their way to Korea to teach English. Alexis and Morgan were like the surrogate hosts on the farm in Sandot's absence, as they had been there before and knew the territory best.
Matteo: A soft-spoken Italian Aussie nestled up at Tacomepai after five months on the road and recuperating from a gnarly motorbike accident. Matteo rarely parted from his guitar. He was our walking jukebox for the week.
Katrina (and Tamara): Childhood friends traveling from Switzerland. Kinda quiet. Very chill. Decent English. Tamara actually had to leave the day after we arrived because she just found out that she's pregnant. Katrina stayed with us though, constantly reading and rolling cigarettes.
Nile (call him Niles and he'll kill you): a pasty, lanky 29-year-old Irishman with red hair, a thick accent, and a knack for cracking jokes talking shit and making unintentional funny faces whenever someone snaps a picture. He's also good with a guitar, and hence provided acoustical stimulation along with Matteo.
Emily: A laid-back blonde from New York but living in London. A latecomer to Tacomepai, but a smooth fit with the group as her and Nile
The Kitchen/Living Room
Just another perspective. knew each other from previous journeys through India.
Tacomepai is the type of place where travelers get to know one another really well and really fast. When you're on the farm, you're family. It's much different than staying at a standard guesthouse in town (and cheaper). Everyday at 400pm we all help with farm duties (except for Matteo and Nile who were spared by various injuries). We harvested jackfruit saplings, plowed a field and planted soy beans, and shucked rice with a massive two-person wooden mortar and pestle (a very tedious task by the way). We all cooked together. Ate together. And sat around the fire talking jive together.
It's an absolute unique experience, Tacomepai is. A handful of nomads from across the globe, all in one place at a tiny moment in time. Each with a different story to tell. Each with a different path to pursue. Yet here, on this small organic farm called Tacomepai--where life slows to an idyllic pace--each's road intersects and complete strangers become close comrades.
Speaking of total strangers acting as best friends, every day before dinner--roughly 630pm--we (Mykal, John and myself) would make the short walk around the corner from
Mat
The so called "boss" of the farm in deep thought. the farm to the local produce stand to grab ingredients for dinner. Sure enough, Sandot's neighbors were outside getting drunk (it's apparently a widespread Thai tradition for the men to get wasted on whiskey every night after work). Every time we passed by, the neighbors yelped, "Thai whiskey, Thai whiskey!" and invited us for drinks. Of course we didn't want to be rude, so we obliged and joined the party. We only stayed long enough for one drink each, but the hospitality was pure. And consistent every night.
The majority of our stay in Pai was spent at Tacomepai. We only intended to be in town for a few days, but we all three instantly fell in love with this place (Pai in general, and Tacomepai more specifically) and decided to extend our stay.
OBSERVATIONS:
1) "The Farm Philosophy" (Zen-like words of wisdom written on Sandot's dry erase board in the kitchen):
Happy for a day: Drink whiskey.
Happy for a year: Get a second wife.
Happy for life: Plant a tree and smile.
2) I love dogs! This isn't any sort of profound observation, but I loved living with Sandot's dog, Mat (pronounced like 'pot') for
Encore, Encore!
Nile plays another tune. a few days. Dogs just make life that much better. It's a fact.
LOOKING AHEAD:
We leave Pai tonight at 900pm on a VIP bus that will take us through the night to the border of Laos. Unfortunately we didn't contact the Gibbon Experience far enough in advance so we will not be living in tree houses for the next three days. Instead we will take a two-day trip on a slow-boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. A new week, a new country!
Shalom.
-Marc-
Advertisement
Tot: 0.129s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0717s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb