I soon became part of the furniture and settled in well with this amazing family. Although they are young, I am actually a few months older than Pedro, they have achieved so much. I was fascinated hearing their story of how they met, had their children and lived a life traveling round the world selling jewellery before settling in kanchanaburi to open the Peace Cafe. I felt like my achievements paled in comparison to theirs.
Both Pedro and Thidarat are fluent in many languages and even Pavarti who is just nine years old can speak five languages. They had met many people along their travels through Europe, India, Asia and the Middle East, that the cafe was always full with friends visiting them. It was great for me as I was learning all about these different places and even picking up the odd Thai phrase or two.
They had a Swiss friend arrive with his Mongolian wife, her sister and their adorable baby boy to stay. I had forgotten what it was like to live in a house with a teething baby! Another memory I had forgotten from my younger brothers and sisters growing up is just how stressful a food shop is with three young kids in tow. Pedro and I took them to the supermarket and it was like herding cats. I didn’t think on my travels that I would be running around the freezers in a huge Thai Tesco screeching for the kids to stop messing about whilst trying to decide how many octopus tentacles we should buy to barbecue that evening.
The days were spent interacting with customers and family friends, I helped out with the odd bit of cooking and cleaning in the cafe as well as dusting off my waitressing skills and playing with the children.
One evening we had a trip to the local night market, I think I was spoilt after visiting the huge sprawling night market in Chiang Mai as this one was on a much smaller scale and had much more random stalls. From spicy noodles and deep fried vegetables to pirate DVDs and puppies. Yep you could buy a puppy and after seeing the little balls of fluff in their cages my heart was melting.
Jonny had bought a tiny cocker spaniel pup called nirvana from here just a few weeks ago so at least we knew one of these cuties had gone to a good home.
Food also became a big part of my time, from learning how to cook amazing Portuguese dishes, visiting the market to pick fresh fruit and veg that we could have in a smoothie to just enjoying eating with everyone sharing the table and saying grace before a meal.
With all the visitors bringing gifts as well as Pedro and Thidarat’s home influenced fantastic meals I was eating things I had never experienced before such as BBQ’d octopuss and squid, Mongolian mutton and rice, Bulgarian chorizo, garlic and vinegar laced Spanish boquerones, spicy Thai Tom yum soup and hearty Portuguese chicken stew. I can feel myself fattening up!
