A TASTE OF TRADITION - a traditional craft experience
An opportunity to learn about traditional crafts and activities in the village - silk weaving, basket making and rice cultivation, to sample local Isan cuisine and to try your hand at food foraging.
Day 1
Meals: Dinner - tour starts in the afternoon.
Pick up from Sida bus stop or Bua Yai train station and transfer to homestay.
Meet the family and some of the local people. Take a walk through the family rice fields and learn the process from planting to harvesting. You can visit the villagers' homes where the various traditional processes take place. Alongside the rice fields you will find irrigation canals where the Ko Phet villagers have planted an organic vegetable garden, growing squashes, beans, peppers, chillies etc. [Please note that these activities are dependent on your arrival time and also the weather.]
If the school is open, you can visit and talk to the teachers and children and look at their work.
Return to the homestay house and garden where you can sit in the shaded splash pool while Lamai prepares a typical Isan meal, followed by a drink on the verandah to watch the water buffalos amble homewards while the sun sets over the lake. Overnight at the homestay.
Day 2
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Following a leisurely breakfast, travel by car to a small, rarely-visited village, where you can see the local craftspeople carry out their part in the silk-making process, depending on the time of year. They may be boiling silk worms, spinning the silk, dyeing it or weaving it. You will have the whole process explained to you.
It is important to note that this is not set up as a tourist "silk village". This is an Isan rice village where many of the women supplement the family income by spinning, dying or weaving silk in their own homes.
In the afternoon, visit Bua Yai market to learn about the exotic fruits and aromatic spices used in Isan cooking and experience the traditional lifestyle of the region. Lunch will be taken in one of the local restaurants.
On the way home, time permitting, visit the 11th century Hindu Temple at Prang Ban Sida and hand-feed the tame catfish in the pond.
Return to the guesthouse in the evening to enjoy a meal in the beautiful gardens.
Evening meal and overnight at the homestay.
Day 3
After breakfast, you will accompany Lamai and her mother on a food-foraging trip. Depending on the season, they will take you to their favourite source of edible insects. These will be collected (usually in a wicker basket on the end of a bamboo pole) and brought back to Lamai's mother's home where she will demonstrate how best to cook them. You are welcome to sample them but it is not compulsory!
In the afternoon, you can again go into the countryside, this time with a small trowel, when you will dig for bamboo shoots and pick wild mushrooms - delicious with rice and certainly worth a try. OR
You can spend the afternoon visiting one of the villagers who specializes in making baskets of all shapes and sizes from bamboo. If you choose something small to make, e.g. pot-pourri basket, you can take it home with you.
Day 4
Meals: Breakfast -Tour ends after breakfast.
Transfer to bus- stop at Sida or Bua Yai train station for onward journey OR stay an additonal night OR combine with one of our other tours.
PRICES
2-4 persons 4,136 baht per person
Children under 2 - FREE in parents' room. Children between 2 and 12: 70% when sharing same room with 2 adults and one extra bed is required.
Transfer to/from Sida bus stop - free.
Transfer to/from Bua Yai train station 200 baht.
Services included in the price:
All meals as outlined in the itinerary
Admission fees where applicable
Services not included in the price:
Alcoholic drinks. Flights, trains, bus fares and other transport costs other than those outlined in the itinerary.
