In resent years Agro-Tourism has become more popular with tourists all over the world. They would like to experience the real Thai way of life first hand. Home stay packages have popped up like mushrooms and there seems to be a section of tourists that want to have this experience. These packages are not for the unadventerous. Don’t expect a five star accommodations or even hot water for your bath. Home stay really means staying with in a Thai family home usually in the countryside. You will be able to live the simple life if a Thai farmers or fisherman. You will eat with them and be taken to see how the local people make a living. There are many types of home-stay packages with many locations all over the country. Recently I went on a television shoot which showcase agro-tourism.

             We did not have go far to live the simple and agrarian life style of the Thai country people. It was in Samut Songkram, which is about one and a half-hours south of Bangkok. This area has been like the fruit and vegetable basket for Bangkok and the country. Many orchards and vegetable farms are found in this area. In the last ten years fish farming along the Ta Jean River have been extensively developed. In terms of Agro-Tourism you can come to this area and do a “ home stay” at Pu Yai Yip’s home which is right on the many canals in the area. You can learn how these people live. You get to go and cook in an old style Thai kitchen. You also are taken to see orchards and maybe how to harvest coconut syrup and then turn it into coconut sugar. In the evening you are taken on a long boat to see the thousands of fireflies that hover near the water. It is magical.

             It is like seeing a nature’s natural firework. Phu Yai Yip’s house is also a restaurant and the atmosphere there is quite wonderful because you are right on the canal. Large and small shops pass by your house selling everything from toothpaste to brooms. It reminded me of Thailand forty of fifty years ago when things were slow and gentle and we had time to do things for one another not because we expect anything in return but because we are Thais who are known for our hospitality and acts of kindness. I am not sure if I can still live that kind of life-style but it certainly seems very appealing and quite romantic. I can imagine sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor without air-conditioning and not feeling too hot and sweaty because the house is an old Thai house which is raised off the ground and built of wood. I weekend at places like this should refresh you and take you back to nature.

             I did not have time to do the home stay but I was able to visit Phu Yai Yip’s place by the canal and had a wonderful lunch there. If you are not familiar with this area you could spend time driving round and around because all roads look alike to me. So please if you are thinking of going either to eat local Thai food or stay at a home stay, do have someone who knows the area take you.

             The food at Phu Yai Yip’s place is very Thai and quite traditional. They are quite inventive in creating new dishes from local produces. Instead of the fish cakes or Tod Mun when are well known all over the world, they make cakes from coconut hearts, herbs and spices and a little bit of flour. These are quite tasty and not too highly spiced but represents a remarkable departure from the original recipe which used fish meat mixed with red curry paste fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and eggs.

             They do a very good banana blossom salad or Yum Hua Plee. The sweet and sour dressing with a touch of coconut milk in it was great. For those of you who like fish, their deep-fried fish with Isan dressing made from herbs and spices and toasted rice kernels was very good. The hot toasty sour and salty dressing went well with the greasy fried fish, which was crispy on the outside yet still moist and soft on the inside. There is a coconut heart salad made Som Tum style with poached fresh water shrimps in it. A remarkable combination, soft and delicate shrimp and the crunchy pieces of coconut hearts.

             They made another Som Tum or papaya salad but added the meat of cooked Thai pickled mackerel or Pla Tu in it. This was very good eaten with rice and accompanying vegetables. This salad was almost like a Nam Prik or Thai dips. Fried fresh water fish, Pla Mor that is quite hard to find these days served with a raw mango salsa was refreshing and the fish was very fresh because it did not smell muddy.

              There are many other dishes here that are all very interesting and delicious. Most dishes are made from the material found near the water and from the land. We were there for quite while eating and I truly enjoyed the boats that went by us on the canal. There were boats that looked like a floating Seven Eleven because it was packed with so many things. Boats selling coffee and teas, boats selling noodles and boats that sell fruits and vegetables all came by us while we were eating lunch. It was a very pleasant way to pass the afternoon. You all should try it sometime.