December 16, 2025 to December 17, 2025
It's Flower are Happy Once Again
Two Day Stay at My Home
It's Flower are Happy Once Again
We kind of needed a couple days to rest but more than that, we needed to become more acquainted with the family who owns My Home Guest House. We discovered My Home six years ago when we were riding to the eastern part of Thailand. We stayed two days then as well, because we found the rural guest house so peaceful and the family so nice. They made us a bit of food back then but only kind of reluctantly. The daughter was more interested in making coffee for us in her little coffee shop. It was easier and more fun than making food.
The memory of how pleasant it was at My Home has stayed with us the past six years. In fact, every now and then at my own home I've suddenly stopped whatever I'm doing and I've thought about what a peaceful place My Home was. It was my idea of being way away from everything stressful, living a very simple life but a very beautiful and meaningful life. The parents had one daughter (we never heard of any other siblings) and she was there at the guest house all the time helping her parents. She was young and in the six years since we had been to My Home I've wondered if she moved to the city, got married, had kids, etc. There was a cat there too. I've wondered about the cat.
So, I guess we kind of needed to reconnect with My Home and that small family. It was good timing for us after the hard and frustrating travel in Laos and the steep hills once we crossed back into Thailand. Although we weren't exhausted we always can use a couple of days to try to catch up on this journal. We are constantly behind, as you know. But mostly it was to see the family, as I just mentioned.
The parents were still there, the same happy couple we knew. They didn't recognize us at first but we jogged their memories by telling them we had been guests there six years ago, on bicycles then as well. They speak just a few words of English and we speak a few words of Thai, so it was interesting communicating. They were of course happy we came back. Then the daughter arrived. I was a bit surprised she was still around, still involved. It says that she is quite devoted to her parents. I have the feeling it was possibly the parent's idea to start the guest house as a sort of insurance - to have some income in their retirement. They had each been teachers. The daughter probably encouraged them to open a guest house and she would help but I bet she also talked them into building a tiny coffee shop she could run. I, of course, don't know their arrangement but that would be a pretty solid scenario.
The daughter understood a lot more English than she did before and therefore she was much more confident, outgoing, less shy and quite animated. She told us they did not make food anymore but she still made coffee. Her father wanted to know how old I was. Then he formed the words, "Six ty six." which is how old his wife is. He was struggling saying it. It is difficult. He was practising it looking at his daughter and as he was saying, "Six ty six" she very gently turned his face towards us so he could be saying it to us. It was the sweetest thing, he being shy about saying something in English and her obvious love for him and how cute he was trying to say sixty six. Then Andrea told him she was sixty six as well and had taught in a school.
One day when we were in the daughter's adorable little coffee house drinking her delicious coffee I decided to show her our journal from six years ago. We went through the photos of our stay at My Home. Some were silly like the "Don't Eat" packet that was in with the snacks her parents offer every morning along with bananas and oranges. One was the "MY HOME" on the towels that her mother had hand embroidered on each towel. There was also a photo of a drinking glass in her coffee shop. I had taken the photo because the wording on the glass was odd and funny; "It's flower are happy again." I told her I loved that glass and she got a look on her face as if she was trying to remember something. Then she said in a soft voice, "This was lost." Her eyes swung around the coffee shop once. "It was in the flood." Then she motioned that the water had come up to an inch below the top of the counter!
We knew the small river was out of sight but nearby. We had no idea it had flooded so severely. She told us that the flood was only three months ago and that they lost a lot of things. The bungalows were all flooded and her parents house, which is the lowest building on the property must have been the biggest disaster. She said it was a great deal of work to scrub everything clean. The water was extremely muddy - reddish brown. I can't imagine. We never would have known because everything looked great again but they must have lost a lot of things. She said all the air conditioners were affected. We don't think there is insurance in Thailand for such things.
It's a silly thing but I loved that drinking glass so much that I had intended to offer to buy it from her. Of course she would not have accepted money and would have given it to me. Now I think of it floating out the door of her coffee house and downstream, wedged in a pile of sticks and stuck in the mud for someone possibly to find some day years from now. I felt badly that such a flood had inundated their lovely guest house. We would have never known from the looks of the place and the happiness all three of them still possess. They took it in stride and got to work to get things back to normal. It must have been exhausting.
I gave her one of our cards so she can follow along on our adventure and so she can look at those photos again from six years ago. I said that I might have given her one of those cards before and she said that I had but it was great to get another one because it too was lost in the flood.
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Since they were not making food at My Home anymore we rode to the small town, Bo Thong, 2.5 miles away. When we were on our way to My Home we had passed through that town and we had also eaten at a great restaurant. The menu was extensive, in Thai. The couple who owned it had spent 20 years cooking in three different places near to London. They knew a bit of English but knew a great deal more about cooking.
So, we went back to that restaurant and for the first time of our trip we ordered three dishes and really ate a lot since it was our only meal for the day. We went to eat there again the next day too. It was a bit inconvenient to ride five miles to eat but we also got a few other chores accomplished in town such as finding me a new bungee cord. I wore one out already! It was poor quality. How on earth does a business make any money selling a really nice long bungee cord for 30 cents!? We also needed some zip ties in case we want to take a bus again and the bus company requires us to take down the handlebars again. Zip ties were essential. A bag of 25 long zip ties cost just a penny apiece! How? The peanuts we bought at the market cost more than a bungee cord or a package of zip ties!
But mostly we hung out at My Home. Koels seemed to know we were working on a journal named for them because they sang to us during our entire stay. We were surprised by how many people came to stay at My Home. Each evening the place filled up. It also seemed like almost everyone who stayed was a friend of the family. Each evening over in the open air area of the parent's house, (their dining table), there were jovial gatherings with all the guests. It sounded like they were having a blast. I'm sure we would have been welcomed but not speaking Thai was our deterrent. It would have been too awkward. But we were glad the family was so social and that they had so many friends as paying guests. I presume they were paying to stay there. Six years ago My Home was very quiet and I actually don't remember anyone staying there when we were there.
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The last morning we went over to that open air dining table and had our free coffee mix packets and a snack or two. The parents were there, happy as always. They offered us some tiny bananas from their banana plant and some really good oranges. I then showed them the photos of My Home in our journal from six years ago. They enjoyed seeing them and how it looked back then. Not a lot has changed. There is one more bungalow that wasn't there and the bushes and trees are much more filled out. Photos have always been a connection point for me and it was no different this time as I watched them look at the photos. The photos mean we took note of their lives, we saw details, we felt something special. As they looked at the photos I saw them maybe feel a bit more connected to us. They saw that we appreciated what they have made there.
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1 month ago
Then their cat came to see us. The woman said the cat was eleven years old! That means it was the same cat! That made me happy. It's quite an accomplishment in Thailand, to keep a cat alive that long. But I was not all that surprised either. The three of them were the kind of people who take care of things, guests, friends, pets. We all maybe look a bit older. The embroidered My Home on the towels is not as vibrant looking as six years ago and the towels themselves are thinner. The glass with the funny words, "It's flower are happy again" has gone on its own journey to maybe be discovered someday downstream. But, we are all still here including the cat. The koels sing constantly there and we were very happy we came back to My Home.
Just as we were about to ride out the front gate the daughter arrived. She jumped out of her car and said, "Thank you for coming back to our home." And her mother came with a bag full of all the bananas and oranges that were in the bowl on their table for us, for our journey. We will not only remember them when we get back to our own home but we will have been slightly changed once again for the better. It's flower are happy once again.
lovebruce
Today's ride: 10 miles (16 km)
Total: 549 miles (884 km)
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