Tour of Suan Long Kong, Werachai's farm, and my former residence

Werachai’s farm grows more fruits than I can name and several of them, I’ve never seen before in my life. On the farm sits three lakes (two fresh, one saltwater), rubber tree fields, a greenhouse and a large terraced hill they call a mountain. In the back of their pickup truck, we toured the farm with Werachai and his best best friend Wiset as tour guides. Here, I am eating a tiny little fruit the size of a marble that first assults the taste buds with a striking sourness, then dries out your tongue with intense bitterness.

Adding to the farming business, Werachai has plans to make a eco-resort out of his land. He’s already built one impressive hand-built bungalow and has begun to clear the mountain for bungalows with panoramic views on both the Andamen sea and the coastal mountains. This picture is of our tour of the resort's main office that’s being built by the workers on the farm when it’s not fruit picking season. Their on-off building schedule makes the construction an extremely slow process, but none of them seem to mind: they have a vision.

In the back of the pick up, Ron and Linda with the master carpenter. In the back ground are the fruit trees, deliberate rows of different fruit trees growing together.

Here's one of the fresh water lakes on the farm. Behind me is their irrigation pump watering to most of the property. The floating "bridge" is sturdier than it looks.

Werachai picking some strange bell-shaped fruit with a large cashew-like nut growing out of its core. The fruit is a mix of a peach and a juicy apple. Behind us are betel nuts drying in the sun. When they’re totally dry, they’ll peel off the husks and sell the nuts to Burma and Northern Thailand. Betel nut is that red stuff old Thai people chew and let the red stain their teeth and drool down their chin. It’s gross but they seem to like it. We didn’t get to try any.

In the greenhouse there were only a few flowers in bloom. My mother wished she could have grown the same plants back at Michigan.

Werachai showing off his big wood. It’s number two, behind teak, he said.

The tour took us to another garden of flowers grown to sell and to the so-called mountain.

Behind us is his farm, almost extending out to the bright white Andaman sea. Up here is where he plans to hand build bungalows.

Down to the villages surrounding the farm, we stop by a fishing community. Most of the other boats out at sea, but there was one man in his boat painting the bow.

It was low tide at the time and all these boats will float once the water comes back. Except for the green one in the distance, still wrecked from the tsunami.

Werachai shows us the tsunami evacuation plan. Signs are posted all over the coast directing people to safe areas in case the sirens warn of another tidal wave.

We stopped at several houses in the village and this guy’s yard was the cleanest I’ve ever seen in Thailand. I’m pretty sure he sweeps his dirt yard everyday. Every other yard was a mess, an example of local entropy. The man sat on his porch weaving thatch roofing that he sold for 7 baht a piece. He said he averaged making 50-60 a day.



Floating fish farms in the village. We didn't brave the walk out to get a closer look.

After lunch we drove out to a coastal national park for a walk on the beach. The sun was so hot I felt like it was burnt the second it touched me. We made it a short walk and went back to the shade.

In a couple months it will be my parents 25th wedding anniversary. If you haven’t bought them a present and a card yet, you better get a move on. Ron would like a new airplane and my mom wants a waterfall built in the back yard.

Me and the family. Wiset, Werachai and Noot. I was pooped. What a great day.