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Only kidding! It’s really a beautiful place with a rich social and natural history among the other Trat islands.

There was not so much for me to explore outside of some simple but delicious meals, ridiculous sunsets in warm water, and a gloriously affordable private room. Or at least, that’s all I wanted to explore after a little chunk of farm living. It served as a beautiful reminder of the deep privilege I have to be here, experiencing the world with such ease.

Before I got to the island, Kwan gave me the lovely gift of some sea kayaking experience. I tried to roll… I failed to roll. Outside of that dizziness I have never done such a peaceful activity, at least until I started thinking about sharks and the Gretchen in me made me turn around to mental safety. Kwan assured me there is no real threat. My genetics are too strong to believe him.

The ferry ride was beautiful but thick with exhaust. I sat next to a silly and flamboyant guy I met weeks ago before a train to Bangkok. Small world. He was a character I can’t even begin to pin down but it was great to see him again and hear of his tales guided by stoned happenstance (my favorite was how he ended up at a local and lively festival by motor biking along the route 420 and turning onto happy lane. Or something like that).

Though I’m too afraid, and probably rightfully so, to pitch tents willy nilly and trust in the kindness of strangers, I’m in awe of the good that can come from the spaces you enter as a traveler here. The positive energy you give to Thai people you get back in tenfold. This guys stories remind that it is never hard to come upon kindness if you make the space for it.

I never did get his name.

After two weeks and a quick visa hop over the Thailand / Cambodia border I’m back in business. The business of relaxation and 10 hour bus rides, that is.

Enjoy the photo heavy post!!

But to reach my state of Koh Chang cabin fever there was a heavy amount of digging, sweating, scratching, cooking, kayaking, and showering to get through in the latter stretch of my farm stay. It finally rained, so Kwan wasn’t lying about the mosquitos. He told me to let you all know that. I still don’t believe him.

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We ate great food, great tea, and finally got to use the pizza oven that Justin and I put our blood sweat and tears into covering with the perfect coating of concrete. For some reason unknown to anyone, Kwan purchased a block of mozzarella the size of a small child in preparation. Luckily I make a mean caprese salad and his kitchen garden overflowed with basil. My dream come true. Waste not want not.

We exchanged gifts of our past, present and future. We told stories, entertained kwans terrible jokes, and I got to crochet small reusable carriers for these two fellas.

Thank god I didn’t hike this yarn across the world for nothing.

I’d be sad for all 3 of y’all reading this if I left out the phenomenal crux of Kwans pizza oven project. Enjoy!!

(mine was the prettiest but kwans was the tastiest. Justin took one for the team as the Guinea pig…). All my months making dough in the peaceful belly kitchen paid off!!

I’m not sure what more to say about it other than I made two excellent friends, made it to the other side of kwans hard core labor exchange, and passed the dengue test. With great help from the dogs and plants and geckos of course. Didn’t see a single snake, mom.

Kwan has turned into a great friend and an even better mentor. He oozes hope and positivity and acceptance, never failing to teach a lesson whenever there’s a proper moment. Even if there isn’t a proper moment, he’ll find a chunk of wisdom to give you. It’s not often we find people this way – people who are both incredibly humble and endlessly impressive. I was so lucky to find this in both Kwan and Justin.

Though I am here to enjoy the environments around me, I am also here to learn from them and from people like Kwan. I am happy to be a student again.

My time here was short but it left me full in the heart and the head. Kwan gave me as many problems to think about as he did holes to dig. Problems may not be the right word though … he showed me aspects of environmental history in Thailand that I likely wouldn’t have learned otherwise. The problems, the struggles, the solutions, the victories, and then the meandering and complicated effects from all those steps. He also taught me my new favorite Thai phrase (albeit from a very limited pool of Thai phrases….): ไปดี มาดี.

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ไปดี มาดี (bai dee ma dee) means travel safe, and go with good intentions. But that translation doesn’t convey the full breadth of the phrase meaning.

