Maejo Village, Thailand
After a week or so in the hustle and bustle of Chiang Mai, we were ready for something different. A family friend who used to live in Chiang Mai recommended we check out the Maejo Village area, which is about 90 minutes north of the city. We decided to spend three nights at a homestay called Earth Home near the Maejo Village. We had never been to a homestay experience and were not sure what to expect for the next four days.
Leaving our Chiang Mai apartment to head to Maejo Village.
After about a 90 minute ride in the back of a songthaew, which is basically a modified pickup truck running as a taxi, we arrived at Earth Home, across the street from the village’s temple complex. We were welcomed with smoothies and given a tour of the area. Earth Home is a homestay based on sustainable living. They combine an organic farm and amazing home-cooked meals with sessions on skills such as growing food, cooking, building earthen homes, and making soap, just to name a few.
Thailand, like many countries, has had a massive urbanization trend to the detriment of the countryside villages. So besides teaching foreign visitors, the folks at Earth Home focus on giving Thai residents the skills to make a living locally rather than having to move to the city to find a job.
Our stay quickly immersed us into sustainable living concepts. It was both eye-opening and refreshing. We walked to nearby Pun Pun farm and joined a group of volunteers making mud bricks to be used for earthen homes. The homes provide a quality, yet inexpensive shelter.
Zach loved the brick making process as it closely resembled playing in the mud, though quickly became a lot of work. After weeks of just Trish and I, he immediately adopted the mostly college-aged volunteers as his closest pals. Our thanks to that group of folks, who included him and even took him to the pond to swim and clean-up afterward!
We met Thongbai’s amazing family as the creators and hosts of Earth Home. The shared meals and atmosphere gave us a great opportunity to really talk and learn about the lives of our fellow foreign guests from China and Singapore, as well as the Thai guests from Bangkok.
As I said, we had no idea what to expect from this stay. But, as we left to return to Chiang Mai, we were all sad to go. Sad to say good-bye to our new friends, but also happy to have had a taste of the sustained living concepts and hopeful that we could apply some of the lessons at home.
Thongbai with her daughter and grandson saying good-bye
More detail on Earth Home can be found here.
