Cycling to the sunflower festival for coconut ice cream.

My gardener told me that the local authority would be opening the sunflower field for a small festival to boost local economy very soon. She told me that some people have already visited the sunflower field to take selfies. Some local street food vendors have set up their stalls so I was hoping there would be some traditional Thai sweets like pumpkin eggs custard or sticky rice with custard topping. The cold weather made me craving for some Thai sweets.

So, in the afternoon after my work in the garden, I cycled towards the sunflower field with high hopes. I entered the place via the track behind the field. It’s safer to avoid the main road and I could cycle slowly while observing changes around the countryside. I was amazed to see the land at the back of my house. The three acres land has been topped up with earth a few years ago to raise it to the same level of the road. There was a sign indicating that the owners wanted to sell their land. This would be a difficult time to sell land as the economy has been in doldrums.

Several years ago, there was a rush to buy local land on behalf of foreign nominees. The hype about the high speed trains from China going through Laos and Thailand towards Malaysia had opened up lots of speculation on top of elaborate plans for economic development in Thailand and Laos. The prices of land had shot up several folds. People were very hopeful and enthusiastic about the transformation of the north and northeastern provinces into trading hubs and cargo transport logistics. But the economic bubbles bursted and many people got their fingers burnt. The middlemen who went around trying to buy land had disappeared and villagers were left high and dry. But some people could fetch very good prices for their land.

After the ending of the plandemic, local authority had tried to raise the mood and enthusiasm of local communities by revamping local festivals and the boat races. Other provinces advertised about their wild flowers, waterfalls and caves. So, the local authority had to brainstorm to invent a selling spot for local community. The idea of planting a field of sunflowers to attract visitors and tourists came forward and has become a success among people in town and nearby provinces.

Thai people have become addicted to selfies and taking photos or videos for social media. TikTok has become very popular and a source for making surprising income instead of YouTube. Many villagers have become rich by posting simple everyday life on TikTok and YouTube. This made me wonder whether I should start posting videos of my fat cats on TikTok to earn some cat food. However, I was definitely hopeless with taking photos and videos and my cats were just ordinary cats. So, I had to continue with taking photos for my blog.

The sunflower field was quite large and with many flowers in full bloom. I was glad I arrived there before the official opening of the festival, the whole place was very peaceful and quiet. To my delight, I saw an ice cream van selling coconut ice cream. I had a short walk along the streetfood stalls before parking my bicycle in front of the ice cream van. I ordered a mediume size ice cream without any toppings. The ice cream was quite creamy without being too sweet. The lady vendor told me she made the ice cream herself. It was so good that I had to come back again the following day.

The street food stalls opened too early as most people didn’t know that they could visit the sunflower field ahead of the official opening. Some passersby did stop to take their selfies and bought some street food. I met some people I knew so I bought some steamed pumpkin and steamed beans for my snacks later. As a part time vegetarian, I could buy those stock food made from chicken and pork. Had there been some tofu sticks, I would surely get a few for my dinner.

Some staff of the local authority has set up tables and chairs on the front yard for people to enjoy some food and drink. I thought there might be a live band playing music on the opening day to attract more visitors. The local staff also sell small sunflower seedlings and plants at cheap prices. I would have to ask my gardener to get some plants for me later, I had no basket on my bicycle. It would be nice if we could keep some sunflower seeds for growing more plants the following years.

The photos I took during my first visit weren’t very bright as the sky was cloudy and gray. The following day’s photos were much clearer in sunshine. There were more children visiting the field on the second day. Youngsters arriving on motorbikes to take selfies and enjoy their walks in the field. I reckoned after the official opening, more town folks would visit the field for their selfies. I hoped that these hopeful vendors would do a roaring business soon.

Life in the countryside was mostly boring without much excitement so an occasional festival would give a talking point for local people. The festive occasion would give people an excuse to spend the evening with friends and getting home quite late. Youngsters and teenagers would have the opportunity to meet up and get acquainted at the festive location. Sometimes rival gangs of teenagers would break into a fight especially when there was live band playing their favourite songs. Perhaps, the frequencies of these songs stimulated their aggressive instinct too much that they had to let it out. That’s why I tried not to be in big crowds of strangers with exuberant enthusiasm for live music.

Looking at the land behind my house, I was quite surprised by the size of those forest trees inside. They used to be very thin and flimsy young trees which had grown into giant trees covering the back of the garden. These helped to protect the house during strong windy storm. But the shades had prevented sunshine from reaching some fruit trees. My next project would be to find someone with proper tools to trim some big branches in my garden.

The sunflower festival would last a few weeks so I hoped to visit the field one more time. I would like to have more coconut ice cream and buy some local snacks. Hopefully the new wave of cold weather wouldn’t affect those sunflowers and that more visitors would arrive to enjoy themselves in the evening and boost the local economy.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.