Travel Blog | Nomadic Notes

Home > Travel Blog

Visiting a coffee farm in Thailand

Written by James Clark on February 16, 2011 · 14 Comments

Coffee Journey – A tour for those who love coffee

I can’t remember the last time I went on a tour that went more than a day. It is possible that I have never been on such a tour (really, I can’t remember). So I find it remarkable that on my stay in Chiang Mai I was talked into going on a three day tour. Well I wasn’t really talked into it. The conversation went something like this:

Friend: “Hey James, you like coffee. You should go on the Coffee Journey”.
Me: “Ok”.

The combination of words coffee + journey had me hooked straight away. I signed up without asking what would be involved. If my friend had said, “Hey James, would you like to go away for three days with a bunch of people you don’t know with no internet and no hot water”, I may not have signed up. I’m glad I did.

The Coffee Journey is a tour put on by the owner of Akha Ama Coffee, a cafe I frequent regularly in Chiang Mai. Lee runs the cafe in Chiang Mai and the coffee is grown at his village in far Northern Thailand.

[Lee at Akha Ama Coffee - Chiang Mai]

With free wi-fi and possibly the best coffee in Chiang Mai, the Akha Ama cafe is a haven for remote workers, in a city full of remote workers.

Coffee Journey

The tour is currently running monthly, leaving Chiang Mai on a Friday morning and returning on sunday afternoon. The ride to the village is about 5 hours from Chiang Mai. Once at the village we were invited into Lee’s family home where he talked about village life and its people. This region is home to the Akha people (Akha Ama means Akha Mother).

[Traditional dress of Akha woman]

We ate dinner in his home (thanks Ama), and were billeted out to homes in the village.

[Remote Akha village, high in the hills]

Coffee Time

Saturday morning. Breakfast, and finally a coffee!

[Coffee on a coffee farm. Life is good.]

To the coffee plantation

On the saturday we walked an hour to the coffee plantation, where we got to see the full cycle of a coffee plant, from seedling to a mature tree. I was expecting a plantation type set up, with rows of coffee trees. Instead the coffee trees are mixed with larger trees and other fruit trees, which gives natural shade to the coffee. In addition to running this business, Lee has also been teaching the local farmers the benefits of using compost as fertilizer, rather than using chemical fertilizer. The coffee is organic, though it is not marketed as organic as it costs thousands of Euros to have official accreditation as an organic product.

[Walking to the coffee plantation. What a happy group of people we got.]

After lunch we got the hands on experience of picking the coffee ourselves. This is quite an art form as you have have to pick the right coffee cherries (the dark red one and not the light red or green cherries). Care is also needed to not break the stem from the branch. Talk about pressure. To make it even more stressful, I had a seven year old girl who designated herself as union leader, and was inspecting all of my pickings for green cherries.

[Bountiful harvest of beautiful coffee]

In addition to picking the right colour cherry and not breaking any stems, the trees were located on a very steep hillside. There were falls and cherry spillage among us amateur pickers.

[Coffee pickers]

Processing the coffee

On the last morning we were shown how the picked cherries are processed. First the fruit is stripped from the bean and then the bad beans are removed.

[Removing the fruit from the bean]

From there the beans are soaked for 2 to 3 days in water. After that they are hand washed. All of them! The unwashed beans are quite slippery, so after hand washing the beans are removed of this slippery film.

[Soaking the coffee]

From here the beans are then sun dried for a couple of weeks, depending on the weather. Once dried the beans are bagged and stored for six months. The beans are then machine processed to remove the outer husk, then finally ready for roasting.

[Drying the coffee]

Talk about a process. I have a new appreciation for coffee (on top of the appreciation I already have for coffee). I will never look at a coffee the same way again. If you love coffee I would highly recommend this tour. For details on the tour check out the Akha Ama Facebook page.

[With my Chiang Mai coffee dealer and his sister.]

Ornamental street signs of Thailand

Written by James Clark on January 26, 2011 · 8 Comments

I am a fan of making functional items beautiful. From fire hydrants in Tokyo to seats in the south of France, I pay attention to small details that adds a bit of beauty to the world.