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‘Bai dee’ could also mean something like “let’s go rock the world” (not like the tourists who give so much headache to our sweet host Kwan. Maybe in a more No Reservations edgy 2000s Travel Channel way).

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‘Ma dee’ (pronounced sort of like my name) can mean “come back with prosperity and success”. This phrase is more than just good intentions or good reward. It hopes to reiterate that you receive good karma in the form of wealth, knowledge, and experience as a response to good action wherever you go. What a beautiful message to leave someone as you part ways.

ไปดี มาดี!

Week one on the farm done, and life is going smooth! My host, Kwan, says I look healthier than when I arrived. I’m sure he’s right. Good sign I don’t have dengue yet….

Me and my other Workaway partner, Justin, have been simply devoured by the mosquitos that Kwan says are predicting rain. No rain yet. We think he may be lying.

Either way, we are learning a lot about organic (and non organic) farming in Thailand. Truly a bummer to know how corrupt food production is anywhere in the world, but people like Kwan give me hope for what we can change just in the world around us.

Justin, on the other hand, left his Silicon Valley life to try his hand at literally trying with his hands. After only a week I’m amazed at how much he has embraced this lifestyle and come to appreciate the practice of organic farming. Watching him harvest his own food (despite the constant blood sampling and bite leaving) and eat his first home grown tomato warm from the sun and ripe from the vine made me happier than anything so far on my trip.

We both have endured some intense labor but learned much about finding humor and reward from the most uncomfortable tasks. Even watering the cow shit has a purpose <3

This farm experience has me missing my Peaceful Belly family more than anything. As I’m in Kwan’s nursery, filling soil trays and painstakingly allotting only 3 lettuce seeds into each cell, I find myself missing something. I don’t have Bee or Tilly keeping me company, nor am I going to head inside to see Lizzy and Sav and Katherine and Josie and everyone else who’s smiles or scowls I wish to see again (Kelly I didn’t mention you just to make you mad). To those of you maybe possibly reading this, and even if you aren’t, know that you are in my mind often and fondly <3 if it weren’t for you all I would not have the skills I needed to carry me through this chapter!!!

Once I remember to stop scratching my ankles, it’s easy to look up at the sun shining through the banana leaves, wipe the constant sweat off of my chin, and feel a deeper peace than any resort could offer.

I wasted no time after Krabi to get to Trat. Instead of wandering Bangkok all by my lonesome for the lunar new year, I wanted to see a path less traveled (and a path closer to the future farm of my dreams).

I navigated the most confusing bus station of my life, miraculously managing to hop on the wrong bus to the right place!

I found an easy breezy guesthouse just a hop skip and a trot away from a small but boisterous night market full of fried bugs, dinners fresh from the wok, stickers, crepes, and finally some clothes that aren’t fake Patagonia. I shuffled along till sunset but wanted desperately to enjoy my private room with a nice enough view of the dancing birds and lingering vendors.

I saw the museum for this lovely little town and enjoyed the AC, sat in a park making friends with the pigeons, ate more street food, watched the sunset, learned a word or two, and went to bed oh so early.

The next morning, me and my old host finally exchanged the right names upon greeting each other. He gave me coffee, fruit, and candied squash. He listened excitedly about the farm I was going to work on and we exchanged goodbyes.

If I could have stayed in Trat in this room for a month I would have. But I am excited to spend more time with Kwan, who picked me up later that day. Of all the characters I’ve met on this trip it makes perfect sense that the agroforestry enthusiast is one of the most captivating. In our first moments together he rents a chainsaw, makes maybe one too many jokes about Dexter, gives me a sticky rice snack packaged in a bamboo shoot, and takes me and my fellow Workawayer to the most beautiful prison/zoo I’ve ever seen.

I’m ready to be brainwashed by agroecology!

Hello hello!

I was so wrong when I thought a blog would be easier than social media to maintain. I find it too easy to be self critical about what I type and what I’m putting out for everyone to see.

