Home Away from Home

 ☼  ↣  Our Hometown  ↢  ☼

On the odd occasion where we do not feel like traveling to an amazing destination and or have absolutely no money and force ourselves to stay home and save money like real adults, we still find ourselves in the most beautiful of places. Our town, Sam Phran, is an adorably friendly town just 40 minute drive west of Bangkok. When we first arrive in our town, our initial impression was relieved. We have access to almost anything from our apartment complex, including a motor taxi stand just outside the front gate of our apartment complex. Clearly we were not expecting this means of accommodation after hearing about other people in our program, who are in complete isolation with little to no transportation and even civilization near them. I know I have already gone on a rant about how lucky we are for our placement, but sometimes you don't realize just how lucky you are until you have friends come visit your town and you have the ability to share with them all of the places you have the privilege to call your home! 

So I will dedicate this post to the weekends that we have been able to explore our lovely little town and the amazing people and friends we have made because of this. Our town, Sam Phran happens to be the center of the Roman Catholic Origin in Thailand and has the highest population of practicing Roman Catholic followers. Amongst the numerous Christian Catholic schools in our region, our school is the Largest combined kindergarten, primary and secondary combined schools in the nation. Our school happens to own the three blocks within our neighborhood housing not only our apartment complex, but the shops and other retail locations on the main street of our town known as Phetkasem Road, which lead directly into the heart of Bangkok. Our town has the perfect combination of rural village/bustling suburbia. There is a definite hierarchy of wealth which can be quite shocking as most people live in tin huts but particular neighborhoods house mansions upon mansions where the wealthier families live. Not fully understanding just how expensive our school is, I am however aware that you have to have money to attend. On the weekends, the town quiets, however the bars and clubs that run alonside Phetkasem stay open until late hours in the morning. If you like to enjoy some beers and good music, Phetkasem is the place for you. 

Usually when we stay home on these weekends, we attempt to stay around town exploring during the day and catching up on sleep and opt for my most favorite thing in the entire world, local, organically fueled cafe/restaurants. Our town in particular has a number of highly rated eateries between restaurants found at the Sam Phran Riverside Resort to small cafes found on almost every street corner with not only amazing coffee, but breakfast and lunch options. I tend to measle my way out of bed and motor taxi to the closest cafe of choice, considering my options carefully. My favorite cafes thus far include Three Little Pigs, Little Tree Garden and Aoy's Riverside Cuisine. These magically decorated organic farms/ cafe/ restaurants are invitingly cozy allowing me to lose track of time catching up on blogging, reading, what have you. These have been my most favorite days so far. Just knowing that I am not far from home, and I can be cozy and relax without jam packing my weekend with nights out and sight seeing is so comforting. At these places we have not only found the time to catch our breath, but we have met the most amazing of people that have almost become family. Everytime we enter these locations we know the names of the owners, the staff calls us by teacher and we are treated like absolute celebrities. Even though It can be very hard to translate the menus, the staff will sit down with you in groups of 5 people at a time to make sure you order exactly what you need. 

-Aoy's Riverside Cuisine- 

Not only has Aoy, whom we have begun to refer to as our "Thai Mom," Hosted our thanksgiving dinner as previously mentioned, but this woman goes absolutely above and beyond for us teachers as if we were her own family. Everytime we visit Aoy's Riverside Cuisine, a neatly perched quaint and cosy bungalow restaurant upon SamPhran Riverside, she is ever- present, greeting us with hugs and smiles and free food and intricately decorated family style dinner table with setting made of banana leaves. Aoy likes to know that people return to her restaurant. She takes pride in having regulars, we are no longer her patrons but her friends that she greets with nothing but genuine happiness. Aoy has become our "Thai Mom" because she knows that it is difficult to get everyone together for big dinners. When we arrive she makes sure that we have aperitifs waiting for us, drinks on the table and desserts prepared just in time for us to finish eating our main meal. Aoy will talk to you about anything, her travels all over the world, or her extensive knowledge on both european and thai cuisines. She is extraordinarily happy. Her restaurant is not only full of loving employees, but friends that she takes under her wings and houses in tough times, the waitresses consist of students from our school whose education, she helps fund. She is a super hero goddess with the additive powers of holistic healing with house made remedies for anything you can think of. Her body care supplies are on sale next to her organic, homemade icecream. This lovely woman offers her house to us whenever she feels we might not want to make the trek home, even though we only live 10 minutes away, or she will pile us all into her SUV and drive us home herself. Aoy hold's staff parties every Wednesday night full of kareoke, hommade goodness and laughs. Although we have only known her for two months, she always includes us teachers. She is one of a kind. To even begin to explain the quality of this woman's food is nearly impossible. However, If I return to Thailand 10 years from now, you best believe I will return for Aoy's Coconut Banana Tom Yum Soup, something I swear could mend a broken heart. My mouth waters even thinking about it. I am so grateful for this wonderful woman, her presence and her hospitality. Without Aoy, we would all feel a little more homesick. So I am sending much love and  thanks to our "Thai Mom".

