I was drawn North because of an ecovillage named Pun Pun, and the nearby Panya project. I stayed at the super special Thailand Earth Home: a homestay about two hours to the north of Chaing Mai. The homestay was permaculture inspired; growing many of the vegetables that they use on site, having stunning adobe (a natural building practice which combines clay, sand and often a plant fibre like rice or wheat straw) buildings well decorated with hand painting and clay incorporated mosaics. Meals were served just meters away from the chicken enclosure and were traditional and healthy northern Thai dishes, shared with the family under yet another beautiful earthen orange building, this one with only low walls and thick beams, with images of farmers working their rice fields painted on the walls.
Best of all was the homestays close proximity to Pun Pun. A beautiful walk trough a tiny village and in between farm fields up a red dirt lane took me to the Thai ecovillage Pun Pun. Here a group of people, some couples with families, some young, some older, live together in community; developing their own skills towards self reliance and sharing these skills with others through Pun Pun workshops, and welcoming volunteers like myself to come and learn.
I spent two days working alongside the community, first spending time sorting and stacking old thatch, using the most termite ridden bits of natural leaf roofing to mulch around nearby edible leaf trees and bushes. The following day I spent time with an older Thai man who showed us how to make a strong bamboo trellis home for their over growing butterfly beans, followed by creating a fence for a new chicken breeding enclosure - another way that this group is trying to become self reliant in their need for external inputs. We gathered for lunch together under a huge roofed area, siting on the floor at a simple low wooden table, the only furniture in the room. We ate sitting on the floor, together, mostly Thais, and some folks from the west. We ate delicious coconut greens curry, stickey rice, a scrambled egg vegetable omelette, a sour and sweet green mango salad, and raw additions of artfully peeled cucumbers, a sour wild grassy green that was a perfect accompaniment to the creamy and rich coconut curry. Ohhh the foods of Thailand...
Nearby to Pun Pun was another community of people, this one younger, and all farang (i.e. foreigners). They offer permaculture courses and learning opportunities to a broader community. Of a totally different energetic vibe, it was super cool to see the ways that these communities were very different, yet with a similar mission to spread knowledge and experience to the world on self reliant and sustainable lifestyles.
One more special spot nearby was a reservoir, one that I jumped into (Thai style fully clothed) one day after a sweaty day of volunteering. But I swam in the reservoir not with out haste, and contemplation. There is a serious drought in Thailand at the moment, a serious drought in the entire region actually - it certainly stems to the Permaculture farm in Cambodia that I spend time on with Operation Groundswell). What is meant to be the monsoon season, where rains come every day fast and hard, instead has been replaced by the regular dryness and heat of the opposite season. This means that folks in northern Thailand are a month and a half behind in planting their rice. Seeing the patches of lime green rice seedlings, sitting all tightly packed in a sole rice bed, somehow seeming to personify a child on a road trip "are we there yet? can I be planted out yet?" I recognize the gravity of this drought, no one dares plant out their rice for fear it will whither and die in the dry fields that are meant to be flooded in water. That's why it's important places like pun pun exist: to teach and share knowledge about what it is to be self reliant. And in the current global climate, skills in adaptation and self reliance in rural areas worldwide are becoming extremely important.
After my time in the rural area of Chaing Mai province, I arranged to be picked up by the songthaew (a covered pick up truck with benches in the back) that passes through the village once daily to get me back to Chaing Mai for some yoga and dance. Among roosters, packages of styrofoam and mystery boxes, ready to be delivered en route, I made my way back to the city. Playing the ukulele of my new friend once off the truck, I wandered into the city to find a place for a couple nights.
I spent time over the days that followed eating at vegetarian restaurants, wandering one of the best night markets I've ever been at in Asia, sampling delicious sweet and savory rice treats in a wide variety of forms, and dancing my heart open!
I found a lovely yoga community in Chaing Mai, where I realized that my time in Asia has been missing something. Over these couple of days I manged to take two yoga classes, sit in a group meditation, play at a contact improvisation dance workshop, and dance fully and sweetly at a meditative dance practice - ecstatic dance. And, once again I received the affirmation that dance is one of my practices. Being in a room full of energy, brimming with intention and exploding with interesting emotive evoking music, dance becomes my meditation, my emotional release. So beautiful it was, so hard it was, so many letting goes and realizations through this 2 hour dance practice. And the physical contact through dance with zero expectation was also able to momentarily fill a space a small void that I've had for the past months here in Asia. Through these experiences I realize that I miss ecstatic dance, as a means of expression, meditation, as a way to escape my chatty brain and come fully into the sensation of my body, letting whatever unconscious emotional needs to be processed in the physical expressions. Felt through the music, and poured out through motion.
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Rewind a little. I can't forget to share just a little bit about a spectacular 9 days I spent with my dear sister Krista, who joined me from her home in Australia for a Balinese and Gili Island adventure in the week prior to this northern Thai romp I was just sharing. Here are some words that summarize our adventure together:
Rest, volcano hiking, ocean, rice food, rice terraces, rice offerings, connection, dome house, coral, cocktails, rambunctious cats, seaside yoga, green landscapes, perfect temperatures, swimming, Balinese dancing (watching and doing), tai chi, snorkelling with turtles and fishes, long delicious breakfasts, hot chocolate(s), juice, welcome drinks, Ramadan, ceremony, bicycles, temples, sand, Komodo dragons, mount Batur, Krista and Kayla, Gado-Gado, temph delights, boats, mosquito nets, chinteaka (ie beautiful!), turtles, Titi, beautiful sitting places, comfortable sitting places, quiet countryside...
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Fast forward a moment. Here I am in Cambodia, more then 10 days into the second program with Operation Groundswell. By way of sharing just a little piece of what I experienced in this most recent week at the drought stricken, but generosity rich Cambodian countryside, I'll leave you with this strange poem:
The touch of the wind on my toes at night,
Moving my pink canopy ever so slightly.
Sounds of geckos echo into the woods,
While dry red earth crys deeply for rain.
Monks chant on loudspeaker,
While locals prostrate and pray.
Pray
for rain
for water
for Love.
My belly is full
My cheeks hurt from smiles
My sleeps are luxurious, restful
I am safe.
And yet, something is missing.
Or is it that
I Am
Missing
Something.
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| from the top of Mount Batur, Bali |
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| My main squeeze, Krista. Gili Air |
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| Sunrise in rural Chaing Mai province |
