Ban Talae Nok
This morning at 8:00am another van picked us up to transport
us to Kuraburi, Phang Nga so we could check-in at Andaman Discoveries, the
non-profit organization that has organized our family-to-family experience in
Ban Talae Nok. As soon as we walked in, we recognized Bodhi, the manager of Our
Jungle House in several of the pictures hanging on the wall. We were told that he was actually the
founder of Andaman Discoveries; he had only told us he worked at Andaman
Discoveries for several years. Apparently, he was living in Thailand when the tsunami of
2004 struck and he lost several of his friends. He appealed to his friends and family
back home to send money to help the families of his friends recover, was successful and then
proceeded to set up an non-governmental organization (NGO) to co-ordinate
support for other villages that were hit and to also help them become independent once
again. Judging by the pictures, he
has helped many people in many villages. I felt like I had met an undercover rock star.
Tui, our interpretor from Andaman, introduced herself and let us know she would be accompanying us for the next couple of days while we were with our family. She also asked our permission to allow a film crew from France follow us around and record our experience for a documentary series on eco-tourism. Documentary film stars? In France? How could we turn down a super cool opportunity like that? We said yes.
Tui gave us an overview of the village we would be staying in: Ban Talae Nok is a Muslim community of around 200 people that was once an established fishing village right on the shoreline of the Andaman Sea. When the tsunami hit, their village was wiped out completely and they lost 46 community members, 16 of which were children. Once the clean up was over there was talk of developing the area into a tourist zone with hotels and resorts, meaning the villagers would lose their way of life. Out of fear of another tsunami, they did not want to re-establish the village on the shoreline as they had done before but still wanted to keep the waterfront property as their own. They also sought to build their new village on higher ground, so they pooled their money together and bought a chunk of land farther away from the shoreline and much more elevated. The government and Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Royal Family also contributed funding toward new housing for the tsunami victims, building 20 new houses in total for them. There was a bit of a dispute between the government and the villagers regarding the land that was the highest point. The villagers wanted to build their new school there and the government wanted to build offices at the same location. Andaman stepped in and helped them with petitions and proposals to secure the land for the locals. In the end, German company Price-Waterhouse and Princess Sirindhorn put up the money ($20 million Baht = $700,000+) to build the school for Ban Talae Nok, which also acts as their tsunami evacuation centre.
Bringing tourists in for "volun-tourism" and family-to-family experiences means the villagers can keep their way of life and their beach front property. Majority of the money from their foreign visitors go directly into their pockets. Every person who is part of our experience will be paid. The villagers tend to pool the money from tourism and once a year put it toward something to improve their community. Andaman is careful not to inundate the village with too many tourists at one time. During our visit, outside of the film crew, we would be the only outsiders there.
Kevin and I looked at each other and knew this was going to be one amazing experience. We hopped in the van and drove 45 minutes to Ban Talae Nok. As we entered the village, we stopped and picked up our main guide, Cha and Egarak, our guide for Kevin’s fishing experience today. We made a quick stop to see where the old village was before the tsunami hit and checked out their fishery where they clean their jellyfish and squid, one of their main exports to Taiwan, Japan and China.
Then came the moment we were waiting for– meeting our family. We met Rai, the woman of the house, Bung Dee, her husband and Noot, their 11 year old daughter. They also have two older sons ages 13 and 22 years, but they were not around much. We were given a little tour of their traditional rural Thai home, unloaded our bags in our sleeping quarters and then Cha and Rai served us an incredible spread for lunch that saw Kevin sweating profusely from all of the spice. Jasmine kept asking him why he was sweating so much. It took all I had not to burst out laughing. Thankfully the very loud, howling gibbons in the background provided an outlet for my suppressed laughter and took the ‘heat’ off of poor Kev.
When lunch was finished we made a special side trip to the village school, which had forty-four students, three teachers and one principal. We were pleasantly surprised to see all of the junior students in their boy/girl scout uniforms organizing themselves into neat rows in a vestibule area. Tui then told us we were to teach them some English and they would teach us Thai. “Good Afternoon!” they shouted at us in unison. Kevin and I were thrilled. Jasmine and Aislinn seemed mortified. We introduced ourselves, taught them how to sing “Jingle bells” and they taught us a Thai song about elephants. Clearly, the students did much better with English than we did with Thai, but at least we made them laugh. We presented the principal with a bag of crayons, markers, Chirp magazines and candy for the kids and then we toured the three classes: kindergarten, grade 1/2/3 and grade 4/5/6. We had the most fun visiting the music class and playing all of the instruments native to Thailand. The school itself was very beautiful. There was a garden where the students grew their own vegetables, a fish pond where children could feed the fish and an ice cream freezer where children could buy ice cream snacks.
