With time to spare before I needed to get to the farm, I boarded some trains and buses and made my way to Krabi, a beachy area of southern Thailand. After recently recovering from a draining head cold, I was struck down again, as soon as I got to Krabi, with an ear infection. So some of the beauty of the gorgeous seas and limestone rock formations escaped me as I dealt with throbbing ear pain and an insufferable underbite. I did force myself to take advantage of the area a bit, spent some time on the beach, scaled some of the rock formations with a rock climbing group, and found some delicious food (that didn't require too much chewing), but I don't think southern Thailand had the appropriate awe inspiring affect on me.
I left Krabi for Ranong where I was embraced by Ta, a local Thai restaurant owner who sympathizes with travelers. She took pity on me as soon as I stepped off the bus and the taxi drivers started bombarding me with offers to drive me to the center of town. Ta steered me away, made me dinner, took me out for drinks, offered accommodation, and helped me to catch my bus the next morning...such a sweet woman!
With Ta's help I found myself in PakSong, the tiny village where TCDF Eco-Logic Farm is located, and was welcomed (warmly) by Ingrid, the Dutch co-owner of the foundation. The Thai Child Development Foundation was established as a farm/guest house to help fund a local school where students with disabilities receive attention and education that is otherwise unavailable to them in such a remote location. Additionally they help to fund raise for local families that require medical services that are just impossible to attain on their own. Understandably, volunteers aren't involved with the special school unless they are staying for a longer period of time, it's not good for any child to make connections that aren't going to be lasting. I talked with Ingrid though about my desire to work in special education in the future and she brought me down to observe the classroom one morning.
So I signed up to volunteer on an organic farm hoping to do some organic farming. But...it's the rainy season in Thailand, so most of the work was more about general maintenance. The main project was rebuilding this clay house made of completely natural materials. The work was pretty fun, but I also made myself busy with other tasks such as weeding, recycled art crafts, and spreading compost on pineapple plants. This was the most farm related task of the week, but it's toll on my gag reflex and the lingering smell on my hands (long past an immediate shower and several rigorous hand washings) made it the least pleasant of the week.
The setting was incredible. Located on a lush, jungle-y mountainside, there was plenty of hiking and much relaxing to be done. The food was awesome: local, organic, delicious. The company, overall, was quite nice, passing the evenings with games of 'UNO' and some guitar. It was also a unique experience. One of the volunteers, self christened 'Strong Wings,' was quite opinionated on energies, auras, government control, the end of the world...things like that. I chose to listen to his ideas for several hours one evening, but, like I said, it was very unique. Hopefully he didn't read my skeptical energy too easily.
And now I am headed back to Chiang Mai to collect my visa and carry on to India. While chatting with someone recently, I told him I was flying into Delhi. He immediately started ranting about how I needed to get out of Delhi as soon as possible because it is loud, dirty, and depressing and I will hate it. Thank you for the advice sir, but I am ONLY going to be in Delhi for the next three weeks with a volunteer program, but you've inspired great confidence in me. Regardless, I'm ready to move on from Thailand and I am very much looking forward to getting to India (to eat so much naaaaaaaaan!).
I'll report back soon(er or later) on how I handle the chaos.
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