Thailand Part 4: Homestay

As part of our Intrepid Tour, we had the amazing opportunity to stay at a local Thai family's home overnight. I was really looking forward to this, as I always love to meet real people and get at least a bit of a glimpse of daily life in a new country, rather than just the tourist parts. I was not disappointed - the homestay experience was wonderful!

We stay at Aoi and her family's beautiful house, with this stunning outdoor living room area, complete with hoses attached around the edge of the ceiling to mist water around us to keep us cool. I think it is so amazing to live in a place where your living room doesn't need walls!

We stayed in a lovely upstairs room on mats under mosquito nets. The mats on the wooden floors were a tad firm for me, but I am rather unreasonably bony, so perhaps the fault lies within in this case. Otherwise it was a charming and pleasant space for a good nights' sleep.

The evening we got there, the family taught us to cook "Nam Prik Ong." Sorry for the blurry photo, but at least it's still legible.

This is our happy group learning to use a mortar and pestle. Our Thai teachers cold turn anything into a smooth paste in two seconds flat, but it's not as easy as it looks. Unfortunately, my injured wrist does not allow for such vigorous exercise, but our hosts kindly prepared a paste for me.

Kirsten had an especially wonderful time with her mortar and pestle!

Many of you will know that cooking is not my forte, but I did have a very good time, and between J and our hosts, I was supported in creating a rather delicious dish. (Also, notice the difference in color between J's and mine - that is due to the abundance of chilis in his and the complete lack of them in mine.)

When we were done, we headed inside for an amazing Khantoke dinner. Every bit of it was delicious and cooked to perfection!

Not sure why J looks like a hunchback here, but the rest of us are excited about dinner!

During the meal, we were treated to a beautiful concert. Members of the family participated, and they are all multi-talented, switching gears effortlessly from teaching us to cook to performing on traditional Thai instruments. For a short video clip of the performance, click here.

Afterwards, we got to try out playing the various instruments. The fact that we didn't speak the same language posed no problem at all, as they simply played simple notes or melodies and encouraged us to imitate them.

It was lots of fun! I had to have a try at all of them, of course!

Then we were treated to some wonderful traditional performances by local children, including this boy, who also hung out with us that evening and played Uno. He was delightful! To watch a short clip of his performance, click here.

The girls did several dances. This one was my favourite. Long, thin fingers are considered beautiful, and for this dance they elongate them with golden, tapering wraps. To see a short clip of this performance, click here. To see the younger girls performing a different traditional dance, click here.

As we hung out in the beautiful outdoor living room (can you tell how much I enjoy that whole concept?) we drank lots of delicious Thai iced tea. I don't know much about it, other than it is milky and sweet and served in nearly weightless metal cups, but I love it! Couldn't get enough! And it's a good idea to keep drinking when it's impossibly hot outside, so I had a good excuse to keep going back for refills.

I know I mentioned it before, but we were so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of people to travel with. Just sitting around chatting, playing cards and trying the many puzzle blocks was a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

This next bit is not a "homestay" exactly, but it was a very special moment. Our guide, Nok, took us to her parents' home, where she grew up. Since we'd already gotten to know Nok a little and learn about what a wonderful person she is, it was really meaningful to get a peak into her real life. We met her parents and learned about their interests as well.

Her father has amazing collections of a variety of things, my favourite of which was the little wooden contraption in the upper right, into which you put a dried ear of corn, and then when you spin the handle the kernels get removed. Many of the wooden tools reminded me of my dad, of course. He would have loved seeing them all.

Nok's mom and cousin design, make, and sell jewelry, and a lot of it is made from this very special stone, called Khao Tok Phra Ruang, which is only found in Sukhothai. They gave us this information about it: "Regarded as a sacred item among Sukhothai residents for centuries, large and small black stones called khao tok phra ruang (literally 'popped rice of Phra Ruang'), also referred to as khao phra ruang, occur in the form of a block or cube. A legend has it that this stone came from the sacred words of Phra Ruang, a ruler of the Sukhothai Kingdom around 700 years ago. During his monkhood at Wat Khao Phra Bat, on the day of Tak at Thewo (representing the Buddha's return to earth after a visit to his mother in heaven). Phra Ruang scattered the leftover rice in his bowl and some flowers on the temple ground. He made a wish for the popped rice and flowers to turn into stones that could last for generations. Those keeping this stone with them and paying respect to it are believed to become wealthy and free from all danger. If the uncut square stone is rubbed with lemon juice, the juice will have the quality of counteracting poison from any animal. Because of this ancient belief, the residents of Sukhothai province, especially those from Muang Kao subdistrict, usually bring khao tok phra ruang, available only in the Wat Khao Phra Bat area, for cutting. They also polish it with sand paper until it becomes shiny, resembling onyx. This stone is used for decorating silver-ware, and it is also used in various forms of jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches, and earrings. They leftover powder from the cutting process is usually turned into materials for making amulets, which are believed to bring good fortune for the owner."

J bought two bracelets made of khao tok phra ruang, which he is still enjoying, and I bought a beautiful turtle ring (pictured here with some turtle friends we met a few days later). It's lovely to have something that reminds us of our wonderful time with Nok, and that is so uniquely from that one special place in the world.

I still have lots to share about Thailand, but I'm leaving this coming weekend for eight days in Samoa with Maria, so... I'll have figure out how to balance wanting to continue to write about Thailand with what I'm sure will be lots of exciting news from Samoa. What a fabulous problem to have! Anyway, I won't post for a few weeks, but keep an eye out for more exciting things coming soon.