We left the school and made our way to our first activity which was making batik scarves. We arrived at a table with a little thatch roof over it with three locals waiting to help us make our creations and several goats bleating in the background. Each of us decided on our designs. Kevin couldn’t find a picture of a papaya leaf, so one of the locals brought him a real one to trace. Aislinn chose to use a beautiful floral scarf that was already finished as her guideline and Jasmine selected images out of one of the books they provided, as did I. I also did some freehand drawing keeping in mind my theme of ‘things that remind me of our trip’. After we finished drawing our designs in pencil, we used a special apparatus to trace our drawings in wax. Next came the application of different coloured dyes and then we were done. We were told the finished product would be delivered to us the next day.
By the time we got back to our host family’s home, we were all very hot and ready to go for a swim. We got changed, hopped in the back of a pick up truck and were taken to the beach. Since it was a Muslim community, I would have to swim in shorts and a t-shirt. When we got to the beach there was no one there except for our group. Jasmine and Aislinn didn’t know what to do with themselves. One minute they were collecting shells, another they were screaming ecstatically over the ‘ghost crabs’ running everywhere and the funky designs they had made in the sand, the next they were splashing each other in the water.
Kevin, Egarak and a couple of other village men unloaded the 80 metre fishing net and walked it out into the water. Then they dragged it along as they walked back to the shore, catching fish as they went. When they reached the sand, all of us ran around picking up fish to throw in the bucket for eating or returning the ones we couldn't eat back to the sea. Once again, the girls were squealing with delight the entire time.
On their second cast, the men managed to catch many more fish including a small sword fish, a small sting ray, a good sized crab and a flat fish that was literally flat– it had one eye and on it’s other side there was nothing there. It was a strange local fish that we couldn’t eat. I was quite okay with that.
As the sun began to set, we put the net away and brought the bucket o’ fish to a grassy area where the locals were having a cook-out for us. There was a delicious chicken soup with squash, fresh spring rolls, fish with a dry rub, chicken and some vegetable dishes. During our dinner Kevin had a rather large spider crawl on his leg. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but judging by his reaction, I believe him when he says it was big. All I heard was “HOLY SHIT” and then I saw him frantically brush his leg. That kind of freaked me out because a) we were sitting the dark and b) he doesn’t normally react to creepy crawlies that way. The locals assured us the village spiders were not poisonous. HA!
Shortly after we began eating, the film crew from France met up with us. All three of them were very lovely and entertaining to say the least. They told us they were doing a 9-part series (this was number five) on eco-tourism and how it is saving communities and improving tourism’s ecological impact on the environment. So far they had been to Mongolia, Madagascar, the Amazon and… I’ve forgotten where else. The whole project sounded quite intriguing. They would start filming us tomorrow.
Jasmine and Aislinn were off playing with some children from the village when they decided they wanted to go back onto the beach. Since it was dark, Kevin went with them. Shortly after, Kevin called me to join them so I could see the “glowing sand”. I thought for sure he was pulling my leg, but he was right… the sand was glowing! The kids were all running around leaving glowing footprints behind. It was wild! So I joined in the chaos, running and laughing as the sand lit up. Tui told us it was from the tiny little sea creatures that washed up on the shore (we think they were tiny phosphorescent_ jellyfish). The thought of killing little creatures to make the sand glow kind of took the fun out of it all for our family. We stopped running around and quietly and carefully walked back to the rest of the group.
We all hopped back into the back of the pick up truck with full bellies and smiles on our faces from a fantastic first day and evening in Ban Talae Nok. When we got home, had “showers” by using a bowl to pour water from a large tub onto ourselves in the shower room. Jasmine and Aislinn were not impressed. (I told them they should’ve practiced at the tree house!) We showed pictures and talked about our lives back home to our host family and Kev ended the night by being stung between toes by a large bee that was hiding in his shoe. Yesterday it was leeches and bamboo for me– today, it was Kev’s turn with the spider and the bee. I guess when you are a nature lover, you need to love it all. We were thankful we had bug nets on our beds, which we gladly prepared before closing our eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Tui, our interpretor from Andaman, introduced herself and let us know she would be accompanying us for the next couple of days while we were with our family. She also asked our permission to allow a film crew from France follow us around and record our experience for a documentary series on eco-tourism. Documentary film stars? In France? How could we turn down a super cool opportunity like that? We said yes.
