I WASN’T sure what to expect when I was invited recently to spend two days and one night at Ban Laem Homestay in Nakhon Si Thammarat. But within minutes of arriving, I knew it was going to be an experience I would treasure for a long time. Warmly welcomed by the amiable villagers, the atmosphere was like being at a friend’s home – a place where you can kick back and relax without judgement.

Fishermen at work in the Golden Bay. /Courtesy of Local Alike.

Located in the Golden Bay area of Tha Sala district, this hamlet is luring visitors with cosy accommodation, tantalising seafood meals and several fun activities that allow guests to experience the lifestyles of this Muslim fishing community and learn more about marine ecosystems.

Ban Laem Homestay is being promoted as a model of sustainable community with an enhanced standard of hospitality. It is part of the “Happy Home Happy Stay” project, a collaboration between The Erawan Group and Local Alike.

“The Erawan Group operates more than 60 properties both in Thailand and the Philippines. In 2016, we initiated the ‘Happy Home Happy Stay’ project, aiming to share our hospitality and management experience to develop communities. We travelled around the country looking for the type of strong communities we could help grow sustainably,” says Petch Krainukul, the group’s president.

“Ban Laem Homestay is a pilot project. We picked this village because it has beautiful nature, a unique mud spa and striking Southern-style houses that identify its character. We educate villagers about hygiene and help renovate public areas, bathrooms and landscapes because cleanliness is the heart of any hospitality service. A team from Hop Inn teaches villagers how to greet guests and how to use the QR code system for check-in. We also plan to expand our project to other communities around the country,” he adds.

Bang Flittary’s House offers tourists comfortable accommodation. 

A mere 20 kilometres from downtown Nakhon Si Thammarat, this land was once home to a pristine beach with boutique resorts and seafood restaurants and 40 years ago was a popular holiday escape for local residents and Malaysian tourists. Then so-called “progress” set in, with the mangrove forest destroyed to make way for shrimps farms that before too long were also abandoned.

In 2014, Bang Taksin Minman joined with his neighbours to open their houses and welcome guests for overnight stays in the hope they could bring their home back to life and promote tourism.

“Eight years ago, hundreds of local students came here to reforest the area but they also turned our home into a garbage dump. We started by providing a catering service to reduce the number of plastic bags and foam containers in the area then we created a fun activity programme that included a mud battle that made our village widely known,” says Bang Santi Himma, secretary of the Community Enterprise of Ban Laem Homestay Mangrove Forest Conservation.

“The idea for launching a homestay programme came when we met an 18-year-old foreign biker who was cycling around the world. With a budget of just Bt100 as day, he was delighted to stay with us for a month and helped us create a fanpage on Facebook to promote our village.”

Popular with Thai families and tourists from the UK and Malaysia, the village has now four families ready to accommodate guests in their home for a two-day, one night programme. For just Bt1,750, tourists can enjoy three meals, an eco-cultural tour and cooking classes and for an extra Bt200 also get an airport transfer to the village thrown in – though this is limited to four people.

“I have long dreamt of improving the quality of our lives. In the past, our village had a drug problem and residents lived in poverty and were always exploited by loan sharks,” says Bang Taksin, another leader of the Community Enterprise .

Fishermen at work in the Golden Bay. /Courtesy of Local Alike. 

“Now, our village can accommodate around 50 guests and we plan to expand services to 10 houses. Thanks to our focus on sustainable living, we can earn Bt40,000 a year and we’ve learnt how to save. This project belongs to everyone and will be handed down to the young generation.

Surrounded by tropical plants and towering coconut trees, I spend one night in Bang Fittary’s house. Built of hardwood, it boasts a living area on the lower level, a private balcony and a bathroom with separate shower and toilet.

The airy bedroom has everything the urban traveller needs. There are four clean mattresses, towels, a television, three fans, mosquito nets and plenty of plugs. A fully-stocked mini bar corner is available in the house though there’s no refrigerator.

In the afternoon, we ride a modified motor-tricycle for a village tour and Bang Santi takes us to the headquarters of the Hang Uan Weaving Group. Jinda Laohawiwat, 60, and her members are happy to demonstrate the traditional techniques used to weave a 15-inch bolt of hang uan as young palm leaves are known in the southern dialect.

“In the past, fishermen used hang uan to interlace with their nets. With their soft texture and durability, they are ideal for fashion accessories and home furnishings such as shoulder bags, hats, coasters and place mats and are now available at many resorts in southern provinces and handicraft shops in Bangkok,” says Jinda.