But I know it’s a let down to my dedicated followers (I’m lookin at you Precious….) to never see any updates.

I promise I am alive and well, experiencing all the things I have been wanting to experience and then some. I’m soaking up every bug bite, every insane view, every mysterious market meat, and every awkward interaction I have with my terrible Thai.

Missing you all dearly!!

After Vietnam — which I may post about more in the future once Billy recovers from his flu and sends me some pictures already — I headed to Thailand with Matt. We serendipitously got our plane tickets for the same exact flight so naturally decided to explore the new country together.

Seeing as we were both recovering the nasty ‘Hanoi Hack’ (after spending many days in a city with an aqi over 200 it’s bound to happen…) we decided to skip the Bangkok business and head straight south to soak up the sun and scooter around a gentle beach town.

My future Workaway host immediately recommended Krabi, since this time of year it sees better weather and with arguably much more to do than other areas down south. So we popped on an easy going 14 hour train ride seated in a pre-war style 90° bench with non stop lights and food vendors.

About an hour away from our stop in Trang, the train comes to a sharp halt and suddenly, everyone is looking out of the window confused. We hear them saying this word that sounds like “duh koy”. Naturally we wonder if we’re getting robbed? Is there a blown gasket? Eventually, and awkwardly since I just woke up from a mish mashed 2 hour nap and was very disoriented, I get a family and some of the train people to speak into my phone.

The train had only hit a Buffalo.

Our time in Krabi was already off to an interesting start.

We were there for a total of 7 days.

Just enough time to get sunburnt once, drunk 6 times, see a proposal on the beach, get a flat tire, eat more fried noodles than I ever had up to this point in my life, buy and lose a pair of sunglasses each, get 40-50 bug bites, get a flat tire, see some enslaved elephants, stay in an abandoned movie theater, watch seven sunsets, get stung by jellyfish, scared by giant monkeys, climb 1260 stairs, call an ambulance for a woman on those stairs, lose a bike key, find a bike key, watch a fire show, get chased by butterflies, listen to stoned old men give an entire synopsis of a Mel Gibson movie, throw up in a public bathroom, beat the sea lice, bathe in a waterfall, and eat many mystery items from sprawling markets.

Alas, even though we didn’t want to, the time came for Matt and I to part ways (after another 14 hour bus and sitting train ride of course). We had grown very close over the last several weeks, and for someone who’s been traveling solo for as long as Matt has or for as long as I plan on doing, a close friend is never to be taken for granted. I will miss his company but have high hopes our paths may cross again. Either way I’m sure we will hear plenty of what the other is up to in the months to come.

In the interest of saving time for myself and for you, oh thoughtful reader, I’ll leave it at that. This week offered me recovery, excellent friendship, and my first taste of Thai. I love what is in the air here, even though the trees keep reminding me not to get too comfortable.

I don’t plan on it.

After meeting Katie at her coffee shop only 40 minutes before our overnight bus to Ha Giang, we abandoned our plans and were surprisingly willing to eat $50 in tickets. She convinced us of her hospitality, network, and know-how and by god we were not let down.

She introduced us to Alex and Katja, two young whipper snappers from South Africa who were traveling through Vietnam as Katie’s lion cubs. It was an immediate joy to meet another sibling duo making their way through Asia and we were ready to learn more about them. In the corner of this meeting sat a reserved Tom.

We will catch up on him later.

Billy, Matt, and I joined their group to a staff/new years party at a Ha Long restaurant. We enjoyed one of the greatest buffets we have ever experience. Buttered Bahn Mi, melons, salads, pork wrapped mushrooms, octopus, beef, shrimp, French fries, squid bits, and even fried crocodile were given to us by the sheer hospitality of our new friends. The food was never ending as we helplessly thanked the kind strangers for cooking all of our food in the center grill and loading up our plates with big smiles.