-Little Tree Garden- 

Our first time at Little Tree Garden, we met a woman named Pim. She was absolutely lovely and inviting. She expressed interest in having her children take on English Tutors, that they were home schooled and needed more practice! We immediately agreed over the relaxation and lavender lemon tea. We began to tutor the very next week and have been returning to Little Tree twice a week to teach a group of the most lovely home-schooled children. They brighten up my weeks, I look forward to these tutoring sessions, they have made my experience so much more enjoyable. As we tutor in a beautiful floral garden outside watching the sun set, we are given baked goods and water by Pim. The family's we tutor are the most genuinely caring humans I have met thus far and I feel unbelievably lucky to get paid for such a wonderful opportunity every week. Not only does this pay supplement my travels, but its something I honestly enjoy doing and I am so happy we opened ourselves up to this wonderful woman. She has impeccable taste and has created the most lovely empire of workers and fellow home schooled families to support her farm, its cafe and the local arts. 

-Whispering Land Market-

This past weekend, we had the lovely privilege of attending the bi-annual Sunday Market Pim holds at the Little Tree Garden, on the grounds where I tutor. They had been setting up for weeks while we were tutoring, building wooden teepees and tent structures from all natural materials and white linen. This fairy garden-'esk' landscape was nothing less than magical. We could not wait to attend this event and it just so happened to land on the very weekend we had friends coming to visit our home town1 It was more than perfect timing. Sunday rolled around and we woke up, grabbed a few motorbikes and made our way to the market. The closer we got, the more we noticed people lined up and down the streets dressed in traditional thai silk and linen outfits, sporting bags with recently purchased produce and market supplies. As we hopped of our motor bikes and compensated the drivers, we were almost immediately engulfed in the white linen lined streets of what used to be the little tree garden. The colors of the stalls were mesmerizing, the products, breathtaking. Everyone was dressed so beautifully. I felt as though I had been thrown into another time period, back when phones and other technologies hadn't yet been developed. Vendors sat cross legged on the ground and their products carelessly yet flawlessly strewn across woven mats on the ground. We stopped to comment on every stall, thanking the vendors for the quality of their goods and oogling at the amazing textiles and talents. My student, Bolek came running up to me with samples of the bread he and his mother had made all week for  the Whispering Land Market. The children I tutor popped over to say hello while assisting us in picking the perfect loaf of bread to take home with us. We received hugs and giant smiles from the people who have been nothing but welcoming and beautiful to us since the moment we stepped food in this town. We spent the morning moseying around the grounds, and returning to the cafe to sit and bask in amongst the coconut tree groves enjoying omelettes and coffees. My words and pictures will not do justice to the experience we shared together, but I must say this was one of the most magical moments I have experienced thus far. I do not have a tips section upon this blog post for the very reason that this is a personally reflective blog post. Thank you for reading. 

-Reflection- 

The quote below has never hit me quite as strongly in the past few months of my life. I  know that it has been said by many before but it is just powerful enough to repeat however often you need. 

"Live Each Day With a Grateful Heart"

Three Little Pigs Cafe/ Restaurant & Organic Farm 

- Aoywaan Riverside Cuisine Samphran -

-Little Tree Cafe / Restaurant & Tutor Sessions-

-Little Tree's Whispering Land Market-

I lied: One tip. Download Live translator to Translate Menus!