Vagabonding Field Report: Two weeks in a Thai rain forest eco-lodge

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Cost/day:

$60-75/day including nearly all organic meals, outdoor adventures and lodging for three people.  A single person or even couple could probably get away with around half of that by eating at local restaurants or finding a way to cook some meals.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?

I hesitate to call it strange, but it was really interesting to see the cultivation of betle nut all around us. Intensely arduous work with some sort of pole tool is needed to harvest the nuts from the top of the tree. Seemingly every home had betle nut drying in various stages in the yard, from the just picked bright orange to the fully dried dull gray.

Once they got to the optimal point, entire families would sit around and remove the nut from the husk. The husks were then burned in piles in various locations throughout the yards and the nuts bagged in large sacks. It was truly a family affair.

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Describe a typical day:

Waking up in a bed surrounded by a mosquito net to the sound of a small river nearby.  Flipping open the laptop to do some work.

Later, we head up to the restaurant, where we have the option of Western or Thai food, all of which is organic and local. We engage in conversations about life and travel with other guests or volunteers.

We then head out to explore the area, maybe visit a school, hike to a waterfall, or take a bamboo raft down the Paksong River.

We come back in the evening and do some homeschooling and work, maybe at the lodge, maybe in our room, maybe in a random spot by the river.  We maybe take a yoga class or mandala drawing workshop.

We head up to the lodge for dinner where we eat a buffet style meal of fresh Thai food with our new friends and talk and listen, hearing accents mostly from all over Europe.  Some evenings people get out their instruments to play music and sing.

We head back down to the room, where the daily ritual of teeth brushing and bedtime reading ensues.

After our daughter falls asleep, my wife and I will talk until the symphony of frogs, geckos, insects and the river sends us to sleep.

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Describe an interesting conversation you had with a local:

Probably the most memorable conversation I had was with some local boys. We first met them at their school when we visited for a few hours. We learned from them the very basics about their lives at home and school.

We were completely charmed by their excitement when, a few days later, they found us at a festival.  They hugged us and flashed enormous smiles.

We sat around and talked a little more but with a very limited ability to communicate, we were all happy to just sit and share food and drinks with one another.

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What do you like about where you are? Dislike?

I like that it’s peaceful, that I somehow feel at home, that there is great company, that the town isn’t overrun with tourists, that seemingly everyone smiles at us and that it is so stunningly beautiful. I honestly can’t think of one thing I disliked during our two weeks there.

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Describe a challenge you faced:

Getting to and navigating through the local hospital so that my wife could get one of her series of rabies shots, which she needed because of a monkey bite.

What new lesson did you learn?

I wouldn’t say that I learned this lesson, but instead that I was  reminded of one I already knew, which is that when I disconnect from the internet I am generally happier and more at peace.  Being at the eco-lodge allowed me to disconnect from the computer for all purposes other than work and reminded me of this valuable yet often-forgotten lesson.

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Where next?

We’re headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand for some city living.

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