They were especially pleased to share their happy water – a type of rice wine that never left our tiny shot glasses. One after the other and for no apparent reason other than to celebrate each others company, we all stood cheering “mot! Hai! Bah! Yo!” (one, two, three… cheers!)before gulping down another drink. There was never a person who sipped his drink alone.

After Billy ate a whole octopus and everyone threw down bets over an arm wrestling match, the dinner came to an end. Nevertheless Katie led party to a nearby beach. And by party we mean a small squat circle with even more snacks and a hefty sharing of beer.

We looked at the stars, shared music, learned some South African dancing, and billy enjoyed a gently amused audience for a small techno demonstration.

Although everyone was ready for bed after some proper digestion time, us tourists wanted to enjoy the exciting new beach and strangely arranged stars. Only Tom lingered with us on the beach… not quite as a friend but instead as a watching eye for Katie.

We were ready to relax at the sound of the waves and sip on the remaining beers, but by some cosmic act of childlike interference a pink balloon the size of a hefty beach ball hit me in the face. Matt, being the one always with a game ready to play, insisted we play Jackpot. This entailed one person throwing the balloon high in the air yelling a random number of points and whoever catches it gets the points. Simple enough.

It quickly devolved into a game of just chase and catch, my bruised face being the only faux pa of the night. That was our first of many shared joys with Tom.

That night we were put up in their lovely Sunflower hotel free of charge and were prepared to be shuttled off the next morning to Cat Ba Island. We learned to trust Katie’s advice dearly. Since this island was Tom’s home he was put in charge of everyone, maybe even dreading the responsibility. Though he definitely had his work cut out for him, I believe it was worth it in the end.

<3 I have very few pictures from this night, but in my next posts you will see plenty of evidence of our time with Tom, Katie, and these unruly new friends

Bus from hanoi dropped us off in a tourist ghost town. Started raining on us. Luckily the only people we saw weren’t trying to sell us things but invited us to sit down and dry off.

A few things we learned:

🍀proper pronouns and pronunciation

🍀the importance of age in social interactions (how you shake hands, receive items, clink your drinks)

🍀eating etiquette (don’t tap your chopsticks on your bowl … it calls the ghosts)

🍀 what a traditional Chinese song sounds like in a wood flute (suwah?). Also girlfriends who give flutes may not wait for two years while you’re in the military like they promised.

🍀 when scooping rice into your bowl, scoop once for the ghosts. Scoop twice for yourself. Scoop a third time for the dog (but that one is usually left out)

🍀 try your food by itself before adding sauce to it

🍀 double dipping is not just okay, but encouraged

🍀 place your hand on your arm when handing someone something, accepting something, or shaking hands if they are older than you or as a sign of respect.

🍀 when you introduce yourself, include name, age, AND place you are from

🍀 No need for sorry and thank you once familiar with someone. We say this far too much as Americans

🍀homosexuality between women is much more accepted than between men

🍀 they go through eating paper (tiny napkins) like nobody’s business. Trash can or pile nearby is necessary when eating.

🍀 drinking etiquette (never alone. The first drink includes downing your whole glass. Every drink after that is a cheers for everyone)

🍀 if a caterpillar crawls from your feet to your head you will die

🍀 men are strong in body, women are strong in mind. They also aren’t trusted to sleep in the same room.

🍀 no age restriction for smoking or drinking. Many start probably at 10. That’s why bad guy is 50/50.

🍀 life experience in the military, especially when you are placed in the mountains for being on the naughtier side.

🍀 Vietnamese like ice in their beer

🍀 resting bitch face is not ideal. He pointed out Billy’s, claiming a dangerous look ….

🍀 people get married at least by 27. Billy is falling behind the curve.

