My first homestay was only for one night. We drove out from the resort to a remote village in a National Park. Their were homes on stilts, palm trees and a serious mountain peak backdrop that cannot possibly be described. The villagers had been living on the land illegally for generations, but it wasn't until the past 50 years that their status had been jeopardized. The community is entirely self-sustainable and all of their food is organically grown.
Immediately after getting off the bus we were led to a clay structure that is used as a communal building for the village. We were fed with big bundles of bananas and tamarind. The bananas come small and sweet, nothing like the ones in the states. Tamarind is in pod form, kind of like big brown and oddly hard on the outside snow peas. You crack them open and pull off the veiny strands attached to to the nut. The fruit part is the gummy exterior around it. Very delicious.
After a brief ceremony I was led to what could be called a house, but for the mosty part was just a floor and three walls on stilts. There were two curtained off "rooms" on both sides and in the middle was a mat where Jenny and I slept (with mosquito netting around it of course at night). I managed to avoid the infamous "abnam" commands with my limited Thai. Jenny on the other hand bravely went for the ultimate shower experience.
The kitchen was outside and the woman of the family were set to work preparing for the communal dinner we would be sharing that night. I found myself seated on a wooden platform with four other woman removing the stems from hundreds of preek (chilis), tomatoes and shelling garlic. The food experience I had in that village has yet to be repeated. Morning glory with garlic, sticky rice cooked in fried egg. It's enough to make anyone shun electricity. And apparently all the men were fed whiskey - not a bad deal.
The next day we hiked through a bamboo forest to a cave. The cave had no pathways, it was slippery and terrifying and I may or may not have suffered from a nervous breakdown but it was beautiful and totally worth it. Also I shouldn't have worn flip flops.
After all that we finally made it to Khon Kaen where my apartment is and where I go to class. My roommate, Ying, is a business english major. She's fluent and has also been a Thai teacher for foreigners. She's like a personal translator and tutor all at once. She's my age and has already written two books. Her second one comes out in March.
Her cousin picked us up to go to a club called Rad in downtown Khon Kaen where we proceeded to drink an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker. Because in Thailand people don't order drinks, they order bottles. A Thai ska band covered Rhianna's Umbrella. Definitely a moment not to be missed.
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i'm going bananas, lets go get desert
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