In Thailand many cities across the nation decorate their street signs with icons associated with the city. Here are some that I have seen over the years in my travels in Thailand.

[Patong Beach]

Patong Beach in Phuket with a dolphin street sign.

[Krabi Town]

Krabi Town with a sword wielding elephant. Of course.

[Maeklong]

Maeklong is best known as the place where the train goes through a market. The city logo happens to be a drum, so sadly no trains decorate the street signs here.

[Chiang Mai]

Chiang Mai is a city full of wats, and the signs here look like they try and fit as many temples on the top of the sign as possible.

[Chiang Rai]

Chiang Rai, not to be confused with Chiang Mai, have broken with the Thai standard black and blue signs by going gold. Maybe they got tired of being confused with Chiang Mai.

[Chiang Khong]

Chiang Khong is a border town sitting on the Mekong opposite Laos. Their sign features the soon to be extinct Irrawaddy dolphin.

[Ubon Ratchathani]

Ubon Ratchathani in the south-east of the Isan region is best known for its annual Candle Festival.

[Songkhla]

Songkhla in the deep south of Thailand is famous for the Golden Mermaid, and she is the town logo as well.

[Pattaya]

If you had of asked me what I thought would be on the Pattaya street sign, I would have guessed a go-go girl pole dancing, but no, Pattaya have honoured is maritime heritage with a ship’s wheel.

[Mahachai]

Nothing fancy here. I’ve just added this one to illustrate what an every day street sign looks like in Thailand.

These are just places I have been to, or remembered to take photos of. I know there are more. If you have a photo of a ornamental street sign in Thailand, send it to me and I will add it to the list.

52 inspiring Buddhist quotes and sayings on life

Written by James Clark on December 29, 2010 · 16 Comments

Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai is one of the biggest Buddhist temples in the city. It houses the Phra Buddha Sihing, an important Buddha statue.

In the Wat compound there are famous buddhist quotes and sayings attached to trees throughout the garden, which makes for an enlightened walk around the Wat.

[If everything is gotten dreamily, it will go away dreamily too.]

[Dhamma is systematic practice for a man at every stage of his life.]

[Flattering words are but honey-coated poison.]

[Light dispels darkness. Wisdom dispels ignorance.]

[With Dhamma established in the mind, even bare rice is delicious enough.]

[Those with good eye are inclined to fall into deep well.]

[As you sow so you reap.]

[Until death there is nothing enough.]

[There is no glory for a lazy person however good looking.]

[Without recognition of death, how can there be any knowledge of it.]

[Mans death is the least of all things material. What is left to the world is virtues and vices.]

[The simplicity of the good man is hard to follow. The simplicity of the evil man is easy to follow.]

[Physical charms attract the eyes, goodness attracts the mind.]

[Failure teaches a man how to succeed.]

[Poverty with dignity is better than wealth based on shame.]

[Never is there any effect like that of merit.]

[Without a beginning, there is nothing to worry about the end.]

[The most valuable service is one rendered to our fellow humans.]

[Do not neglect recollection of death.]

[Don't escape when you have a problem because there always is a way to solve it.]

[Ignorance is the real evil.]

[If there nothing that you like, you must like the things that you have.]

[Better is to speak unpleasant truth than to tell lies.]

[It is easy to know man's face, but it is difficult to know his thought.]

[Peace is the highest bliss.]

[Eat to live but (don't) live to eat.]

[In time of suffering, only dhamma is real friend of the mind.]

[Merit making calculated to impress is not real merit.]

[Do try to do good but not to be great, otherwise you will be in danger.]

[Everyone may be a fool but nobody is a fool forever.]

[No other foes are greater than birth and death. No other friends are greater than merits.]

[With mindfulness, a person always prospers.]

[There is no saturating the fire with fuel.]

[The skilled man does not show off, but the man without knowledge usually show off.]

[Crying with the wise is better than laughing with the fool.]

[Anxiety shortens life.]

[Not only to be receiver, but also to be provider.]

[Time and tide wait for no man.]

[Living without hope is like burying oneself.]

[Education is a guide, knowledge is a key.]

[Selfishness is the father of all evil.]

[To defeat others is the starting point of hatred and vengeance.]