We continue to Ban Suan Wanlee, home to a large organic mulberry garden. It’s the brainchild of former accountant Prasat Wanlee, who got his first mulberry tree from Chiang Mai and used pruning techniques to propagate.

Visitors can pick and eat mulberries at Ban Suan Wanlee.

“Now I have more than 500 mulberry trees in my garden and can harvest around 30 kilograms of fruit a day. I use chicken manure as fertiliser. The black fruits are sweet and light red ones are sour. The peak of the harvest season is March and April. As part of the homestay programme, I invite tourists to pick and eat the fruit fresh from the bushes and feed them crackers topped with mulberry jam that contains no gelatine and refreshing mulberry soda,” Prasat says.

We also join a cooking class led by local housewives and learn how to make several southern curry pastes like red curry, yellow curry and tai pla curry. The main ingredients are chilli, curcuma, garlic, galangal, shallot and salt and all the ingredients are found in their backyards.

And we also get to taste kanom pa da. Made from rice flour mixed with sweet nam wa banana, it looks like a doughnut but is filled with spicy curry and mangrove leaves before being fried.

We’re up before the birds the next morning, climbing into a fishing boat at 5.45am for a three-hour cruise through the mangrove swamp. We stop at the mouth of the Golden Bay to watch the sunrise and enjoy a breakfast served by Bang Santi of hot coffee and Ovaltine, deep-fried dough sticks, kaoman gaeng massaman (rice cooked with coconut milk and with massaman curry) and roasted sticky rice stuffed with taro.

Bang Santi serves hot coffee.  

“The Golden Bay occupies 3,000 rai and offers a beautiful view of Nakhon Si Thammarat’s mountain ranges. Local fishermen have transformed seven rai into a marine life sanctuary where schools of small fish live to conserve the ecosystem. We are now in seabass season, which runs from January to March,” he tells us.

A few fishermen are already out and we watch them for a while before planting a mangrove tree. On the way back to the shore, Bang Santi invites to jump into the water and enjoy a mud spa that nourishes the skins and the hair. The mud here has a blue tinge and is rich in more than 40 kinds of minerals. It’s even certified by the Pikunthong Royal Development Study Centre and Thailand’s Institute of Nuclear Technology.

The trip ends with a lunch of khaoman talay khlon (rice cooked with coconut milk and squid gallbladder) served with deep-fried mangrove leaves with shrimps and other seasonal seafood dishes.

“Our slogan is ‘Ban Laem Homestay has nothing but the heart’. Coming here, tourists can experience the ways of a Muslim community. We’re friendly and nothing like the negative portrayal of us that’s given out on the news. We always treat visitors as our friends,” says Bang Taksin.

IF YOU GO

>> Ban Laem Homestay is in Tha Sala district, Nakhon Si Thammarat.

>> Booking can be made by calling (065) 513 7273, (088) 768 9036.

>> Check out the programme at the BanLaemHomestay page on Facebook.

The good people of Lampang are tired of travellers whizzing across their province on the way to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Nakhon Elsewhere. They’ve got plenty of interesting things to see and do and would really like to share them with outsiders if they can just get them to stop for a day or overnight or longer.

So, in order to get off the list of 16 northern “secondary cities” that tourists ignore, the province and its capital of the same name are promoting “Lampang … Plai Thang Fun” (Dream Destination).

“Lampang is a destination for dream hunters,” says Songpol Sawasditham, its governor since 2017. He’s keen to chime in with the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s campaign somewhat clumsily translated as “Over the Dream of Million Inspirations”, which focuses on the North.

“The idea is to make Lampang a destination rather than a secondary city,” Songpol says, “but it goes deeper, making Lampang a destination for every dream, appealing to travellers from every walk of life and every category.

“It’s a place not only for those interested in the slower life, but also for those who like taking pictures and sharing them on social media. It’s a great place for adventurers seeking to discover new places, such as Baan Paa Miang, for example. And we want people to see Lampang as a romantic small town with activities such as ‘Fun Tam Roy Phaphayon’.”

Here he’s referring to a tour of the locations selected as settings for a string of films, including the 2015 Hollywood feature “No Escape”, shot in part at the airport, and the Thai TV series “Rak Nakara”, shot at the Burmese-style Wat Sri Rong Muang.