Tui gave us an overview of the village we would be staying in: Ban Talae Nok is a Muslim community of around 200 people that was once an established fishing village right on the shoreline of the Andaman Sea. When the tsunami hit, their village was wiped out completely and they lost 46 community members, 16 of which were children. Once the clean up was over there was talk of developing the area into a tourist zone with hotels and resorts, meaning the villagers would lose their way of life. Out of fear of another tsunami, they did not want to re-establish the village on the shoreline as they had done before but still wanted to keep the waterfront property as their own. They also sought to build their new village on higher ground, so they pooled their money together and bought a chunk of land farther away from the shoreline and much more elevated. The government and Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Royal Family also contributed funding toward new housing for the tsunami victims, building 20 new houses in total for them. There was a bit of a dispute between the government and the villagers regarding the land that was the highest point. The villagers wanted to build their new school there and the government wanted to build offices at the same location. Andaman stepped in and helped them with petitions and proposals to secure the land for the locals. In the end, German company Price-Waterhouse and Princess Sirindhorn put up the money ($20 million Baht = $700,000+) to build the school for Ban Talae Nok, which also acts as their tsunami evacuation centre.
Bringing tourists in for "volun-tourism" and family-to-family experiences means the villagers can keep their way of life and their beach front property. Majority of the money from their foreign visitors go directly into their pockets. Every person who is part of our experience will be paid. The villagers tend to pool the money from tourism and once a year put it toward something to improve their community. Andaman is careful not to inundate the village with too many tourists at one time. During our visit, outside of the film crew, we would be the only outsiders there.
Kevin and I looked at each other and knew this was going to be one amazing experience. We hopped in the van and drove 45 minutes to Ban Talae Nok. As we entered the village, we stopped and picked up our main guide, Cha and Egarak, our guide for Kevin’s fishing experience today. We made a quick stop to see where the old village was before the tsunami hit and checked out their fishery where they clean their jellyfish and squid, one of their main exports to Taiwan, Japan and China.
Then came the moment we were waiting for– meeting our family. We met Rai, the woman of the house, Bung Dee, her husband and Noot, their 11 year old daughter. They also have two older sons ages 13 and 22 years, but they were not around much. We were given a little tour of their traditional rural Thai home, unloaded our bags in our sleeping quarters and then Cha and Rai served us an incredible spread for lunch that saw Kevin sweating profusely from all of the spice. Jasmine kept asking him why he was sweating so much. It took all I had not to burst out laughing. Thankfully the very loud, howling gibbons in the background provided an outlet for my suppressed laughter and took the ‘heat’ off of poor Kev.
When lunch was finished we made a special side trip to the village school, which had forty-four students, three teachers and one principal. We were pleasantly surprised to see all of the junior students in their boy/girl scout uniforms organizing themselves into neat rows in a vestibule area. Tui then told us we were to teach them some English and they would teach us Thai. “Good Afternoon!” they shouted at us in unison. Kevin and I were thrilled. Jasmine and Aislinn seemed mortified. We introduced ourselves, taught them how to sing “Jingle bells” and they taught us a Thai song about elephants. Clearly, the students did much better with English than we did with Thai, but at least we made them laugh. We presented the principal with a bag of crayons, markers, Chirp magazines and candy for the kids and then we toured the three classes: kindergarten, grade 1/2/3 and grade 4/5/6. We had the most fun visiting the music class and playing all of the instruments native to Thailand. The school itself was very beautiful. There was a garden where the students grew their own vegetables, a fish pond where children could feed the fish and an ice cream freezer where children could buy ice cream snacks.
We left the school and made our way to our first activity which was making batik scarves. We arrived at a table with a little thatch roof over it with three locals waiting to help us make our creations and several goats bleating in the background. Each of us decided on our designs. Kevin couldn’t find a picture of a papaya leaf, so one of the locals brought him a real one to trace. Aislinn chose to use a beautiful floral scarf that was already finished as her guideline and Jasmine selected images out of one of the books they provided, as did I. I also did some freehand drawing keeping in mind my theme of ‘things that remind me of our trip’. After we finished drawing our designs in pencil, we used a special apparatus to trace our drawings in wax. Next came the application of different coloured dyes and then we were done. We were told the finished product would be delivered to us the next day.
