homestays Archives - Thinglish Lifestyle

Last year, like everyone else we had our travel plans curtailed.

Although we planted our first cocoa tree nearly three years ago, the extra time we had at home allowed us to dive deep into the art of craft chocolate making from the bean to bar.

Katae immersed herself in learning the art and science of making quality chocolate through trial and error.

We invested in a winnower to separate the bean from the husk, a malanger (stone grinder) and many other items to help us produce a consistent product.

Now we are pleased to announce the launch of Anarchy Chocolate – the taste of Freedom!

We now also have a brand new bi-lingual website (English and Thai) – AnarchyChocolate.com where we share our adventures in chocolate making in Thailand.

It also has a little online store to sell our delicious 85% dark chocolate and 33% milk chocolate signature bars amongst other chocolaty goodies and healthy treats like cocoa nibs and chocolate tea.

For chocolate lovers outside of Thailand, we also have an etsy online farm shop that transacts in US dollars.

If you love chocolate, show your support and visit our online stores.

Once things start to open up again we plan to offer Anarchy Farm tours where guests will be able to see the whole process of chocolate making from the tree to bar and enjoy a healthy farmhouse meal with us.

Future Travel Predictions

The CEO of AirBnB predicts a tectonic shift in the way people travel for years to come.

His three predictions are:

Less work and more leisure
Smaller cities and rural areas will get more love
Less sightseeing and more quality time

And we agree, with the hospitality industry, especially bars and clubs shuttered for such a long time, many will not come back. So those looking for wild nights in Bangkok and Pattaya will be hard to find.

Meanwhile domestic tourism in Thailand has had a bit of an upswing especially for short breaks of 2 or three days to all corners of the Kingdom.

Locals are exploring parts of Thailand they have never been to before. My guess is international tourists will also look at rediscovering Thailand in new ways too.

Eco tourism, staying in the countryside, at a homestay or on a farm will be more in vogue than drinking buckets at a full moon party.

Vacations will be a simpler affair but a richer experience because of it.

Connecting with Nature

From our own experience, not being allowed to easily travel internationally without quarantine and great expense, we have been taking advantage of experiencing more local places.

We are fortunate that we live close to the islands of Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kood and have documented some of our recent visits to them on our YouTube channel.

While it’s heartbreaking to see our friends in the hospitality industry losing their ability to make a living, on the flip side, it’s good to see how clean the beaches are becoming and how nature is returning and regenerating.

Where to go in Trat

Along the long Trat coastline toward the Cambodian border crossing at Khlong-Yai is another area of deserted beaches that even before covaids had few visitors. It’s definitely worth hiring a car and seeking out some of these places; boutique resorts, home-stays and one of our favourite restaurants like FolkWays.

Another place we like to visit in Trat province is the Department of Correction. This place is no ‘Bangkok Hilton‘, the open prison is spread over 1000 rai of beautiful countryside with breathtaking views of lakes and rolling hills.

There you will also find Inspire Restaurant by Princess Khaorakam, a 1 rai sustainability garden, a petting zoo and plant nursery.

Where to Stay in Trat

There are many places to stay in Trat from fine hotels to resorts and homestays.

In the immediate vicinity to where we live there are two homestays and a riverside resort. They are all very affordable and unique in their own way. I plan to make a short video on each in the weeks ahead when time permits. So look out for them.

Is Thailand still on your radar? Let us know where you plan to visit when the powers that shouldn’t be give you permission to travel again.