[Constant dripping wears away the stone.]

[Every honest work is honourable work.]

[Clean, clear, calm; these are characteristics of a noble person.]

[Good to forgive, the best to forget.]

[It is flooded water that makes mud; it is clean water that wipes away mud.]

Merit is to accumulated, evil is to be abandoned.

Selfishness is the real enemy of peace

[Today is better than two tomorrows.]

[To do good and evil unseen by others are always seen by oneself.]

[A man who will be the public leader, must know how to be the public follower.]

Attending a Dusun Wedding in Sabah

Written by James Clark on December 2, 2010 · 12 Comments

Sometimes weird and wonderful things happen when you travel. I had a good feeling about Malaysian Borneo the moment I arrived in Kota Kinabalu. I ended up spending longer in KK than I had intended. I wasn’t in a hurry to leave and things just kept happening. On what was meant to be my last day there I sent a text message to the travel agent who arranged my bus to see Mt Kinabalu. From that text message we went out for dinner that night.

At dinner my new friend Tania was telling me about her family and how she comes from the Dusun tribe of Sabah. She mentioned that her cousins wedding was on the next day and then asked if I wanted to go as well. I said I would love to go. I had a ferry ticket booked for the next morning, but that was easy enough to change, and I would have taken the loss anyway.

Then it occurred to me that I had nothing to wear. Afterall I’m backpacking. In the tropics. I don’t have formal wear, even when I am at home with a full wardrobe. I mentioned this to my friend, and she said:

“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.

Now, when I was in China I learnt that it is a fallacy that westerners can’t learn Chinese because they are tone deaf. If you are not deaf, then you can hear tones. For example, take that last sentence that was said to me:

“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.

Say it to yourself in an innocent, matter-of-fact manner.

Now say the exact same sentence in a devious trouble making manner, chock-full of tones.

The way it was delivered to me the “oh” was elongated and the “I’ve” was emphasised. The tone was so devious that alarm bells should have been ringing. It did register with me, and I thought maybe she has a nice floral Hilo Hattie style Borneo shirt I could borrow. I left it at that.

So I said yes I will go, and the next morning I was picked up by Tania and her brother, who drove us to the family house. Their home is in a kampung (village) which lies in the shadow of the great Mount Kinabalu. The family house is a small farm, with cats, dogs and chickens roaming everywhere and the back yard consisting of rice fields.

View of Kinabalu
[Kinabalu view]

Later on in the day I went with Tania and her brothers down to the river for a “shower”. Just a bar of soap in the clean waters running off the mountain.

The Wedding Day

The next day the family house was the base for the wedding party. The actual wedding was about 200 metres down the road at her cousins house. We originally weren’t even going to go as Tania had to go back to work, but luckily her work let her off at the last minute.

There wasn’t much for me to do in the morning so I was sitting around with the rest of the guys watching DVD’s while the girls were doing each others hair.

After lunch everyone started getting ready and the wedding party entered the room with their magnificent costumes on.

Dusun girls in wedding clothes
[Dusun Girls dressed up]

I was wondering what to wear but I noticed that everyone else who was attending the wedding was wearing jeans and t-shirts, so I needn’t have worried about not getting dressed up.

Then at the last minute, Tania’s dad came over and lead me to the costume wardrobe. Oh how convenient, they just so happened to have a big size jacket for me. I tried to turn down the offer, but they were having none of it. So I said yes, coat me up, but first let me go to the toilet, as once this thing goes on I don’t want to try and work out how to take it off.

The jacket went on, then the bells, belt and other bits of flare. Then to top it off was the winged hat.

James in Dusun wedding costume
[In costume]

Wow, what a costume. I felt truly honoured to take part in this.

From the house Tania and I lead the wedding procession down the road to the wedding reception.

At the wedding the bride and groom take their seat in the house, and everyone comes in to give their good wishes. Anyone who has a camera is the official wedding photographer.

Dusun wedding party - Sabah
[Wedding party]

Everyone in a costume then went outside where there was some dancing to be done. None of it was rehearsed. I just worked out the steps as you go. Can you imagine a wedding in US/UK/OZ unrehearsed. It was so casual and seemingly stress free.