By the time we got back to our host family’s home, we were all very hot and ready to go for a swim. We got changed, hopped in the back of a pick up truck and were taken to the beach. Since it was a Muslim community, I would have to swim in shorts and a t-shirt. When we got to the beach there was no one there except for our group. Jasmine and Aislinn didn’t know what to do with themselves. One minute they were collecting shells, another they were screaming ecstatically over the ‘ghost crabs’ running everywhere and the funky designs they had made in the sand, the next they were splashing each other in the water.
Kevin, Egarak and a couple of other village men unloaded the 80 metre fishing net and walked it out into the water. Then they dragged it along as they walked back to the shore, catching fish as they went. When they reached the sand, all of us ran around picking up fish to throw in the bucket for eating or returning the ones we couldn't eat back to the sea. Once again, the girls were squealing with delight the entire time.
On their second cast, the men managed to catch many more fish including a small sword fish, a small sting ray, a good sized crab and a flat fish that was literally flat– it had one eye and on it’s other side there was nothing there. It was a strange local fish that we couldn’t eat. I was quite okay with that.
As the sun began to set, we put the net away and brought the bucket o’ fish to a grassy area where the locals were having a cook-out for us. There was a delicious chicken soup with squash, fresh spring rolls, fish with a dry rub, chicken and some vegetable dishes. During our dinner Kevin had a rather large spider crawl on his leg. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but judging by his reaction, I believe him when he says it was big. All I heard was “HOLY SHIT” and then I saw him frantically brush his leg. That kind of freaked me out because a) we were sitting the dark and b) he doesn’t normally react to creepy crawlies that way. The locals assured us the village spiders were not poisonous. HA!
Shortly after we began eating, the film crew from France met up with us. All three of them were very lovely and entertaining to say the least. They told us they were doing a 9-part series (this was number five) on eco-tourism and how it is saving communities and improving tourism’s ecological impact on the environment. So far they had been to Mongolia, Madagascar, the Amazon and… I’ve forgotten where else. The whole project sounded quite intriguing. They would start filming us tomorrow.
Jasmine and Aislinn were off playing with some children from the village when they decided they wanted to go back onto the beach. Since it was dark, Kevin went with them. Shortly after, Kevin called me to join them so I could see the “glowing sand”. I thought for sure he was pulling my leg, but he was right… the sand was glowing! The kids were all running around leaving glowing footprints behind. It was wild! So I joined in the chaos, running and laughing as the sand lit up. Tui told us it was from the tiny little sea creatures that washed up on the shore (we think they were tiny phosphorescent_ jellyfish). The thought of killing little creatures to make the sand glow kind of took the fun out of it all for our family. We stopped running around and quietly and carefully walked back to the rest of the group.
We all hopped back into the back of the pick up truck with full bellies and smiles on our faces from a fantastic first day and evening in Ban Talae Nok. When we got home, had “showers” by using a bowl to pour water from a large tub onto ourselves in the shower room. Jasmine and Aislinn were not impressed. (I told them they should’ve practiced at the tree house!) We showed pictures and talked about our lives back home to our host family and Kev ended the night by being stung between toes by a large bee that was hiding in his shoe. Yesterday it was leeches and bamboo for me– today, it was Kev’s turn with the spider and the bee. I guess when you are a nature lover, you need to love it all. We were thankful we had bug nets on our beds, which we gladly prepared before closing our eyes and drifting off to sleep.
December 16 Getting to know the locals
_
Woke up to the sound of roosters crowing… not just in the
morning, but through the night also. I vaguely remember Bung Dee leaving on his motorbike work between
4 & 5am to collect rubber from the rubber trees, but we still managed to
get a good night’s sleep. We rolled out of bed around 7:30 am and by 8:00 am
Cha was there ready to greet us. We had another huge spread of food for
breakfast. It became clear there would be no going hungry while in Ban Talae
Nok.
Soon we were joined by another villager who would act as our guide for the day as we were led to the 72 year old village lady who was the first to start making thatch roofing in the community. We were told she would be able to sell the roofing we would help her make today for 5 Baht (= pennies CAD) each at the market. She showed us the proven roof thatching technique and eagerly watched. Just as we started to make our own, the film crew showed up and started filming. It brought a whole new layer to the experience and caused me to sew my palm leaves in a crooked line. I hope she can still sell my contribution. Of course, it took us one hour to make two sections while the village pro can make 70-80 sections in a day. Despite the hard work she did with her hands, when I held them to thank her for her time I noticed they were very soft. I just loved looking at her leathery face and bright eyes. We were very fortunate to be in her presence.