“We’re always ready to accommodate senior citizens and retirees, whether just for sightseeing or to hold their group meetings,” Songpol says. “We’re very proud of places like the Kew Fin and Chae Son hotsprings.

“For art lovers there is the Lampang Arts Centre and lots of street art to enjoy, and more at Baan Paa Miang.

“Our goal in promoting tourism isn’t just helping to stimulate the national economy but also to spread prosperity locally and thus reduce inequality, so the focus is on secondary tourism and community tourism.”

One eye-popping attraction is the charmingly named Hug You, which really ought to be called Hug Ewe because it’s a sheep farm where you can cuddle a Lampang lamb.

Cameras are essential because of the photogenic Harvest Moon Farm & Café, Rai Sub Muen San with its windmill landmark and lots of gaily painted signage, as well as a beautiful vineyard and strawberry fields. And don’t knock the resident livestock’s wool coats. As standup comedian Udom “Note” Taepanich once sarcastically remarked, “Lampang nao mak!” It can indeed get very cold.

For more adventurous tourism, Songpol recommends Baan Paa Miang in Muang Pan district, home to the hot springs and waterfalls of Chae Son National Park.

You can haul around a tent or you can arrange to stay with a family in the village of Mae Chaem. It’s a winding road up the mountain to the homestay-friendly “agrotourism” community. You move in with the clan in a house alongside a stream, sample some khai paam, which is an omelette cooked in a banana-leaf krathong, and plan your excursions off into the wild.

There’s a learning centre focused on community health where they show you how miang leaves are used to make tea and stuff pillows for the head and neck.

Next door the householders are advertising foodstuffs like nam phrik phao (chilli paste) made from mushrooms, though you have to order in advance. A stroll around the village takes you to Wat Paa Miang, then Baan Paa Miang School, whose walls are decorated with paintings of cats, chickens and cows. And finally you reach the Paa Miang Coffee and settle in for a lovely iced lemonade with wild honey and a spectacular view of a temple in the valley.

Early-morning risers are rewarded with a gorgeous sunrise at Kew Fin, a lookout 1,517 metres above sea level.

Governor Songpol isn’t done pitching attractions yet.

“Another outstanding event is the Dok Siew Festival in Baan Paa Miang every February and March, and you must see the love bridge that the street-art team from Silpakorn University painted with a dok siew pattern,” he says.

He’s got another promotional campaign underway, “Nakhon Hathasil Thin Utsahakram Sangsan” (Craftsmanship City, Creative Industries) that centres on Baan Luk Tai, a community skilled engravers, and the Dhanabadee Ceramic Museum.

The word “luk” in the village’s name refers to a turbine-driven bailer locally invented to draw water from a stream to irrigate crops. As if that weren’t enough, the residents are so talented at carving that they’re nationally famous. They can whip a chunk of mai chamcha (raintree wood) into a nifty pestle and mortar or, if it’s a big enough block, a life-size elephant and rhinoceros like the ones the kids can clamber on.

For now most of the carvings are sent to the Baan Tawai Handcraft Village in Chiang Mai to hawk to tourists, but that trade is expected to shift back to the source soon.

Songpol, who had success boosting tourism in Songkhla while he was governor there, says Lampang gets 900,000 a year now and he wants that number up to two million within two years.

Lampang is also renowned for its ceramics, including the ubiquitous and ultra-handy “chicken bowl”, and the Dhanabadee Museum traces that history. You can examine two ancient kilns, visit a showroom of impressive modern designs, and see “the world’s thinnest chicken bowl”, another one smaller than a grain of rice and another coated in gold, plus a ceramic flute that was made for National Artist Thanis Sriklindee.

The horse-drawn carriages that never fail to delight visitors to urban Lampang are well worth a try. They ply the well-treed old part of town, cross the Tha Ma-O community and stop by at the wonderful colonialera home of master tradesman Louis Leonowens, son of Anna, tutor to the children of King Rama IV.

Dropped off amid a jangle of street-art colour on the Wang River, you can meander along Thanon Talad Gao, a walking street each evening, to the Ratsadaphisek Bridge and past venerable Burmese-style houses.

Kad Kong Ta sells a huge variety of goods and foods including khai namrae Chae Son, a spicy salad with eggs hardboiled in a hot spring.

Stay just a little longer

Bangkok residents still not convinced about the appeal of Lampang should visit the Lampang Open House Fair at CentralWorld from February 19-21.

It will have glimpses of all the top sights and samples of all the main cultural and gastronomic highlights.