I felt a bit odd being a part of the wedding party, but I have been told since that it is common to be invited to weddings in Sabah. I have also been told not to turn down an invitation to a Dusun wedding. I tell you, I’m so glad I didn’t.

New Country Day: Brunei

Written by James Clark on November 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Country: Brunei Darussalam
Date: 23 November 2010

[First visit to Brunei - Yes]

Brunei is my third New Country Day this year, after Laos and Bulgaria.

There is not alot to detain you in Brunei, but if you are travelling overland in Malaysian Borneo you have to pass through it anyway, so you might as well stop for a look.

[Map of Brunei Darussalam]

Like Malaysia, the boundaries of Brunei was influenced from its days of the British. Also like Malaysia, Brunei has two separated land masses. The land between the two areas of Brunei is the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. If you are going overland from Sabah to Sarawak there is no road around Brunei, so you have to pass through 8 border crossings to get the other state. If you are not flying between Sabah and Sarawak you are better off getting a ferry. From Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) there is a ferry to the island of Labuan, which takes 3 hours. From there you can then get a ferry to Brunei, which takes 1 hour.

Before I arrived I checked up about visa requirements. If you are from the UK, Germany, New Zealand or the US you don’t need one. Other countries get a 14 day visa upon arrival. Upon arrival at customs I got told this visa will cost me B$20 ($15 USD). As I was spending less than 3 days this was then reduced to B$5.

I got my passport back to discover they had defiled a whole page with stamps. I might have been thrilled about this once upon a time, but now I see this page and think, damn you, I’m one page closer to having to get new pages sewn into my passport. A whole page for 2 days is excessive. I would have told them this, but I know better than to engage in commentary with customs officals.

[Brunei passport stamp - take up a whole page why don't you!]

Perhaps Brunei’s biggest tourist attraction is stamps. Passport stamps. If you like passport stamps then you’ll love Brunei.

Have you been to Brunei (or another country) just to get the stamp?

In Pictures: Gulangyu – the car free island of China

Written by James Clark on November 18, 2010 · 9 Comments

In my travels around China I got to see the A-list cultural highlights such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Warriors, as well as seeing the wonderful Giant Pandas.

What I found more surprising about China is the amount of unheralded goodness there is in this country. One such place is Gulangyu, which I had not known about until I arrived in China.

Gulangyu is an island off the coast of Xiamen (which is also an island) in Fujian province on the southeast coast of China.

[Gulangyu and Xiamen]

Gulangyu became a treat port after the first opium war and foreign consulates and mansions were soon established here. Many of the mansions on the island are now run down and covered in vegetation.

[Crumbling mansion on Gulangyu]

Seeing so many old buildings in one place is something of a rarity in China. What makes this island even more special is that there are no cars or motorbikes. You won’t even see bicycles here. It’s a real walkers paradise (no wonder I like it so much).

[Traffic free laneway]

The interior of the island is covered in laneways that go in every direction. I was delightfully lost many times over as I kept finding myself back at the same lane I thought I was walking away from.

[Gulangyu laneway]

The mansions on the island are in a varied state of repair. Some are done up to boutique hotel standards while many are just lived in everyday houses.

[Mansion house - Gulangyu]

Gulangyu is also known as Piano Island. It has a piano and organ museum as well as being home to some famous pianists of China.

[Piano Island - Gulangyu]

There are no bridges or tunnels to Gulangyu, so supplies are brought by boat from Xiamen. From the port, men with carts carry supplies around the island.

[Gulangyu supply boats from Xiamen]

As you would expect being an island, seafood restaurants are everywhere.

[Seafood tanks]

For some reason orange juice is big here as well. This orange juice was squeezed before my eyes for 5RMB (75c USD).

[Fresh Orange Juice]

Walking the circumference of the island takes about an hour and a half. When you first arrive the crowds outside the ferry pier are frightening, but as you walk away the crowd disperses you will soon find plenty of space again.

[Walking around the island]

[Island walkway]

So there are no cars here, but there was controversy when electric tourist trolleys were introduced to the island. If we keep calling them electric trolleys, we can technically still say there are no cars on the island.