To bide time for weather improvement we went to Ha Long bay from Hanoi. To little surprise we basically just ended up at the Oregon coast with palm trees and tourist ghost towns

But this is where we met Truong – a local guy who helped us in from the rain and made us dinner. He set in motion the next week of shenanigans and friendships and meals and art projects and taught us a great deal about Vietnam

The energy of Ha Long was … seasonally depressed. The hostel people were sleepy and fighting with each other. The locals had little customers and mainly just sheltered from the clouds and downpour. We ate the worst pho of our life from an abandoned theme park. The grey meat was no match for our guts.

But this is where we met Matt. In the puddle of bummed out tourists there was one hippie looking red haired game of thrones like man discussing the price of a bacon cheddar omelet with the hostel host (who was also hacking up a lung). We get to talking and his stories of the last 6 months trekking through India, Nepal, Vietnam, etc were refreshing to say the least. He helped us learn the card games “Asshole” and “Spades” with a kind French boy and an obnoxiously aged traveler. We drank soju till late and parted our ways enjoying what the night gave in relief of the winter tourism.

The next day we get a motorbike for 100,000vnd (~$4) with a broken speedometer and fuel gauge. We eye the gas tank and it looks alright for the days journey, at least till we can find a petrol station.

Alas, it was not.

We got stranded on a small island just a bridge away from Ha Long. It was either trek for 40 minutes both ways for one small water bottle full of gas or ask Truong or Matt to rescue us. Not wanting to bother the host from our first night we give our new friend that is hungover on soju a call to action.

Matt and his trusty bike “Trouble Maker” roll up heroically with a Desani bottle filled with gasoline. It was a rough start but it got us to the gas station. From here we decided to stay together and see what we could at the top of this island. It wasn’t until many days later I found out he had several moments of doubt in our intentions for this journey, as we dragged him to the top of a mountain, sinister thoughts maybe on the mind.

Turns out we both saved eachother that day. We kept going into the night, catching the cold sunset at the beach with a ridiculously expensive coffee, helping some oyster farmers on the beach, and roaming around Ha Long city area for a dinner that ripped us off. Lessons learned for how to properly order a meal as a whitey here.

We drove around after the sunset to see the night lights and end up coming across a ‘bumpin’ night club in the sea of nothing (again, the strangeness of winter tourism) . Matt proposes we go in, and with some hesitation we park our bikes, enter the sea of some 40 odd people and experience the first taste of the tourist celebrity. The people were incredibly drunk and immediately nice. They all wanted selfies, hugs, cigarette sharing, dance circles, and handshakes. Our first taste of Vietnamese friends outside of gloomy cities overrun by tourists.

On our last day in Ha Long we were ready to give up seeing one of the 7 natural wonders of the world as the otherworldly islets were covered in a thick fog and the rain was nauseating. We booked a bus to Ha Giang to try our luck on the infamous motorcycle loop, clouds and rain and all. As we take Matt to see Truong for one final thank you and goodbye, we hop in a taxi that we believe is headed towards our bus station. Really, it was headed to meet Truongs dear friend Katie.

This is where we meet our South African friends and begin the journey to Cat Ba. Both literally and emotionally, the sun began to shine.

To my dedicated followers

I write to you with apology for my inability to post regular updates.

Every day is one foot in front of the other.

I miss you all so much!

Still with our South African friends (+ Matt) getting shuttled around northern Vietnam. Our hands are being held but grateful for it. The hospitality here is unrivaled

We ended up here to avoid the bad weather in the Ha Giang loop. The weather is still terrible. William and I leave for Ho Chi Minh tonight leaving our friends and hosts. Bittersweet

The people smile at me a lot less than read about. At least in Hanoi. They also do not really like to barter. We’ve offended some. Got an orange for 20k dong :/. The woman stuck her fingernail in it. Hope she didn’t wipe recently.

No typhoid yet. Stomachs have held up very great! Billy loves the bahn bao

Got in our first motorbikes here. Ready for more

Sat behind farting children for 12 hours, but got 3 free meals and a free stay at one groovy setup.

Looking raggedy. To be expected. Maybe that’s why Billy shampood his hair.

It looks much better now.