Go see Uncle Krai

A garden comes into a full bloom at Jim Thompson's Farm.

City refugees escaping to Nakhon Ratchasima's Wang Nam Kiew (on Google Map) district notice the funny smell right away. It's fresh air. Then they serve you pesticidefree veg¬etables at dinner. What a strange life!

The tourists hordes are still on the other side of the mountain in Khao Yai Park, but Wang Nam Kiew is catching some attention with its outrageous cleanliness, wonderful scenery and cool temperatures year round.

It can't be just a threehour drive from Bangkok: At night you need to snuggle in¬to a blanket; by day you get to wander around in the sunshine in a vast fresh mar¬ket that's the stuff of dreams.

Uncle Krai is about as famous as farmers get. He runs Suan Lung Krai Farm in the tambon of Thai Samakee, where he plays guitar for his vegetables. It's a good life for vegetables - free concerts and no chemical sprays. They're more than hap¬py to grow big and delicious.

It's organic farming, though some people will quibble over the lack of soil certi¬fication. But no one's going to doubt Uncle Krai's guarantee that his crops have never seen a pesticide.

His tender shiitake mushrooms are so tasty - and inexpensive - that a meal round here wouldn't be complete without a dish of stirfried shiitake in oyster sauce.

Spread all around Uncle Krai's place are flower farms and vineyards, among them Jim Thompson's Farm and the celebrated Village Farm Winery.

Lodgings at Village Farm cater mainly to deeppocketed travellers, while the majority of visitors choose to stay at the familyrun bungalow operations dotting the area, many of which are petfriendly.

Also nearby is the Khao Phaeng Ma Wildlife Sanctuary. If you end up disappointed because you didn't spot a gaur there, head to Pha Chom Tawan, the cliff in Tab Lan National Park from which you can ponder the immense forest - or play golf.

It's not really golf, of course. You use crop seeds for balls and drive them off the cliff with the club of your choice or, if you prefer, fire them from a primitive cross¬bow. The forest below surely doesn't object to this unusual form of cultivation.

At sunset there's another thing that Bangkok people will have to come to turns with: The sun is bigger in Wang Nam Kiew. It really is.

Vipasai Niyamabha

Special to The Nation