Jan 2021
It all started from 1 and half years ago, my cat Pizza died. We travelled around Thailand for half year before that. He was such an adventurous, curious cat. My best memories about him, was always him running on the beach, or in the rice field. I was scared to have any other pet since her death. Because I wanted to offer them the most freedom and protection I could. Hence I had a idea of owning a farm, so that all my animals can live freely and safely, including myself.
June 2021
I celebrated my last birthday in Chiang Dao with some local friends, and others who were traveling from Chiang Mai. This place is not that well-known even among the Thais. When you ask someone who've been here, heād tell you the hot spring, the cave, the mountains were nice, then thatās it. For me, it was the community here made me feel special. Once I started to know some people here, I felt I was immediately being treated like a close friend. Every week I had some reasons to come back here, it was either someoneās birthday, some celebration or just a get together with no specific reason. The community here is small but also big enough that you can find any profession. Artist, photographer, designer, barista, chef, baker, writer, programmer, teacherā¦they are friends, families and business partners. That was the type of community I was looking for, and I found it here in Chiang Dao. So after my birthday party, I started to look around for land to buy in Chiang Dao.
Aug, 2021
After 3months searching for land, went through a long negotiation with the landlord, dealt with all the docs of registering a company and such. Finally last year 20th August my friend and I we bought the land together in Chiang Dao. Itās total 7 rai, almost 3 acres. So can we finally build something on the land? Well not quite yet, we gotta wait for the harvesting firstā¦
November, 2021
Finally the rice turned yellow, means itās harvesting time!! I helped the farmers with the harvesting, although they didnāt need much help. I camped on my land that night after harvesting, it was the first time I actually stayed on my land. All the neighbors around me keep sending me food, fruits and making sure Iām OK spending the time alone. That moment I felt I made such a good decision of buying the land here. The locals in Chiang Dao made me feel like home. The home I was raised up in the small village of China.
Dec, 2021-Jan, 2022
During this two months, I have been doing research about literally everything. How to build a house, what material to use, how long it takes, how much everything costs etc etc. Talking to friends, suppliers, contractors, architectures, designers, villagers, strangersā¦ just so I have some ideas about what to build first as my first house. Eventually I decided to build a bamboo house. When I was little, we always had this little bamboo forest next to our house. Throughout the year, weād always have bamboo shoots to eat. My grandpa would make some simple furnitures out of bamboo. Maybe my good feelings about bamboo started there. So I started to look for bamboo construction teams in Chiang Mai. Most of them quoted way higher than I expected. Fortunately I was able to find a contractor through friendās recommendation. They charge half of the price other companies has quoted me, and the foreman speaks perfect Chinese, Thai and English. So that the house was able to be built 95% based on my design.
13th-30th Jan, 2022
Finally the first house on my land was built in 18 days. 1 week since the construction started, we have only finished one floor. Although I wasnāt really in any rush, however their estimation was 3 days to finish the whole house. Eventually it took a bit more than 2 weeks, due to the weird storms happening in dry season and my dirt bike accident. Before the accident, I camped on the land for about 1 week with the workers, to make sure everything is gonna be built base on my design. I cooked for them, we drank cold beers together at the end of the day. It was a magical feeling to see the bamboo house growing day by day just like a living bamboo. 13th Jan was also the date I published my first YouTube video regards to the farm project. https://youtu.be/9hAz1ex_K7Q
5th Feb, 2022
This was the day that I first moved in the bamboo house, right after Chinese New Year. Back then the house had nothing but the shell. I have arranged the workers to dig the well and build electricity poles when I was in the hospital. So at least I had water and electricity when I moved in. But I didnāt have hot water, the bedroom was not even sealed completely, plus I underestimated how cold it can be out here in Chiang Dao. So all my friends who stayed after the house warming party had to sleep on the cold bamboo floor, have cold wind blowing on their faces and shivering. Back then Baloo was only 1month old, she pretty much grew along with the bamboo house.
Feb-now 2022
During this 4 moths, the house has been upgrading day by day. Iāve been adding furnitures that hand picked from all the 2nd hand shops, Facebook market place and random shops that I pass by on the road. Iāve adjusted the stairs for the pets to climb easier, added fence and gates, concrete steps, bamboo bridge, making parking area, growing treesā¦ Everyday for me is another day of making mistakes and learning new things. Living in a bamboo house is probably even harder than actually building it. The house requires constant cleaning and maintaining from the rain, the bugs, the natural causes. Itās tiring but meanwhile satisfying.