After the roof thatching it was about that time to fill our bellies again, but before we did, we needed to learn how to make a traditional Thai dessert: coconut pudding. We started out with two fresh coconuts and than used a manual scraper that we sat on to scrape the meat out of the coconut. Once we collected all of the meat into a bowl, we added a few cups of water and started squeezing the shredded coconut to make coconut milk. Then Rai added some rice flour, a couple of fresh eggs, a little sugar and an pinch of salt. They heated upa cast iron dumpling plate over an open fire, added some palm oil to the moulds and then we added the batter. These little puddings were warm and delicious. We couldn’t eat too many, though– we had Rai’s lunch spread to gobble down first. After every meal I have offered to help clean up and she refuses to accept my offer. I’m starting to feel like I’m on a vacation.
Once lunch was finished, we all– film crew included– went for a long-tail boat ride through the mangrove. This was probably our least favourite part of our visit to Ban Talae Nok only because it decided to rain during our entire boat tour. I guess an upside would be the rain was warm. We did manage to see an old resort that was destroyed by the tsunami, as well as a colony of gibbons. Once again, our girls were amazing. They didn’t complain once.
We got back to our host family’s house, changed into some warm clothes and made some hot Ovaltine to drink (Thais love Ovaltine). The girls began to bond with Noot and Rai took a liking to Aislinn, who could have easily been mistaken for a villager– that's how comfortable she was. Kevin and I tried our best at speaking Thai. Sometimes we made sense, sometimes we served as entertainment. Either way, we were all smiling, laughing and enjoying our time together. Soon it was time to eat (again). We ended the night by donning traditional Muslim clothing and taking pictures. The girls did not want to take their outfits off and begged to wear the hijab first thing in the morning. Rai, put their hijabs in a special place for them. This made the girls happy enough to go to bed. We were all sound asleep by 9:30 pm.
Soon we were joined by another villager who would act as our guide for the day as we were led to the 72 year old village lady who was the first to start making thatch roofing in the community. We were told she would be able to sell the roofing we would help her make today for 5 Baht (= pennies CAD) each at the market. She showed us the proven roof thatching technique and eagerly watched. Just as we started to make our own, the film crew showed up and started filming. It brought a whole new layer to the experience and caused me to sew my palm leaves in a crooked line. I hope she can still sell my contribution. Of course, it took us one hour to make two sections while the village pro can make 70-80 sections in a day. Despite the hard work she did with her hands, when I held them to thank her for her time I noticed they were very soft. I just loved looking at her leathery face and bright eyes. We were very fortunate to be in her presence.
After the roof thatching it was about that time to fill our bellies again, but before we did, we needed to learn how to make a traditional Thai dessert: coconut pudding. We started out with two fresh coconuts and than used a manual scraper that we sat on to scrape the meat out of the coconut. Once we collected all of the meat into a bowl, we added a few cups of water and started squeezing the shredded coconut to make coconut milk. Then Rai added some rice flour, a couple of fresh eggs, a little sugar and an pinch of salt. They heated upa cast iron dumpling plate over an open fire, added some palm oil to the moulds and then we added the batter. These little puddings were warm and delicious. We couldn’t eat too many, though– we had Rai’s lunch spread to gobble down first. After every meal I have offered to help clean up and she refuses to accept my offer. I’m starting to feel like I’m on a vacation.
Once lunch was finished, we all– film crew included– went for a long-tail boat ride through the mangrove. This was probably our least favourite part of our visit to Ban Talae Nok only because it decided to rain during our entire boat tour. I guess an upside would be the rain was warm. We did manage to see an old resort that was destroyed by the tsunami, as well as a colony of gibbons. Once again, our girls were amazing. They didn’t complain once.
We got back to our host family’s house, changed into some warm clothes and made some hot Ovaltine to drink (Thais love Ovaltine). The girls began to bond with Noot and Rai took a liking to Aislinn, who could have easily been mistaken for a villager– that's how comfortable she was. Kevin and I tried our best at speaking Thai. Sometimes we made sense, sometimes we served as entertainment. Either way, we were all smiling, laughing and enjoying our time together. Soon it was time to eat (again). We ended the night by donning traditional Muslim clothing and taking pictures. The girls did not want to take their outfits off and begged to wear the hijab first thing in the morning. Rai, put their hijabs in a special place for them. This made the girls happy enough to go to bed. We were all sound asleep by 9:30 pm.
December 17 Time to say Goodbye
_
Last night’s sleep was for the birds. The rooster was busy
partying and wouldn’t go to bed, someone’s alarm on their cell phone kept going
off, there was a cat fight outside my window (remember there’s no glass or
insulation) and I had to get up and “squat” twice throughout the night. It seemed when I finally dozed off, it
was time to get up.
