TWO COASTS FOR COMFORT

NOTE: This post was written several weeks before the March 28th earthquake that gravely impacted Myanmar and Thailand. I’d like to express my sincere sorrow at the losses suffered in both countries. From the time I spent in Bangkok, I know it is a strong, vibrant city that will recover, rebuild, and continue to shine.

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Post #4: It Takes a Village

 

After traveling over 30 hours to reach Bangkok, it felt a little counterintuitive to spend our first full day on a tour designed to escape it. But the opportunity to explore a peaceful canal village and visit an organic garden house was too enticing to miss, so we waved a temporary goodbye to Bangkok’s frenzied pace and set off for the Taling Chan canal community just outside of the city’s central region. The community is located on one of the numerous canal systems that have sustained the region’s agricultural and commercial activities for generations. Vicky, our Thai tour guide, helped us into a traditional long-tail boat and we began an unhurried journey through the winding canals of Taling Chan.

 

Skimming along the water, we passed stilted homes with open-air terraces and garden beds overflowing with color. Long stretches of water hyacinth lined the banks and sleepy Komodo dragons took refuge under shady trees, unbothered by the approach of our boat and clicking cameras. Beyond the canals, various fruit crops provided a lush backdrop to the family farms that comprise the canal community. Vicky explained that this way of life is slowly dying as younger generations are choosing to leave their family businesses for other careers and lifestyles. Without children to continue their legacy, many aging canal residents are selling their land to wealthy individuals and developers. Evidence of the transition was apparent as we passed several newly constructed mansions that hovered awkwardly over their traditional neighbors.

 

In contrast, the Bonus Garden House offers a beautiful alternative that highlights how new investment can be used to preserve and protect the history of the village. The owner is a former businessman who used his retirement bonus to purchase the land and create a sustainable farm, café, and homestay playfully named for its financial origins. For Vicky, the garden house presents a valuable opportunity to educate visitors on this disappearing way of life while supporting a venture that offers those traditions a viable way forward.

 

Once docked, Vicky led us through the gardens and their vibrant blend of organic plants, herbs, and fruits. She paused frequently to explain how a plant might be used in Thai cooking or as a medicinal treatment or coloring agent. We picked a variety of items from the gardens that would later be used to create the incredible feast of traditional Thai dishes prepared for our lunch. As the food was being made, we were free to explore the hidden nooks and wooden walkways that composed the garden house and surrounded its central water basin. Vintage posters and old pop-art memorabilia overflowed on walls and atop antique cabinets, recapturing the sense of an earlier era. Serenity and stillness permeated the atmosphere and I was captivated by how harmoniously the house blended with its tropical setting. 

 

The push-pull tension between tradition and modernity is a challenge occurring all over the world, including in my hometown of Boston. Old neighborhoods are being redeveloped into glitzy investment properties or Airbnbs, pushing out local populations and drastically altering the character of a community. While gentrification offers new sources of economic growth, it often leaves a detached blandness in its wake. For Taling Chan, redevelopment represents not only a change in architecture, but also the loss of a centuries-old way of life. Today’s younger generations have career opportunities their ancestors did not, and the hard life of farming is a difficult sell when compared to well-paying jobs in business or tourism. There are no easy answers here – or even right ones – but that is why Vicky and the Bonus Garden House offer such a hopeful vision, one that embraces the future while honoring the past. I cannot imagine a more beautiful garden than that.

 

If traveling in or near Bangkok, I highly recommend a visit to the Bonus Garden House in the Taling Chan canal community. It’s a magical place that fully captures the beauty of the community and its traditional way of life. A link to Vicky’s tour is provided below:

 

“Escape the Crowds – A Peaceful Canal Village Tour in Bangkok”

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/3961750?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=de5531de-fed2-4ba2-94fe-8146c2313173