[Stupid electric tourist trolleys - Get out and walk!]

I ended up spending a week here, just chilling out in one of the many cafes on the island (another rarity in China – lots of cafes here that serve real coffee) and discovering lonely laneways. It left me fully recharged to face the crowds and traffic of the mainland once again.

Magnum Index: China 2010

Written by James Clark on November 9, 2010 · 1 Comment

In a similar vein to The Economist Big Mac Index, I present the Magnum Index. I like to compare the prices of magnum ice creams as I eat my way around the world. While the magnum is not as universal as the Big Mac (I have been to a few countries that don’t have Magnums), it is still an interesting comparision as the prices vary considerably.

China is a good example. A magnum in China is 5 Yuan (75 US cents). At those prices try just having one a day

[Magnum, Shanghai - China]

The Chinese Yuan, like the Magnums on sale here, are unnaturally undervalued. The Chinese Yuan is pegged to the USD at 6.65 Yuan to the Dollar. That makes Chinese products cheap, and the world economy depends upon cheap Chinese goods. Meanwhile the United States is calling for the Yuan to appreciate, to make US exports cheaper.

2010 will be remembered in the global economy as the year the currency wars escalated, and being in China you can see first hand how that is playing out. For example high speed train trips that would be 100 Euro in France are are about 20 Euro here, and a bowl of noodles that would go for $10 in Australia is about $1 in China.

One day when China become the worlds number one economy, we will be talking about the day that the CNY and USD reached parity. That would mean the 5 Yuan Magnum would cost you 5 USD, (and everything in Walmart will be 5 times more expensive). I don’t know what economic mayhem will happen when that day arrives. All I can say is if you want a great value for money holiday, then come to China before the currency appreciates.

The famous peanut soup of Xiamen, China

Written by James Clark on November 3, 2010 · 1 Comment

*** To my friends with peanut allergies, sorry about this one. Best you look away. ***

If you find yourself in Xiamen in Southwest China then make your way to the Ze He Huang Peanut Soup Shop.

[Ze He Huang Peanut Soup Shop]

I was told this shop was famous for the peanut soup, and when I went it was standing room only.

This grey milky broth looks more like dish water than soup. Like alot of food in China, it tastes better than it looks.

The soup is sweet and and peanuts melt in your mouth – there is no crunchiness to them at all. The bowl is quite small (especially if you are used to American sized portions) so it is hard to resist having just one.

At 2 Yuan (about 30c USD) it’s also one of the best value snacks around.

[Peanut Soup]

This peanut soup was so good I made a detour to the shop on the way to the airport for one last serving.

Observations on peanut soup

Why isn’t this sold in America? In a land where everything has peanuts in it, this would be a runaway hit in the USA.

It was refreshing to note that there was no “this peanut soup contains traces of nuts” disclaimer on the bowl. You might think I’m being ridiculous, but how many nut based products do you see now with that warning?

Victoria Peak – The best view in Hong Kong

Written by James Clark on October 27, 2010 · 6 Comments

If you wake up in Hong Kong and the sun is shining and the sky is blue, head for the hills. Victoria Peak in particular.

The peak gives you the best view of Hong Kong, and it is worth going up the peak for the Peak Tram alone, one of the most famous tramways in the world.

The tramway is a funicular railway that runs from Central district to Victoria Peak, with some stops along the way.

[Peak Tram - Hong Kong]

At the top the tram terminates at the Peak Tower, an observation deck/shopping centre/tourist trap, which you have to pay extra to enter. You can walk around the paths at the peak and see the same view for free.

[View of Hong Kong from The Peak]

To save money (and queueing up again), buy a one-way ticket and walk back down via the park walk.

Site Update: New categories and old blog posts

Written by James Clark on October 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment

My dear readers, I will soon be adding some new categories to Nomadic Notes, including book reviews and other travel site reviews. I am also about to embark on a monster blog post transfer. I have old blog posts on the blogger.com platform, but wordpress has since become the blogging platform of choice. So if you are wondering why you are seeing posts of me in Belgium when I am in Borneo, or why I am at the 2006 World Cup in 2010, don’t worry, it is just my old posts moving over to this domain.