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Baan Hom Samunphrai A Herbal Health Centre & School Chiangmai, Thailand |
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Address: Baan Hom Samunphrai 93/2a Moo 12 Tawangtan, Saraphi, Chiang Mai 50140, THAILAND tel. 053-817-362 (English) tel. 053-817-356 (Thai) fax. 053-817-362 tel. 081.885.1429
(Maw Hom direct)
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WHERE WE ARE
Hill Tribe women
selling handmade silver These hand-woven
skirts can still be seen There is a festival almost weekly in Chiang
Mai with Our small village of Hang Quae (rhymes with 'air') still relies upon agriculture for its livelihood. There are rice paddies, longan orchards, vegetable gardens, irrigation canals and fish ponds all around us, and herbal medicine is still used widely by our neighbours. We ourselves grow most of the herbs we use in our garden, and the fruit we serve at our tables is either picked from our own trees or brought home early in the morning from the village earth market. Walks and bicycle rides are a delightful way to explore the countryside, and we have a whole fleet of bicycles for our guests.
You push your bicycle through our back gate and over the irrigation canal to get started. The buffalo have just finished grazing and are settling down in the mud to chew their cuds. Faithful and tireless workers, the Thai water buffalo is among the most contented creatures on earth, especially when unemployed!
Homprang's husband, Christopher, introduces some guests to the ancient Kingdom of Lanna, "Land of a Million Rice Fields," with its blue hills and electric green rice. The farmer on the right has just dug up some turmeric for a new mother in the village, and Smokey Lyons from Vermont can't believe his nose -- and it's also a very important herb in our steam baths! If you haven't yet seen it, you can Click Here for an 11 minute film, 'Baan Hom Samunphrai.' The film was shot during one ordinary afternoon and stars just whoever happened to be there at the time. The old crank-up gramophone was brought by a Norwegian friend -- the last one out of the steam bath smiling sheepishly at the camera. The fire is what we have every evening in December and January. All the rest is what happens any time of year.
An important footnote to all this. Baan Hom Samunphrai's fees are low, reflecting as they do the simple fact that 'folk medicine' evolved not in sophisticated resort-hotels and beachside spas but in real-life agricultural communities like the ones you see in these photos. Indeed, we are proud to be part of this timeless baan noc ('up-country') world, and look forward to making it more accessible to all those who feel the need to keep in touch with it too. Maw Hom is assisted by her husband, Christopher Woodman--click here for a bit more about him. He's fascinated by the local Thai community, and if you ask him will lead you into it anytime, on foot or by bicycle--the river, the rice paddies, the ruins, wats, sacred groves, graveyards & spirit houses. |
