Agrotourism
It
is often said that nobody who's willing to work will ever starve in
Thailand. A 13th century king's praise for his homeland, inscribed
in stone and memorized by schoolchildren, proclaims that "there is
rice in the fields, and fish in the waters." Even in hard times like
today, the country's natural wealth continues to provide hopes and a
livelihood for its sons and daughters.
Fruit and salt farming flourish in the provinces on both coasts of
the Gulf of Thailand. The Eastern provinces receive the southwest
monsoon that makes them greener and wetter than the rest of the
country. They produce quality rambutan, 
mangosteen
and some of the best durians for local and overseas markets.
Provinces southwest of Bangkok are also fruit growers, though the
list varies from one to the next, and cottage industries long ago
sprung up to absorb oversupplies. A visit to these quaint little
factories offers an opportunity to sample their products and take
home some of the best.
Thailand's agrotourism to a large extent shares a boundary with
eco and cultural tourism, since farm life is inseparable from local
culture and heritage. Agrotourism centers run by the Department of
Agricultural Extension offer tours of local farms with nature
exploration and home stay in the villages. Some agro destinations
can be enjoyable stops on a long trip, offering sightseeing,
education and shopping opportunities in one packages.
Buddhist Meditation
Any
of us have at one time or another found the toll of living in the
modern world hard to bear. Stress, depression and disillusionment
are some of the diseases of modern times that leave us yearning for
a solution, a cure, so to speak. More and more people are turning to
meditation as they fail to find the answer through worldly paths.
Meditation is found in some form or other in all major religious
traditions. Even those who are not religious use it to focus the
mind, to hone it, so that it works better. In Buddhism, meditation
is the integral to the eight - fold path to enlightenment. One
trains one's mind so that it can see the four - point Supreme Truth
that forms the core of Buddha's teachings: suffering, what causes
it, the end of suffering, and the path to that end. Even if you are
not interested in Buddhism, meditation is a valuable training that
can be applied to daily life, for it helps with concentration and
when done correctly can lead to a state of peace and calmness that's
beyond worldly joys.
There are two main branches in Buddhist meditation: samatha
(calmness, concentration) and vipassana (insight), which stresses
mindfulness. This doesn't mean that the two are entirely separate,
since you cannot be mindful unless you have at least some level of
concentration.
The techniques of samatha meditation are many, some older than
Buddhism, others developed after the time of the Buddha. Among the
most commonly practiced here is anapanasati, or "mindfulness with
breathing." This technique was advocated by the Venerable Buddhadasa
Bhikku (1903-1993), founder of Suan Mokkh Forest Monastery in Surat
Thani. Meditators at Suan Mokkh (Garden of Liberation), follow the
16 steps of anapanasati as laid down in Pali texts.
Thai Cooking
Thai
cooking as now enjoyed all over the world is a blend of Asian and
European influences adopted through centuries of trade and
diplomatic exchanges. Thais have traditionally lived close to the
land and the waters, and original Thai cooking reflected that. Main
ingredients were rice, fish, vegetable and herbs. Very little meat
was used, and traditionally beef or buffalo meat was eschewed since
the animals were the mainstays of farm life.
Thais grilled, baked and stewed their food, until the Chinese
introduced the techniques of cooking with hot oil. European
merchants, diplomats and missionaries also contributed a lot to the
cuisine, starting right after their arrivals in the 16th Century.
And we all have the Portuguese to thank for introducing chilies to
Thai kitchens. Curries and spices, on the other hand, were brought
here by the Indians. Over the years Thai cooks have added their own
ingenuity, substituting hard - to - find ingredients with what’s
available locally and adapting the recipes to suit Thai palates.
Muay Thai
The
history of Muay Thai is interwoven with the history of the Thai
people. A gentle, peace-loving people, for centuries Thais had
to defend themselves and their land from aggressive powers. They
developed a form of close, hand-to-hand combat best suited for
the kind of rough-terrain battle they were fighting. Over time
it became a rite of passage for Thai men to take up training in
this martial art. King Naresuan the Great (1555-1605), one of
the country's most celebrated warrior-heroes, is believed to
have been an excellent boxer himself, and it was he who made
Muay Thai a required part of military training. Another
milestone in the history of Muay Thai was the triumph of Nai
Khanom Tom over 10 Burmese boxers in 1774. Taken captive after
the Thai capital fell in 1767, Nai Khanom Tom was picked to
fight before the Burmese king. After defeating ten of them in a
row, he was freed and returned home a hero.