Today, Rai made some French toast, omelettes and rice porridge for our last breakfast together. Our last guide for our visit met up with us and took us next door to the community centre for soap making. Again, the soap we make today will help generate income for the women. They used interesting natural scents for their soap and they smelled delicious: ginger, tumeric, sesame, citronella, cinammon, saffron and clove. Our job was to make soap cut outs and thread them onto rope. Jasmine managed to load up her rope with 6 different soaps; double of what we were supposed to do… Ahh, but she was enjoying the moment. When we were finished Kevin and I decided we would do our Christmas shopping and stock up. We walked away with a box full of soap and can’t wait to give it away. We think our recipients will enjoy them a lot.
We went back to Rai and Bung Dee’s for our final lunch together and to say our goodbyes. I gave Noot three London community t-shirts from Parking Day, Change Camp and 1000 Acts of Kindness. She was so thrilled and thanked me three times before running off to show her mom.We slowly ate our lunch and waited quietly for the van to pick us up. When it arrived I became a puddle. I heard Kevin sniffle as well. These people had opened up their homes and their lives to us. They made us feel like one of their own. This is what community is. We’ve learned so much in the last couple of days, though it felt like we’ve been there for a month because it was such an intense experience. I look forward to the wisdom that unfolds from this experience over the next few months as we continue to process it all. The film crew was there to capture it our moments on film and have promised to send us a copy of the finished product; we hope they follow through. Our family is truly blessed.
We had our driver take us to the beach one last time where I went for a short stroll to let my tears fall as any which way they needed to. Jasmine carved “Goodbye Friends” in the sand and we collected some more rocks and shells to take home with us. The girls didn’t want to leave, but our driver was waiting for us to take us to our next adventure.
We drove back to Kuraburi to Boon Piya, where rooms cost $570 Baht per night (= approx. $20 CAD) It’s small but clean and has air conditioning and hot showers. We’ve taken advantage of the laundry service and had three loads done so I can have clean underwear tomorrow. I was on my last pair today and I had run out of shorts and capris. Jasmine was out of shorts to wear as well. We reorganized our bags in preparation of our overnight camping excursion on the beach at Koh Surin National Park. We’re allready for what tomorrow brings.
Today, Rai made some French toast, omelettes and rice porridge for our last breakfast together. Our last guide for our visit met up with us and took us next door to the community centre for soap making. Again, the soap we make today will help generate income for the women. They used interesting natural scents for their soap and they smelled delicious: ginger, tumeric, sesame, citronella, cinammon, saffron and clove. Our job was to make soap cut outs and thread them onto rope. Jasmine managed to load up her rope with 6 different soaps; double of what we were supposed to do… Ahh, but she was enjoying the moment. When we were finished Kevin and I decided we would do our Christmas shopping and stock up. We walked away with a box full of soap and can’t wait to give it away. We think our recipients will enjoy them a lot.
We went back to Rai and Bung Dee’s for our final lunch together and to say our goodbyes. I gave Noot three London community t-shirts from Parking Day, Change Camp and 1000 Acts of Kindness. She was so thrilled and thanked me three times before running off to show her mom.We slowly ate our lunch and waited quietly for the van to pick us up. When it arrived I became a puddle. I heard Kevin sniffle as well. These people had opened up their homes and their lives to us. They made us feel like one of their own. This is what community is. We’ve learned so much in the last couple of days, though it felt like we’ve been there for a month because it was such an intense experience. I look forward to the wisdom that unfolds from this experience over the next few months as we continue to process it all. The film crew was there to capture it our moments on film and have promised to send us a copy of the finished product; we hope they follow through. Our family is truly blessed.
We had our driver take us to the beach one last time where I went for a short stroll to let my tears fall as any which way they needed to. Jasmine carved “Goodbye Friends” in the sand and we collected some more rocks and shells to take home with us. The girls didn’t want to leave, but our driver was waiting for us to take us to our next adventure.
We drove back to Kuraburi to Boon Piya, where rooms cost $570 Baht per night (= approx. $20 CAD) It’s small but clean and has air conditioning and hot showers. We’ve taken advantage of the laundry service and had three loads done so I can have clean underwear tomorrow. I was on my last pair today and I had run out of shorts and capris. Jasmine was out of shorts to wear as well. We reorganized our bags in preparation of our overnight camping excursion on the beach at Koh Surin National Park. We’re allready for what tomorrow brings.