The best summer of my life? Reuniting with my family in Thailand | 365 days of summer
Three years ago, I had the holiday I’d waited my whole life for â€" I returned to the tiny village of Ban Si Tawan where I was born, in Sikhoraphum, north-east Thailand. I was raised here, near the Cambodian border, until I was just over one. When mum had me, she was a single mother, and had to work to support me, so she had help from my maire yai (in Thai culture, this is the name given to your mother’s oldest female sibling). Other relatives helped raise me too â€" everyone pulled together until we moved to England with my stepdad in 1987.
I hadn’t returned since. My mum and stepdad couldn’t afford to take me and my three younger sisters back together. So going “home†â€" it feels like home even after 27 years in the UK â€" was a very big deal. I made the trip with my husband James, who helps me run Buddha Belly, my Thai street food stall. All of my family have been in the street food industry, so I was excited about seeing how it worked in Thailand â€" and we certainly got loads of great ideas to take home.
At first I felt like we’d be strangers going out there, but even neighbours and friends in the village knew who I was, and everyone in the family wanted us to stay with them. When we arrived, the first thing I saw was maire yai’s street food set up. I jumped out of the pick-up truck to greet her â€" and, overwhelmed with emotion, instantly burst into tears! After two-and-a-half decades, I was finally reunited with maire yai. I was back.
The whole village came out to perform a bpai see, a blessing and homecoming ceremony. It’s a small farming community, people there have very little, and many are too old to work, but they all came with offerings â€" gifts, blessings, and thanks for the ancestors. They tied little bracelets around our wrists with money rolled up in them. I had to hold back tears for most of the ceremony. I felt â€" and still feel â€" privileged to be part of such a generous culture.
My aunts and uncles threw a massive feast for us. Food is such an important part of Thai life and culture. They’d made all the food they knew I loved, so all my favourite dishes appeared in quick succession! It’s rare that I enjoy other people’s Thai cooking â€" the super spicy, punchy north-eastern flavours that I’m used to don’t tend to appear on restaurant menus and, like most Thai people, I like my food how my mum makes it. So it was great to taste cooking as good as hers.
We ate so well â€" spicy salads with grilled meats and tom saep, a really spicy, sweet-and-sour soup, heavy on the lime, lemons and Thai herbs. Another favourite, sukiyaki â€" marinated meat in a broth with vegetables and glass noodles, and a fermented bean curd and sesame seed sauce â€" was absolutely amazing. We spent days going to the markets, to buy beautiful fresh seafood and vegetables, and I tried loads of other vendors’ street food too.
We did stop eating long enough to visit temples and other sights, and James and I took a trip by ourselves to Ko Lanta, a small island in the Andaman sea, where we spent days riding a scooter along beautiful coastlines, stopping to watch mischievous monkeys, and chilling out with coconuts and sunshine on the beach. Bangkok was great, too. I loved its vibrancy â€" all of its smells, noise and chaos.
On the long train journey back to Bangkok, I really felt complete. I felt like I’d found the real me. The part of me that I never knew enough about. The experience made sense of so many of my habits and preferences and quirks. I had come home â€" and it was the best summer of my life.
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